Method and system for virtual machine migration

• US 8,370,832 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2007
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snow Software, Inc. (Snow Software AB)
• Original Assignee: Embotics Corp. (Snow Software AB)
• Inventors: White, Anthony Richard Phillip
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Li B
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHEATON, BRADFORD F
• Application Number:
  US11/839,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20070283348A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,001 Days
• Field of Search: 718/1, 718/104
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1482 by means of middleware or OS functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

Virtual machine (VM) technology allows multiple operating systems each deploying multiple applications to run on a single host. This invention presents an effective method and system for virtual machine migration from a source host to a target host. The method and system concern the migration of both the service VM and the element managing it. State of the migrating VM is preserved so that it can resume its execution on the target host.

Claims

1. A method for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising an operating system and applications running on a hypervisor, comprising a VM managed element and dependent elements of the VM managed element, from a source host to a target host, the method comprising:

(a) associating a mobile autonomic element having a sensor interface and an effector interface for managing migration of the service VM, the mobile autonomic element being an object, which is separate from the service VM;

(b) migrating the service VM during an execution of the service VM using the mobile autonomic element, comprising;

(i) migrating the mobile autonomic element separately from and concurrently with the service VM;

(ii) managing the migrating of the service VM under control of the mobile autonomic element, comprising;

(i1) preserving a state of the service VM by the mobile autonomic element;

(i2) migrating policies managing the service VM by using the mobile autonomic element; and

(c) at the target host, resuming execution of the service VM under control of the mobile autonomic element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (b) further comprises:

(d) queuing events to be processed at the source host;

(e) sending information regarding a state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements from the source host to the target host;

(f) sending information regarding a state of the events queued in step (d) from the source host to the target host;

(g) sending components of the VM managed element that have changed during the execution of step (d)-step (f) from the source host to the target host;

(h) processing the information sent in step (e) at the target host; and

(i) processing the information sent in step (f) at the target host.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (b) further comprises:

(v) storing policies within the autonomic element; and

(w) migrating the policies contained in the autonomic element prior to executing the service VM on the target host.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step (d) further comprises:

locating a sensor service; and

creating a queue of events and preventing further events to be forwarded to the VM managed element.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step (e) further comprises:

(j) serializing the state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements; and

(k) sending a message containing a serialized state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements generated in step (j) from the source host to the target host.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step (f) further comprises:

(l) serializing the queued events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements at the source host; and

(m) sending a message including a serialized queue of events generated in step (l) to the target host.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the step (g) further comprises:

(n) serializing the components of the VM managed element and its dependent elements that have changed; and

(o) sending serialized components of the VM managed element produced in step (n) from the source host to the target host.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the step (h) further comprises:

deserializing the state of the VM managed element; and

extracting dependencies for its dependent elements at the target host.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the step (i) further comprises:

(x) deserializing the queued events and creating queues of events at the target host; and

(y) locating a sensor service and inserting the queues of events created in step (x) into the sensor service.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises:

(p) starting events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements at the target host; and

(q) destroying the VM managed element at the source host.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein step (p) further comprises:

locating the sensor service; and

adding the events for the VM managed element and the dependent elements to a time-ordered queue of events stored within the sensor service.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step (q) further comprises stopping the events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (i1) further comprises preserving a state of the VM managed element and respective states of the dependent elements.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (c) further comprises removing the VM managed element and the dependent elements at the source host.

15. A computer program product for migrating a service VM, comprising a non-transitory computer readable non-transitory storage medium having computer readable instructions embodied in said medium for causing said computer to perform the steps of the method as described in claim 1.

16. A system for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising an operating system and applications running on a hypervisor, comprising a VM managed element and dependent elements of the VM managed element, from a source host to a target host, the system comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by a processor, forming:

(a) a mobile autonomic element including a sensor interface, and an effector interface for managing migration of the service VM, the mobile autonomic element being an object, which is separate from the service VM;

(b) means for migrating the service VM during an execution of the service VM using the mobile autonomic element, comprising;

(i) means for migrating the mobile autonomic element separately from and concurrently with the service VM;

(ii) means for managing the migrating of the service VM using the mobile autonomic element, comprising;

(i1) means for preserving a state of the service VM by the mobile autonomic element;

