Creation of highly available pseudo-clone standby servers for rapid failover provisioning

• US 9,411,697 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2012
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Aggarwal, Vijay Kumar, Lawton, Craig, Peters, Christopher Andrew, Ramachandran, P. G., Ullmann, Lorin Evan, Whitfield, John Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Jensen
• Application Number:
  US13/625,125
• Publication Number:
  US 20130024720A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: 707/655
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2025 using centralised failover control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2028 eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/85 Active fault masking without idle spares
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events

Abstract

Near clones for a set of targeted computing systems are provided by determining a highest common denominator set of components among the computing systems, producing a pseudo-clone configuration definition, and realizing one or more pseudo-clone computing systems as partially configured backups for the targeted computing systems. Upon a planned failover, actual failure, or quarantine action on a targeted computing system, a difference configuration is determined to complete the provisioning of the pseudo-clone system to serve as a replacement system for the failed or quarantined system. Failure predictions can be used to implement the pseudo-clone just prior to an expected first failure of any of the targeted systems. The system can also interface to an on-demand provisioning management system to effect automated workflows to realize pseudo-clones and replacement systems automatically, as needed.

Claims

1. A computer program product for creation of highly available pseudo-clone standby servers for rapid failover provisioning, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a computer to:

evaluate at least two different target computing system configurations of installed hardware components and installed software components;

responsive to the evaluating at least two different target computing system configurations of installed hardware components and installed software components, determine a subset of components in common among the different configurations, the subset being less than but not all of the installed hardware components and installed software components of any of configurations of the targeted computing systems;

determine an initial pseudo-clone configuration including at least the subset but not all components of any target configurations;

produce at least one finish-out workflow of installation steps and components to be installed into an incompletely configured computer system according to the pseudo-clone configuration to produce an operational clone system; and

output the pseudo-clone configuration and the finish-out workflow to a provisioning management system.

2. The computer program product as set forth in claim 1 wherein the program code is further to realize a pseudo-clone backup computing system by configuring a computing system according to the pseudo-clone configuration.

3. The computer program product as set forth in claim 2 wherein the program code is further to realize a replacement computing system by further configuring the pseudo-clone backup computing system according to the workflow difference, and to transfer computing tasks from the targeted computing system to the replacement computing system thereby relieving the targeted computing system of its computing tasks.

4. The computer program product as set forth in claim 3 wherein the program code to realize a replacement computing system by further configuring the pseudo-clone backup computing system according to the workflow difference is program code for execution responsive to an event selected from the group consisting of a failure of the targeted computing system, a planned disablement of the targeted computing system, and a quarantine action against the targeted computing system.

5. The computer program product as set forth in claim 2 wherein the program code is further to:

prior to performing the realizing a pseudo-clone backup computing system, perform a failure prediction analysis upon the targeted computing systems to determine an expected time to first failure; and

delay realization of the pseudo-clone backup until a time proximate to the time to first failure from the earliest of a targeted computing system being placed in service.

6. The computer program product as set forth in claim 5 wherein the program code is further to:

monitor actual failure rates of the targeted computing system;

maintain a historical record of the failures; and

modify the failure analysis to compensate the expected time to first failures to approximate the actual failure rates such that the delaying represents historical failure characteristics of the installed hardware components and the installed software components.

7. The computer program instructions as set forth in claim 5 wherein the failure prediction analysis comprises grouping the targeted servers into sub-groups according to high-availability, low down-time characteristics of the targeted servers, and comprises performing a failure prediction analysis on each group of similarly-characterized targeted servers.

8. The computer program product as set forth in claim 2 wherein the program code is further to:

prior to determining a pseudo-clone configuration, perform a failure analysis upon the pseudo-clone configuration to determine an expected time to first failure of a potential pseudo-clone system; and

revise the pseudo-clone configuration if the expected time to first failure is less than an objective operation duration of a pseudo-clone as a standby server.

9. The computer program product as set forth in claim 1 wherein the program code is further to:

determine one or more subsets of targeted computing systems having a number of installed hardware components and installed software components in common greater than a number of components in common among all of the targeted computing systems;

produce one or more higher-priority pseudo-clone configuration definitions including the common installed components of the subset of targeted computing systems; and

output the higher-priority pseudo-clone configuration definitions to a provisioning management system for subsequent realization of one or more pseudo-clone backup computing systems.

10. The computer program product as set forth in claim 1 wherein the program code is further to evaluate sub-licensing conditions for the installed software components, wherein producing a pseudo-clone configuration definition comprises omitting non-licensed components which are not shared commonly across all the targeted computing systems, wherein determining a finish-out workflow comprises determining if any sub-licensed components in the pseudo-clone are to be upgraded to a greater sub-license or a full license to produce an operational clone system, and wherein the sixth program instructions are stored by the computer readable memory device.

