Update management for a distributed computing system

• US 9,148,465 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2014
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gambardella, Matthew, Garrett, Matthew, Payne, Bryan, Heck, Joe, Carlen, Devin, Szilagyi, Mike, Caruso, Ken, McMillan, Paul, Mankin, Yona Benjamin, Gius, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri, Anil
• Application Number:
  US14/242,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20140304695A1
• Time in Patent Office: 546 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-174, 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method receives a software upgrade package for a management computer and main computer. The management computer upgrades software of the management computer using the software upgrade package where the upgrading replaces an image of the software of the management computer with an image from the software upgrade package. Upon upgrade of the management computer, the management computer initiates an upgrade of the main computer. The main computer withdraws use of the services, and upon the withdrawing, the management computer reboots the main computer. Then, the main computer upgrades software of the main computer using the software upgrade package upon rebooting where the upgrading replaces an image of the software of the main computer with an image from the software upgrade package. Upon the upgrading, the main computer restores the use of the services.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, a software upgrade package for a management computer and main computer within the computing device, wherein the management computer manages the main computer, and the main computer controls services for a distributed computing system including a set of nodes that execute workloads to perform the services;

upgrading, by the management computer, software of the management computer using the software upgrade package before upgrading of the main computer, wherein the upgrading replaces an image of the software of the management computer with an image for the management computer from the software upgrade package;

upon upgrade of the management computer, initiating, by the management computer, an upgrade of the main computer;

withdrawing, by the main computer, use of the services;

upon the withdrawing, rebooting, by the management computer, the main computer;

upgrading, by the main computer, software of the main computer using the software upgrade package upon rebooting, wherein the upgrading replaces an a full image of the software of the main computer with an image for the main computer from the software upgrade package, and wherein when the main computer is rebooted, the main computer discards the full image of the software of the main computer; and

restoring, by the main computer, the use of the services upon the upgrading.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein upgrading software of the main computer comprises:

the main computer discards a previous operating system as the full image of the software of the main computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein upgrading software of the management computer comprises:

storing the image for the management computer from the software upgrade package for upgrading the software of the management computer on a first partition, wherein the image of the software that is to be updated is stored on a second partition;

designating the first partition as being an active partition; and

rebooting the management computer, wherein upon rebooting, the management computer performs the upgrading using the image stored in the first partition due to the first partition being designated as active.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before upgrading of the software of the management computer, verifying, by the management computer, components of the upgrade software package; and

upon verifying, performing the upgrading of the software of the management computer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before upgrading of the software of the management computer, verifying, by the management computer, the management computer is eligible to perform the upgrading.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein upgrading software of the main computer comprises:

verifying the main computer is eligible to perform the upgrading including checking the services are available and in a state for performing the upgrading of the software of the main computer; and

withdrawing the services upon the verifying of the main computer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein withdrawing use of the services comprises:

storing configuration data or state data for the services in a persistent storage that persist across the rebooting of the main computer before the withdrawing.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing configuration data for the main computer on storage for the management computer, wherein upon upgrading, the main computer retrieves the configuration data from the main computer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein upgrading software of the main computer comprises:

receiving the image for the main computer from the software upgrade package for upgrading the software of the main computer from the management computer;

storing the image for the main computer for upgrading the software of the main computer; and

rebooting the main computer, wherein upon rebooting, the main computer performs the upgrading using the stored image for the main computer for upgrading the software of the main computer.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, a software upgrade package for a first computer in a plurality of computers of a distributed computing system, wherein the first computer is a designated leader of the plurality of computers;

electing, by the first computer, a second computer in the plurality of computers to perform an upgrade of software of the second computer using the software upgrade package, wherein the upgrading replaces an image of the software of the second computer with an image from the software upgrade package; and

upon upgrade of the first computer, sending, by the first computer, an indication to become the designated leader to the second computer, wherein after becoming the designated leader, the second computer initiates upgrading of the first computer and other computers in the plurality of computers.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

communicating with the plurality of computers to agree on a version of the software upgrade package to upgrade to.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of computers perform the upgrade by performing:

receiving the software upgrade package for a management computer and main computer within each of the plurality of computers, wherein the management computer manages the main computer, and the main computer controls services for a distributed computing system including a set of nodes;

upgrading, by the management computer, software of the management computer using the software upgrade package;

upon upgrade of the management computer, initiating, by the management computer, an upgrade of the main computer;

withdrawing, by the main computer, use of the services;

upon the withdrawing, rebooting, by the management computer, the main computer;

upgrading, by the main computer, software of the main computer using the software upgrade package upon rebooting, wherein the upgrading replaces an image of the software of the main computer with an image from the software upgrade package; and

restoring, by the main computer, the use of the services upon the upgrading.

13. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed, control the one or more computer processors to be configured for;

receiving a software upgrade package for a management computer and main computer, wherein the management computer manages the main computer, and the main computer controls services for a distributed computing system including a set of nodes that execute workloads to perform the services;

upgrading, by the management computer, software of the management computer using the software upgrade package before upgrading of the main computer, wherein the upgrading replaces an image of the software of the management computer with an image for the management computer from the software upgrade package;

upon upgrade of the management computer, initiating, by the management computer, an upgrade of the main computer;

withdrawing, by the main computer, use of the services;

upon the withdrawing, rebooting, by the management computer, the main computer;

upgrading, by the main computer, software of the main computer using the software upgrade package upon rebooting, wherein the upgrading replaces a full image of the software of the main computer with an image for the main computer from the software upgrade package, and wherein when the main computer is rebooted, the main computer discards the full image of the software of the main computer; and

restoring, by the main computer, the use of the services upon the upgrading.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein upgrading software of the main computer comprises:

the main computer discards a previous operating system as the full image of the software of the main computer.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein upgrading software of the management computer comprises:

storing the image for the management computer from the software upgrade package for upgrading the software of the management computer on a first partition, wherein the image of the software that is to be updated is stored on a second partition;

designating the first partition as being an active partition; and

rebooting the management computer, wherein upon rebooting, the management computer performs the upgrading using the image stored in the first partition due to the first partition being designated as active.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further configured for:

before upgrading of the software of the management computer, verifying, by the management computer, the upgrade software package; and

upon verifying, performing the upgrading of the software of the management computer.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, further configured for:

before upgrading of the software of the management computer, verifying, by the management computer, the management computer is eligible to perform the upgrading.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein upgrading software of the main computer comprises:

verifying the main computer is eligible to perform the upgrading including checking the services are available and in a state for performing the upgrading of the software of the main computer; and

withdrawing the services upon the verifying of the main computer before the withdrawing.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein withdrawing use of the services comprises:

storing configuration data or state data for the services in a persistent storage that persist across the rebooting of the main computer.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein withdrawing use of the services comprises:

storing configuration data or state data for the services in a persistent storage that persist across the rebooting of the main computer.

21. The apparatus of claim 13, further configured for storing configuration data for the main computer on storage for the management computer, wherein upon upgrading, the main computer retrieves the configuration data from the main computer.

22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein upgrading software of the main computer comprises:

receiving the image for the main computer from the software upgrade package for upgrading the software of the main computer from the management computer;

storing the image for the main computer for upgrading the software of the main computer; and

rebooting the main computer, wherein upon rebooting, the main computer performs the upgrading using the stored image for the main computer for upgrading the software of the main computer.