(i2) means for migrating policies managing the service VM by using the mobile autonomic element;

and

(c) at the target host, means for resuming execution of the service VM under control of the mobile autonomic element.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein means (b) further comprises:

(d) means for queuing events to be processed at the source host;

(e) means for sending information regarding a state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements from the source host to the target host;

(f) means for sending information regarding a state of the events queued from the source host to the target host;

(g) means for sending components of the VM managed element that have changed during the processing performed by the means (d)-(f) from the source host to the target host;

(h) means for processing the information sent by the means (e) at the target host; and

(i) means for processing the information sent by the means (f) at the target host.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the means (c) further comprises:

(v) means for storing policies within the autonomic element; and

(w) means for migrating the policies contained in the autonomic element prior to executing the service VM on the target host.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the means (d) further comprises:

means for locating a sensor service; and

means for creating a queue of events within the sensor service and

preventing further events to be forwarded to the VM managed element.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the means (e) further comprises:

(j) means for serializing the state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements; and

(k) means for sending a message containing a serialized state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements generated by the means (j) from the source host to the target host.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the means (f) further comprises:

(l) means for serializing the queued events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements at the source host; and

(m) means for sending a message including a serialized queue of events generated by the means (l) to the target host.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the means (g) further comprises:

(n) means for serializing the components of the VM managed element and its dependent elements that have changed; and

(o) means for sending serialized components of the VM managed element produced by the means (n) from the source host to the target host.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein the means (h) further comprises means for deserializing the state of the VM managed element and extracting dependencies for its dependent elements at the target host.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the means (i) further comprises:

(x) means for deserializing the queued events and creating queues of events at the target host; and

(y) means for locating a sensor service and inserting the queues of events created by the means (x) into the sensor service.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the means (c) further comprises:

(p) means for starting events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements at the target host; and

(q) means for destroying the VM managed element at the source host.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the means (p) further comprises:

means for locating the sensor service;

means for adding the events for the VM managed element to a time-ordered queue of events stored within the sensor service; and

means for adding the events the dependent elements of the VM managed element to a time-ordered queue of events stored within the sensor service.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the means (q) further comprises means for stopping the events for the VM managed element and the dependent elements.

28. The system of claim 16, wherein the means (i1) further comprises means for preserving a state of the VM managed element and respective states of the dependent elements.

29. The system of claim 16, wherein the means (c) further comprises means for removing the VM managed element and the dependent elements at the source host.

30. A system for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising an operating system and applications running on a hypervisor, comprising a VM managed element and dependent elements of the VM managed element, from a source host to a target host, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory device having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by the processor, causing the processor to;

(a) associate a mobile autonomic element having a sensor interface and an effector interface for managing migration of the service VM, the mobile autonomic element being an object, which is separate from the service VM;

(b) migrate the service VM during an execution of the service VM using the mobile autonomic element, comprising;

(i) migrating the mobile autonomic element separately from and concurrently with the service VM;

(ii) managing the migrating of the service VM under control of the mobile autonomic element, comprising;

(i1) preserving a state of the service VM by the mobile autonomic element;

(i2) migrating policies managing the service VM by using the mobile autonomic element; and

(c) at the target host, resume execution of the service VM under control of the mobile autonomic element.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to:

queue events for the VM managed element and the dependent elements to be processed at the source host, and send information regarding a state of the queued events from the source host to the target host;

send information regarding a state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements from the source host to the target host; and

sending components of the VM managed element that have changed since the queuing has begun from the source host to the target host.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to start the events at the target host, comprising:

locating the sensor service; and

adding the events to a time-ordered queue of events stored within the sensor service.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to:

serialize the queued events and the state of the queued events; and

send a message containing the serialized queue of events and the serialized state of the queued events from the source host to the target host.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to:

deserialize the queued events and create a queue of corresponding events at the target host;

deserialize the state of the VM managed elements and the dependent elements; and

locate the sensor interface and add the corresponding events to the sensor service.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to:

store policies for managing the service VM within the autonomic elements; and

migrate the policies prior to executing the service VM on the target host.

36. The system of claim 30, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to preserve a state of the VM managed element and respective states of the dependent elements.

37. The system of claim 30, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to remove the VM managed element and the dependent elements at the source host.