System and method for storage and deployment of virtual machines in a virtual server environment

• US 8,943,203 B1
• Filed: 07/10/2009
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Lent, Arthur F., Clayton-Luce, Timothy J., Morrissette, Peter M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H
• Application Number:
  US12/501,348
• Time in Patent Office: 2,027 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1824 implemented using Network-attached Storage [NAS] architecture distributed or networked storage systems G06F3/067; protocols for distributed storage of data in a network H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4868 with creation or replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods for storage and deployment of VMs in a virtual server environment. A VM deployment module executing on a server may produce VM container objects representing VMs, a VM container object comprising VM data describing a VM and vdisk configuration data. The VM deployment module may also later produce VMs on a server using the VM container objects. The VM deployment module may do so by producing a vdisk from a VM container object, the vdisk comprising the VM and vdisk configuration data. Rather than configuring the vdisk as typically done to make the vdisk useable to the server, the vdisk configuration data is used to make the vdisk useable and the VM data on the vdisk immediately accessible to the server. As such, the VM data may be immediately read to produce a VM on the server, thus providing rapid deployment of VMs.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a server comprising a server operating system, the server being operatively coupled to a storage system and configured for

requesting the storage system to produce a first virtual disk (vdisk) from a container object associated with a virtual machine (VM) and stored in a shared storage operatively coupled to the storage system;

configuring the first vdisk on the server to enable the server access to the first vdisk and produce vdisk configuration data describing the resulting configuration of the first vdisk;

storing the vdisk configuration data and VM data, describing the VM, to the first vdisk, such that the vdisk configuration data and VM data are stored in the container object;

requesting the storage system to produce a second vdisk from the container object, the second vdisk comprising the VM data and vdisk configuration data from the container object;

using the vdisk configuration data of the second vdisk to enable the server operating system immediate access to the second vdisk, such that the VM data of the second vdisk is immediately accessible by the server operating system before producing the VM associated with the container object on the server; and

producing the VM on the server using the VM data from the second vdisk.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the VM produced on the server comprises a separate instance of a separate operating system and one or more applications that execute on the server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

VM data describing a VM specifies hardware or software resources used by the VM; and

vdisk configuration data comprises partitioning data specifying partitioning of the vdisk or formatting data specifying file system formatting for the vdisk.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer hardware is further configured for:

after storing the vdisk configuration data and VM data to the first vdisk, deleting the first vdisk.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a client system connected with the server and interfacing with the VM on the server to access client data of the storage system, wherein the storage system is operatively coupled to the server for storing client data.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein VM data on the second vdisk is made accessible to the server without configuring the second vdisk.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured for requesting the storage system to create the container object before requesting the storage system to produce the first vdisk from the container object, the created container object being initially empty.

6. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for execution by a processor, the computer readable medium comprising sets of instructions for:

requesting a storage system, by a server having a server operating system, to produce a first virtual disk (vdisk) from a container object associated with a virtual machine (VM) and stored in a shared storage operatively coupled to the storage system;

configuring the first vdisk to enable the server access to the first vdisk and produce vdisk configuration data describing the resulting configuration of the first vdisk;

storing the vdisk configuration data and VM data, describing the VM, to the first vdisk, such that the vdisk configuration data and VM data are stored in the container object;

requesting the storage system to produce a second vdisk from the container object, the second vdisk comprising the VM data and vdisk configuration data from the container object;

using the vdisk configuration data of the second vdisk to enable the server operating system immediate access to the second vdisk, such that the VM data of the second vdisk is immediately accessible by the server operating system before producing the VM associated with the container object on the server; and

producing the VM on the server using the VM data from the second vdisk.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein:

the VM produced on the server comprises a separate instance of a separate operating system and one or more applications that execute on the server.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein:

VM data describing a VM specifies hardware or software resources used by the VM; and

vdisk configuration data comprises partitioning data specifying partitioning of the vdisk or formatting data specifying file system formatting for the vdisk.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, further comprising a set of instructions for, after storing the vdisk configuration data and VM data to the first vdisk, deleting the first vdisk.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein:

the storage system is connected with the server for storing client data; and

a client system is connected with the server and interfaces with the VM on the server to access client data of the storage system.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein VM data on the second vdisk is made accessible to the server without configuring the second vdisk.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

requesting a storage system, by a server having a server operating system, to produce a first virtual disk (vdisk) from a container object associated with a virtual machine (VM) and stored in a shared storage operatively coupled to the storage system;

configuring the first vdisk to enable the server access to the first vdisk and produce vdisk configuration data describing the resulting configuration of the first vdisk;

storing the vdisk configuration data and VM data, describing the VM, to the first vdisk, such that the vdisk configuration data and VM data are stored in the container object;

requesting the storage system to produce a second vdisk from the container object, the second vdisk comprising the VM data and vdisk configuration data from the container object;

using the vdisk configuration data of the second vdisk to enable the server operating system immediate access to the second vdisk, such that the VM data of the second vdisk is immediately accessible by the server operating system before producing the VM associated with the container object on the server; and

producing the VM on the server using the VM data from the second vdisk.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the VM produced on the server comprises a separate instance of a separate operating system and one or more applications that execute on the server.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein:

VM data describing a VM specifies hardware or software resources used by the VM; and

vdisk configuration data comprises partitioning data specifying partitioning of the vdisk or formatting data specifying file system formatting for the vdisk.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising, after storing the vdisk configuration data and VM data to the first vdisk, deleting the first vdisk.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the storage system is connected with the server for storing client data; and

a client system is connected with the server and interfaces with the VM on the server to access client data of the storage system.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein VM data on the second vdisk is made accessible to the server without configuring the second vdisk.