Global computing interface

• US 9,292,319 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 03/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Beda, Joseph S. III, Petrescu-Prahova, Cristian, Khemani, Vishesh
• Primary Examiner(s): SWIFT, CHARLES M
• Application Number:
  US13/842,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20130263131A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• 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 9/4868 with creation or replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4875 with migration policy, e.g. auction, contract negotiation
• 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 9/5022 Mechanisms to release resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 : Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 : Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 : involving task migration

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for implementing a global computing interface. One of the methods includes maintaining a global database of virtual machine configuration information, the database including information on cloud computing resources in each of a plurality of regions, wherein each region of the plurality of regions includes one or more datacenters. A virtual machine image is received in a first region. The global database is updated with configuration information about the received virtual machine image that is stored in the first region. A request is received to start one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image in a second different region, and the virtual machine image is transmitted from the first region to the second region and one or more virtual machines are started from the virtual machine image in a datacenter of the second different region.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining a global database of virtual machine configuration information, the database including information on which virtual machine images are stored in each of a plurality of datacenters, each datacenter being located in one region of a plurality of regions, wherein each datacenter has a cluster manager located in the region of the datacenter that manages virtual machine images in the datacenter;

receiving and storing, by a first cluster manager for a first datacenter in a first region, a virtual machine image in a first datacenter in the first region;

receiving, by the first cluster manager from a user, a request to start one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image in a second datacenter in which the virtual machine image is not stored, the second datacenter being in a different second region of the plurality of regions;

in response to receiving the request to start one or more virtual machines, providing, by the first cluster manager to a different second cluster manager for the second datacenter in the second region, a request to start, in the second datacenter, one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image;

determining, by the second cluster manager, that the virtual machine image is stored in the first datacenter and that the virtual machine image is not stored in the second datacenter;

in response to the determining, providing, by the second cluster manager to the first cluster manager, a request to transmit the virtual machine image from the first datacenter to the second datacenter; and

in response to receiving the request to transmit the virtual machine image, transmitting, by the first cluster manager, the virtual machine image from the first datacenter in the first region to the different second cluster manager for the second datacenter in the second region, storing, by the second cluster manager, the virtual machine image in the second datacenter in the second region, and starting one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image in the second datacenter of the second region without receiving further user interaction from the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating, by the first cluster manager for the first datacenter, the global database with an indication that the virtual machine image is stored in the second datacenter in the second region.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising replicating, in the global database, the indication that the virtual machine image is stored in the second datacenter in the second region.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving, from the user, the request to start one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image, determining that the first cluster manager is a cluster manager that is closest to a location of the user; and

routing the request to the first cluster manager.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the request, updating the global database of virtual machine configuration information to include an indication of the request from the user to start one or more virtual machines in the second datacenter; and

routing the request to the second cluster manager for the second datacenter in the second region.

6. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

maintaining a global database of virtual machine configuration information, the database including information on which virtual machine images are stored in each of a plurality of datacenters, each datacenter being located in one region of a plurality of regions, wherein each datacenter has a cluster manager located in the region of the datacenter that manages virtual machines in the datacenter;

receiving and storing, by a first cluster manager for a first datacenter in a first region, a virtual machine image in a first datacenter in the first region;

receiving, by the first cluster manager from a user, a request to start one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image in a second datacenter in which the virtual machine image is not stored, the second datacenter being in a different second region of the plurality of regions;

in response to receiving the request to start one or more virtual machines, providing, by the first cluster manager to a different second cluster manager for the second datacenter in the second region, a request to start, in the second datacenter, one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image;

determining, by the second cluster manger, that the virtual machine image is stored in the first datacenter and that the virtual machine image is not store din the second datacenter;

in response to the determining, providing, by the second cluster manager to the first cluster manager, a request to transmit the virtual machine image from the first datacenter to the second datacenter; and

in response to receiving the request to transmit the virtual machine image, transmitting, by the first cluster manager, the virtual machine image from the first datacenter in the first region to a different second cluster manager for the second datacenter in the second region, storing, by the second cluster manager, the virtual machine image in the second datacenter in the second region, and starting one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image in the second datacenter of the second region without receiving further user interaction from the user.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise updating, by the first cluster manager for the first datacenter, the global database with an indication that the virtual machine image is stored in the second datacenter in the second region.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise replicating, in the global database, the indication that the virtual machine image is stored in the second datacenter in the second region.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to receiving, from the user, the request to start one or more virtual machines from the virtual machine image, determining that the first cluster manager is a cluster manager that is closest to a location of the user; and

routing the request to the first cluster manager.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to the request, updating the global database of virtual machine configuration information to include an indication of the request from the user to start one or more virtual machines in the second datacenter; and

routing the request to the second cluster manager for the second datacenter in the second region.

11. A system comprising:

a plurality of datacenters, each datacenter comprising a plurality of computers, each datacenter being located in one region of a plurality of regions;

a global database of virtual machine image configuration information, including information on which virtual machine images are stored in each of the plurality of datacenters; and

a plurality of cluster managers, each cluster manager of the plurality of cluster managers being installed in a separate datacenter of the plurality of datacenters,

wherein each cluster manager for each particular datacenter in each particular region is configured, upon receiving a virtual machine image, to store the virtual machine image in the particular datacenter and to update the global database with an indication that the virtual machine image is stored in the particular datacenter in the particular region,

and wherein each cluster manager for each particular datacenter in each particular region is configured to receive a request, from a different cluster manager of a different datacenter in a different region, to start one or more virtual machines from a virtual machine image stored in the different datacenter in the different region, determine, from the virtual machine image configuration information, that the virtual machine image is not stored in the particular datacenter, determine, from the virtual machine image configuration information, that the virtual machine image is stored in the different datacenter in the different region, and in response, provide a request to the different cluster manager for the different datacenter in the different region to transmit the virtual machine image from the different datacenter to the particular datacenter and start, in the particular datacenter, the one or more virtual machines from the received virtual machine image.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the global database is replicated in each datacenter of the plurality of datacenters.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein each cluster manager for each particular datacenter is configured to receive a request from a user to start one or more virtual machines in a different datacenter, and in response, route the request to a different cluster manager for the different datacenter.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein each cluster manager for each particular datacenter is configured to update the virtual machine image configuration information to include an indication of the request from the user to start one or more virtual machines in the different datacenter.