Virtual machine fault tolerance

• US 9,128,884 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2013
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Forgette, Eric Paul, Kenchammana-Hosekote, Deepak, Gaonkar, Shravan, Lent, Arthur Franklin
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, KAMINI B
• Application Number:
  US14/063,689
• Publication Number:
  US 20140053022A1
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4.11
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/203 using migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2048 where the redundant components share neither address space nor persistent storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for hosting a virtual machine from a snapshot. In particular, a snapshot of a virtual machine hosted on a primary computing device may be created. The virtual machine may be hosted on a secondary computing device using the snapshot, for example, when a failure of the virtual machine on the primary computing device occurs. If a virtual machine type (format) of the snapshot is not supported by the secondary computing device, then the virtual machine within the snapshot may be converted to a virtual machine type supported by the secondary computing device. In this way, the virtual machine may be operable and/or accessible on the secondary computing device despite the failure. Hosting the virtual machine on the secondary computing device provides, among other things, fault tolerance for the virtual machine and/or applications comprised therein.

Claims

1. A method for providing virtual machine fault tolerance from a snapshot, comprising:

receiving a first snapshot of a virtual machine, the first snapshot created while the virtual machine is hosted on a primary computing device, the first snapshot comprising a first backup image of the virtual machine at a first point in time;

receiving a second snapshot of the virtual machine, the second snapshot created while the virtual machine is hosted on the primary computing device, the second snapshot comprising a second backup image of the virtual machine at a second point in time;

detecting a failure of the virtual machine hosted on the primary computing device;

aggregating the first snapshot and the second snapshot to create a non-conflicting snapshot of the virtual machine, the aggregating comprising propagating non-conflicting features of the first snapshot and the second snapshot into the non-conflicting snapshot; and

hosting the virtual machine on a secondary computing device based upon the non-conflicting snapshot.

2. The method of claim 1, the non-conflicting snapshot comprising an aggregate snapshot of the first snapshot and the second snapshot, and the hosting the virtual machine comprising hosting the virtual machine as an aggregate of the first snapshot and the second snapshot based upon the aggregate snapshot.

3. The method of claim 1, the aggregating comprising:

consolidating first virtual machine data within the first snapshot and second virtual machine data within the second snapshot to create the non-conflicting snapshot.

4. The method of claim 1, the hosting comprising:

creating a new snapshot of the virtual machine hosted on the secondary computing device.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising:

responsive to determining that the primary computing device is available to re-host the virtual machine, re-hosting the virtual machine on the primary computing device based upon the new snapshot from the secondary computing device.

6. The method of claim 5, the re-hosting comprising:

responsive to determining that a secondary virtual machine type of the new snapshot is not supported by the primary computing device, converting the new snapshot from the secondary virtual machine type to a primary virtual machine type supported by the primary computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, the first snapshot and the second snapshot created based upon a backup scheme for the virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1, the hosting comprising:

responsive to determining that a primary virtual machine type of the non-conflicting snapshot is not supported by the secondary computing device, converting the non-conflicting snapshot from the primary virtual machine type to a secondary virtual machine type supported by the secondary computing device.

9. The method of claim 8, the converting comprising:

responsive to determining that the non-conflicting snapshot corresponds to a snapshot of the virtual machine while in an on state;

hosting the virtual machine, in the on state, within a virtual machine host software environment using the non-conflicting snapshot, the virtual machine host software environment configured to support the primary virtual machine type;

shutting down the on state of the virtual machine to an off state;

converting the virtual machine in the off state from the primary virtual machine type to the secondary virtual machine type; and

hosting the virtual machine, converted to the secondary virtual machine type, on the secondary computing device.

10. The method of claim 9, the virtual machine host software environment hosted by the secondary computing device.

11. The method of claim 9, the virtual machine host software environment hosted by a computing device different than the secondary computing device.

12. The method of claim 8, the converting comprising:

responsive to determining that the non-conflicting snapshot corresponds to a snapshot of the virtual machine while in an off state;

converting the virtual machine in the off state from the primary virtual machine type to the secondary virtual machine type; and

hosting the virtual machine, converted to the secondary virtual machine type, on the secondary computing device.

13. The method of claim 1, the hosting comprising:

responsive to determining that an application accesses data hosted by the virtual machine, providing the application with access to the virtual machine hosted on the secondary computing device.

14. A system for providing virtual machine fault tolerance from a snapshot, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory comprising instructions that when executed by at least one of the one or more processors implement a hosting component configured to;

receive a first snapshot of a virtual machine, the first snapshot created while the virtual machine is hosted on a primary computing device, the first snapshot comprising a first backup image of the virtual machine at a first point in time;

receive a second snapshot of the virtual machine, the second snapshot created while the virtual machine is hosted on the primary computing device, the second snapshot comprising a second backup image of the virtual machine at a second point in time;

detect a failure of the virtual machine hosted on the primary computing device;

aggregate the first snapshot and the second snapshot to create a non-conflicting snapshot of the virtual machine, comprising propagating non-conflicting features of the first snapshot and the second snapshot into the non-conflicting snapshot; and

host the virtual machine on a secondary computing device based upon the non-conflicting snapshot.

15. The system of claim 14, the hosting component configured to:

consolidate first virtual machine data within the first snapshot and second virtual machine data within the second snapshot to create the non-conflicting snapshot.

16. The system of claim 14, the hosting component configured to:

responsive to determining that a primary virtual machine type of the non-conflicting snapshot is not supported by the secondary computing device, convert the non-conflicting snapshot from the primary virtual machine type to a secondary virtual machine type supported by the secondary computing device.

17. The system of claim 14, the hosting component configured to:

create a new snapshot of the virtual machine hosted on the secondary computing device.

18. The system of claim 17, the hosting component configured to:

responsive to determining that the primary computing device is available to re-host the virtual machine, re-host the virtual machine on the primary computing device based upon the new snapshot from the secondary computing device.

19. The system of claim 14, the hosting component configured to:

responsive to determining that an application accesses data hosted by the virtual machine, provide the application with access to the virtual machine hosted on the secondary computing device.

20. A computer readable medium comprising instructions which when executed at least in part via a processing unit perform a method for providing virtual machine fault tolerance from a snapshot, comprising:

receiving a first snapshot of a virtual machine, the first snapshot created while the virtual machine is hosted on a primary computing device;

receiving a second snapshot of the virtual machine, the second snapshot created while the virtual machine is hosted on the primary computing device;

detecting a failure of the virtual machine hosted on the primary computing device;

aggregating the first snapshot and the second snapshot to create a non-conflicting snapshot of the virtual machine, the aggregating comprising propagating non-conflicting features of the first snapshot and the second snapshot into the non-conflicting snapshot; and

hosting the virtual machine on a secondary computing device based upon the non-conflicting snapshot.