Methods and systems for automated management of virtual resources in a cloud computing environment

• US 8,918,488 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2009
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Umbehocker, Steven Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): KIM, EDWARD J
• Application Number:
  US12/556,624
• Publication Number:
  US 20100198972A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,930 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-203, 709212-219, 709220-222, 709/223, 709/248, 709/249
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24564 Applying rules; Deductive queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0622 in relation to access
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/645 Fibre channel identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

A system for automated management of virtual resources in a cloud computing environment includes a host computing device communication component and a storage system communication component. The storage system communication component is executed by a storage delivery management service, communicates with a storage system adapter in a storage area network to identify a storage system in a storage area network, and directs the automated provisioning of a virtual storage resource on the identified storage system, the storage system providing resources for provisioning the virtual drive. The host computing device communication component receives a request for access by a host computing device to the virtual storage resource, and responds, to the host computing device, with an identification of a network port of the identified storage system and an identification of the provisioned virtual storage resource.

Claims

1. A method for automated management of virtual resources in a cloud computing environment, the method comprising:

directing, by a storage delivery management service, provisioning, on a storage system in a storage area network, of a virtual storage resource for a virtual machine executing on a first computing device comprising at least one network port;

transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the storage system, an identification of the at least one network port on the first computing device to associate with the virtual storage resource;

transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the first computing device, an instruction to retrieve an identification of the provisioned virtual storage resource and an identification of at least one network port on the storage system;

receiving, by the storage delivery management service, from a virtual machine migration component in communication with the storage delivery management service via a broker computing device, an indication through the broker computing device of a migration in progress of the virtual machine from the first computing device to a second computing device;

transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the storage system, an identification of at least one network port on the second computing device to associate with the virtual storage resource; and

transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the second computing device, an instruction to retrieve an identification of the provisioned virtual storage resource and an identification of the at least one network port on the storage system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving, by the storage delivery management service, a request for cloning of the virtual storage resource for the first computing device comprising at least one network port.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the storage delivery management service, an identification of a third machine;

transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the third computing device, an instruction to retrieve an identification of the provisioned virtual storage resource and an identification of the at least one network port on the storage system.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving, by the storage delivery management service, a request for provisioning of the virtual storage resource for the first computing device comprising at least one network port.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying, by the storage delivery management service, a storage system in a storage area network, the storage system providing resources for provisioning the virtual storage resource.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising establishing, by the first computing device, a connection to the identified at least one network port on the storage system.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating, by the storage delivery management service, on at least one switch in a switch fabric, an access control list including an identification of at least one network port on the storage system and an identification of the at least one network port on the first computing device.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising establishing, by the at least one switch, a connection between the identified at least one network port on the first computing device and the identified at least one network port on the storage system.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the at least one switch, an identification of at least one network port on the second computing device to associate with the virtual storage resource.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving, by the storage delivery management service, from a first computing device hosting the virtual machine, a request for provisioning of the virtual storage resource.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving, by the first computing device, from the storage delivery management service, an identification of a storage system provisioning virtual storage resource.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing, by the first computing device, to a virtual machine executing on the first computing device, access to the provisioned virtual storage resource.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

assigning, by the storage delivery management service, to a virtual host bus adapter, a unique identifier;

transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the first computing device, the unique identifier of the virtual host bus adapter; and

transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the storage system, the unique identifier of the virtual host bus adapter.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising providing, by the storage system, to the virtual host bus adapter, access to the provisioned virtual storage resource.

15. A system for automated management of virtual resources in a cloud computing environment comprising:

a storage system communication component configured to

communicate with a storage system adapter in a storage area network,

receive an identification of a storage system in the storage area network,

provide resources for provisioning a virtual storage resource on the storage system, and

transmit, to the storage system, an identification of at least one network port on a first computing device to associate with the virtual storage resource; and

a host computing device communication component configured to

transmit, to the first computing device, an identification of at least one network port of the identified storage system and an identification of the virtual storage resource;

receive, from a virtual machine migration component in communication with a storage delivery management service, via a broker computing device, an indication through the broker computing device of a migration in progress of a virtual machine from the first computing device to a second computing device,

receive a request for access by the second computing device to the virtual storage resource, and

respond to the request, to the second computing device, with the identification of the at least one network port of the identified storage system and the identification of the virtual storage resource;

wherein the storage system communication component is further configured to transmit, to the storage system, an identification of at least one network port on the second computing device to associate with the virtual storage resource.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising a fabric management component configured to generate, on at least one switch in a switch fabric, an access control list including the identification of at least one networking port of the identified storage system and an identification of at least one network port on the host computing device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the host computing device communication component further comprises means for communicating with a control operating system executing within a virtual machine executing on the host computing device.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the host computing device communication component further comprises means for communicating via an application programming interface with the host computing device.

19. A system for automated management of virtual resources in a cloud computing environment comprising:

a virtual storage resource provisioned by a storage delivery management service on a storage system in a storage area network, for a virtual machine executing on a first computing device comprising at least one network port;

means for transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the storage system, an identification of the at least one network port on the first computing device to associate with the virtual storage resource;

means for transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the first computing device, an identification of the provisioned virtual storage resource and an identification of at least one network port on the storage system;

means for receiving through a broker computing device, by the storage delivery management service, from a virtual machine migration component in communication with the storage delivery management service via the broker computing device, an indication of a migration in progress of the virtual machine from the first computing device to a second computing device;

means for transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the storage system, an identification of at least one network port on the second computing device to associate with the virtual storage resource; and

means for transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the second computing device, an identification of the provisioned virtual storage resource and an identification of the at least one network port on the storage system.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising means for receiving, by the storage delivery management service, a request for provisioning of the virtual storage resource for the first computing device comprising at least one network port.

21. The system of claim 19 further comprising means for identifying, by the storage delivery management service, a storage system in a storage area network, the storage system providing resources for provisioning the virtual storage resource.

22. The system of claim 19 further comprising means for establishing, by at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device, a connection to the identified at least one network port on the storage system.

23. The system of claim 19 further comprising means for generating, by the storage delivery management service, on at least one switch in a switch fabric, an access control list including an identification of at least one network port on the storage system and at least one of an identification of the at least one network port on the first computing device and an identification of the at least one network port on the second computing device.

24. The system of claim 23 further comprising means for establishing, by the at least one switch, a connection between the identified at least one network port on the storage system and the at least one of the identified at least one network port on the first computing device and the identification of the at least one network port on the second computing device.

25. The system of claim 19 further comprising means for receiving, by the storage delivery management service, from a computing device hosting the virtual machine, a request for provisioning of the virtual storage resource.

26. The system of claim 19 further comprising means for receiving, by the first computing device, from the storage delivery management service, an identification of a storage system provisioning virtual storage element.

27. The system of claim 19 further comprising means for providing, by the first computing device, to a virtual machine executing on the first computing device, access to the provisioned virtual storage resource.

28. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

means for assigning, by the storage delivery management service, to a virtual host bus adapter, a unique identifier;

means for transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the first computing device, the unique identifier of the virtual host bus adapter; and

means for transmitting, by the storage delivery management service, to the storage system, the unique identifier of the virtual host bus adapter.

29. The system of claim 28 further comprising means for providing, by the storage system, to the virtual host bus adapter, access to the provisioned virtual storage resource.