11. The computer program product as set forth in claim 1 wherein the evaluating of the plurality of configurations comprises determining that one or more super-licensing conditions exist among the plurality of configurations, wherein producing a pseudo-clone configuration comprises omitting the components which are determined to be super-licensed on any targeted computing system, and wherein producing a workflow comprises determining if any super-licensed components in the targeted computing systems are to be realized in the replacement computing system according to a super-license constraint.

12. The computer program product as set forth in claim 1 wherein the evaluating of the plurality of configurations comprises determining that one or more super-licensing conditions exist among the plurality of configurations, wherein producing a pseudo-clone configuration comprises including and denoting the components which are determined to be super-licensed on any targeted computing system, and wherein determining a difference configuration comprises determining if any super-licensed components in the pseudo-clone system are to be de-provisioned according to a superlicense constraint.

13. The computer program product as set forth in claim 3 wherein the program code is further to:

prior to the realizing a replacement computing system, perform an analysis of steps required for the finish-out workflow to determine the expected time to implement a replacement computing system according to the workflow;

compare the expected time to realize a replacement computing system to an objective time-to-implement value; and

responsive to the expected time exceeding the objective time-to-implement, notify an administrator of the exceed objective.

14. The computer program product as set forth in claim 13 wherein the analysis of steps required for the finish-out workflow difference configuration comprises employing workflow step times measured during one or more prior actual system configuration and provisioning.

15. The computer program product as set forth in claim 14 wherein the workflow step times are collected during one or more practice recovery operations in which actual a pseudo-clone is realized, a failure is simulated, and the pseudo-clone is reconfigured according to the difference configuration.

16. A system for creation of highly available pseudo-clone standby servers for rapid failover provisioning comprising:

a computer system having a processor, or an electronic circuit, or a combination of processor and electronic circuit suitable for performing a logical process;

computer readable storage device having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a computer to;

evaluate at least two different target computing system configurations of installed hardware components and installed software components;

responsive to the evaluating at least two different target computing system configurations of installed hardware components and installed software components, determine a subset of components in common among the different configurations, the subset being less than but not all of the installed hardware components and installed software components of any of configurations of the targeted computing systems;

determine an initial pseudo-clone configuration including at least the subset but not all components of any target configurations;

produce at least one finish-out workflow of installation steps and components to be installed into an incompletely configured computer system according to the pseudo-clone configuration to produce an operational clone system; and

output the pseudo-clone configuration and the finish-out workflow to a provisioning management system.

17. The system as set forth in claim 16 wherein the program code further comprises program code to cause the processor to

determine one or more subsets of targeted computing systems having a number of installed hardware components and installed software components in common greater than a number of components in common among all of the targeted computing systems;

produce one or more higher-priority pseudo-clone configuration definitions including the common installed components of the subset of targeted computing systems; and

output the higher-priority pseudo-clone configuration definitions to a provisioning management system for subsequent realization of one or more pseudo-clone backup computing systems.

18. The system as set forth in claim 16 wherein the program code further comprises program code for cause the processor to evaluate sublicensing conditions for the installed software components, wherein producing a pseudo-clone configuration definition comprises omitting non-licensed components which are not shared commonly across all the targeted computing systems, wherein determining a finish-out workflow comprises determining if any sub-licensed components in the pseudo-clone are to be upgraded to a greater sub-license or a full license to produce an operational clone system.

19. The system as set forth in claim 16 wherein the evaluating of the plurality of configurations comprises determining that one or more super-licensing conditions exist among the plurality of configurations, wherein producing a pseudo-clone configuration comprises omitting the components which are determined to be super-licensed on any targeted computing system, and wherein producing a workflow comprises determining if any super-licensed components in the targeted computing systems are to be realized in the replacement computing system according to a super-license constraint.

20. A method for creation of highly available pseudo-clone standby servers for rapid failover provisioning comprising:

evaluate by a computer processor at least two different target computing system configurations of installed hardware components and installed software components;

responsive to the evaluating at least two different target computing system configurations of installed hardware components and installed software components, determine by a computer processor a subset of components in common among the different configurations, the subset being less than but not all of the installed hardware components and installed software components of any of configurations of the targeted computing systems;

determine by a computer processor an initial pseudo-clone configuration including at least the subset but not all components of any target configurations;

produce by a computer processor at least one finish-out workflow of installation steps and components to be installed into an incompletely configured computer system according to the pseudo-clone configuration to produce an operational clone system; and

output by a computer processor the pseudo-clone configuration and the finish-out workflow to a provisioning management system.