Method and system for communicating to a storage controller in a virtualization environment

• US 9,052,936 B1
• Filed: 01/18/2013
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Inventors: Aron, Mohit, Pandey, Dheeraj, Singh, Ajeet
• Primary Examiner(s): SWIFT, CHARLES M
• Application Number:
  US13/744,683
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/128 Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion use of snapshots for error detection or correction G06F11/14, G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1748 De-duplication implemented within the file system, e.g. based on file segments de-duplication techniques in storage systems for the management of data blocks G06F3/0641
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1873 Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/06 Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers , e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0638 Organizing or formatting or addressing of data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0641 De-duplication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• 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 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4806 Task transfer initiation or dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 : resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 : Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 : Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 : to service a request
• 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 9/5022 : Mechanisms to release resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 : the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 : Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 : Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 : Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 : Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 : involving task migration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/356 : for storage area networks

Abstract

A system for communicating to a storage controller in a virtualization environment, including a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes implements a virtualization environment, and a node comprises a hypervisor and multiple user virtual machines; a plurality of storage devices that are accessed by the virtual machine; and a storage controller implemented as a service virtual machine on the node to manage access by the multiple user virtual machines to the plurality of storage devices, wherein a networking protocol is used to communicate between the multiple user virtual machines and the storage controller.

Claims

1. A system for communicating to a storage controller in a virtualization environment, comprising:

a plurality of nodes including at least a first node and a second node, wherein the plurality of nodes implements a virtualization environment, and a node comprises a hypervisor and multiple user virtual machines;

a plurality of storage devices that are accessed by the multiple user virtual machines; and

a storage controller implemented as a service virtual machine on the node to manage access by the multiple user virtual machines to the plurality of storage devices, wherein a networking protocol is used to communicate between the multiple user virtual machines and the storage controller;

wherein a first service virtual machine on the first node and a second service virtual machine on the second node correspond to a same IP address.

2. The system of claim 1 in which the multiple user virtual machines and the service virtual machine communicate using iSCSI.

3. The system of claim 2 in which an iSCSI request is issued by the multiple user virtual machines to access the plurality of storage devices.

4. The system of claim 3 in which the service virtual machine converts the iSCSI request into a request for a virtual disk.

5. The system of claim 1 in which the multiple user virtual machines and the service virtual machine communicate using NFS, and a NFS request is issued by the multiple user virtual machines to access the plurality of storage devices.

6. The system of claim 1 in which communications between the multiple user virtual machines and the service virtual machine is carried over a virtual network.

7. The system of claim 6 in which a virtual switch of the hypervisor is used to facilitate the communications.

8. The system of claim 1 in which a VLAN configures the IP address to be local to a subnet on a given node.

9. The system of claim 1 in which an I/O request is forwarded from a first service virtual machine to a second service virtual machine.

10. The system of claim 9 in which an addressing structure is maintained to forward the I/O request.

11. The system of claim 10 in which the addressing structure comprises a network address table.

12. The system of claim 10 in which address lookup is performed at network layers of an operating systems stack within the service virtual machine.

13. A method for communicating to a storage controller in a virtualization environment, comprising:

identifying a communication to be sent between a user virtual machine and a storage controller in a virtualization environment, wherein the user virtual machine resides on a node within a plurality of nodes including at least a first node and a second node and the plurality of nodes implements the virtualization environment, and the node comprises a hypervisor and multiple user virtual machines; and

implementing the communication with a networking protocol to communicate between the user virtual machine and the storage controller;

wherein a first service virtual machine on the first node and a second service virtual machine on the second node correspond to a same IP address.

14. The method of claim 13 in which the user virtual machine and the service virtual machine communicate using iSCSI.

15. The method of claim 14 in which an iSCSI request is issued by the user virtual machine to access a plurality of storage devices.

16. The method of claim 15 in which the service virtual machine converts the iSCSI request into a request for a virtual disk.

17. The method of claim 13 in which the user virtual machine and the service virtual machine communicate using NFS, and a NFS request is issued by the user virtual machine to access a plurality of storage devices.

18. The method of claim 13 in which communications between the user virtual machine and the service virtual machine is carried over a virtual network.

19. The method of claim 18 in which a virtual switch of the hypervisor is used to facilitate the communications.

20. The method of claim 13 in which a VLAN configures the IP address to be local to a subnet on a given node.

21. The method of claim 13 in which an I/O request is forwarded from a first service virtual machine to a second service virtual machine.

22. The method of claim 21 in which an addressing structure is maintained to forward the I/O request.

23. The method of claim 22 in which the addressing structure comprises a network address table.

24. The method of claim 22 in which address lookup is performed at network layers of an operating systems stack within the service virtual machine.

25. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a method for communicating to a storage controller in a virtualization environment, the method comprising:

identifying a communication to be sent between a user virtual machine and a storage controller in a virtualization environment, wherein the user virtual machine resides on a node within a plurality of nodes including at least a first node and a second node and the plurality of nodes implements the virtualization environment, and the node comprises a hypervisor and multiple user virtual machines; and

implementing the communication with a networking protocol to communicate between the user virtual machine and the storage controller;

wherein a first service virtual machine on the first node and a second service virtual machine on the second node correspond to a same IP address.

26. The computer program product of claim 25 in which the user virtual machine and the service virtual machine communicate using iSCSI.

27. The computer program product of claim 26 in which an iSCSI request is issued by the user virtual machine to access a plurality of storage devices.

28. The computer program product of claim 27 in which the service virtual machine converts the iSCSI request into a request for a virtual disk.

29. The computer program product of claim 25 in which the user virtual machine and the service virtual machine communicate using NFS, and a NFS request is issued by the user virtual machine to access plurality of storage devices.

30. The computer program product of claim 25 in which communications between the user virtual machine and the service virtual machine is carried over a virtual network.

31. The computer program product of claim 30 in which a virtual switch of the hypervisor is used to facilitate the communications.

32. The computer program product of claim 25 in which a VLAN configures the IP address to be local to a subnet on a given node.

33. The computer program product of claim 25 in which an I/O request is forwarded from a first service virtual machine to a second service virtual machine.

34. The computer program product of claim 33 in which an addressing structure is maintained to forward the I/O request.

35. The computer program product of claim 34 in which the addressing structure comprises a network address table.

36. The computer program product of claim 34 in which address lookup is performed at network layers of an operating systems stack within the service virtual machine.