Migration of complex applications within a hybrid cloud environment
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of migrating a complex computer application from an initial application configuration comprising a plurality of source servers within a hybrid cloud environment to a migrated application configuration comprising a plurality of target servers within the same hybrid cloud environment, the hybrid cloud environment comprising a plurality of data center environments that are connected for electronic communications, each data center environment comprising at least one resource pool of server resources comprising a plurality of physical or virtual machines that implement servers and are connected for electronic communications among each other via physical or virtual data communication networks, the initial application configuration being implemented via a plurality workloads executing on a plurality of source servers operating within one or more of the data center environments, comprising the steps of:
- providing a network map storing data associated with the data center environments and their associated data communication networks and network interfaces, the network map defining the data center environments that comprise the hybrid cloud environment, resource pools within each data center environment, virtual network appliances deployed into data center environments, and overlay networks that connect the data center environments for electronic communications;
providing an application map storing data associated with an initial application configuration of the complex computer application, the application map defining the workloads that comprise the complex application, network connections between the workloads, and the overlay networks used to create network connections;
receiving an application migration request for a migration of the complex computer application to a migrated application configuration, the migrated application configuration specifying which of the source servers to migrate and the data center environments to be employed for the target servers;
in response to the application migration request, accessing the network map to identify the resource pools and network configuration available at each data center environment identified in the application migration request;
deploying a new virtual network appliance at each data center environment included in the migrated application configuration that does not already include a virtual network appliance;
installing, if not already present, the overlay networks required by the migrated application configuration onto the virtual network appliances within the data center environments identified by the migrated application configuration;
in further response to the migration request, accessing the application map to identify the workloads of the initial application configuration that are to be migrated to the migrated application configuration, the workloads including workloads required for any virtual network appliances used in the migrated application configuration;
in further response to the migration request, assigning, to each identified workload, at least one server resource to be used as a target server from the server resource pools available in the data center environments identified in the migrated application configuration;
migrating each workload of the application from its source server to its new assigned target server;
connecting each network interface on each new assigned target server to the overlay network specified in the application map;
updating the application map and network map to reflect characteristics of the migrated application configuration; and
commencing execution of the assigned target servers in the migrated application configuration to run the complex computer application.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and methods for the migration of complex computer applications and the workloads comprising them between physical, virtual, and cloud servers that span a hybrid cloud environment comprising private local and remote customer data centers and public cloud data centers, without modification to the applications, their operational environments, or user access procedures. A virtual network manager securely extends the subnets and VLANS within the customer'"'"'s various data center across the distributed, hybrid environment using overlay networks implemented with virtual network appliances at nodes of the overlay network. A server migrater migrates individual workloads of servers used by the complex application from one pool of server resources to another. A migration manager application provides a control interface, and also maps and manages the resources of the complex application, the hybrid environment, and the virtual network spanning the hybrid cloud environment.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of migrating a complex computer application from an initial application configuration comprising a plurality of source servers within a hybrid cloud environment to a migrated application configuration comprising a plurality of target servers within the same hybrid cloud environment, the hybrid cloud environment comprising a plurality of data center environments that are connected for electronic communications, each data center environment comprising at least one resource pool of server resources comprising a plurality of physical or virtual machines that implement servers and are connected for electronic communications among each other via physical or virtual data communication networks, the initial application configuration being implemented via a plurality workloads executing on a plurality of source servers operating within one or more of the data center environments, comprising the steps of:
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providing a network map storing data associated with the data center environments and their associated data communication networks and network interfaces, the network map defining the data center environments that comprise the hybrid cloud environment, resource pools within each data center environment, virtual network appliances deployed into data center environments, and overlay networks that connect the data center environments for electronic communications; providing an application map storing data associated with an initial application configuration of the complex computer application, the application map defining the workloads that comprise the complex application, network connections between the workloads, and the overlay networks used to create network connections; receiving an application migration request for a migration of the complex computer application to a migrated application configuration, the migrated application configuration specifying which of the source servers to migrate and the data center environments to be employed for the target servers; in response to the application migration request, accessing the network map to identify the resource pools and network configuration available at each data center environment identified in the application migration request; deploying a new virtual network appliance at each data center environment included in the migrated application configuration that does not already include a virtual network appliance; installing, if not already present, the overlay networks required by the migrated application configuration onto the virtual network appliances within the data center environments identified by the migrated application configuration; in further response to the migration request, accessing the application map to identify the workloads of the initial application configuration that are to be migrated to the migrated application configuration, the workloads including workloads required for any virtual network appliances used in the migrated application configuration; in further response to the migration request, assigning, to each identified workload, at least one server resource to be used as a target server from the server resource pools available in the data center environments identified in the migrated application configuration; migrating each workload of the application from its source server to its new assigned target server; connecting each network interface on each new assigned target server to the overlay network specified in the application map; updating the application map and network map to reflect characteristics of the migrated application configuration; and commencing execution of the assigned target servers in the migrated application configuration to run the complex computer application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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14. The method of 11, wherein the tunneling protocol of an encrypted tunnel is one of OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP, VXLAN, NVGRE, STT or NVO3.
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51. A computer-implemented method of migrating a complex computer application from an initial application configuration comprising a plurality of source servers within a hybrid cloud environment to a migrated application configuration comprising a plurality of target servers within the same hybrid cloud environment, the hybrid cloud environment comprising a plurality of data center environments that include a resource pool of server resources comprising a plurality of virtual or physical machines that implement servers and are connected for electronic communications among each other via physical or virtual data communication networks, the initial application configuration being implemented via a plurality of source servers operating within one or more of the data center environments, comprising the steps of:
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providing a virtual network appliance (VNA) at each data center environment for effecting one or more overlay networks to be used for coupling servers that implement the complex computer application in the migrated application configuration; providing an electronically accessible network map storing information (a) corresponding to each data center environment and its associated data communication networks and network interfaces, (b) identifying the resource pools in each data center environments that are available to provide server resources that can be assigned as target servers for a migration operation, (c) identifying attributes of the virtual network appliances (VNAs) deployed within the data center environments, and (d) the overlay networks that connect the data center environments for electronic communication; providing an electronically accessible application map storing (a) information defining one or more workloads that, together with one or more other workloads, constitute the complex computer application in an initial application configuration;
(b) network connection data defining the network connections between the workloads of the complex computer application in the initial application configuration; and
(c) the overlay networks used to create the network connections between the workloads of the complex application;receiving a migration request via user input at a computer-implemented migration system, the migration request including an identification of the source servers of the application to be migrated to target servers and an identification of the data center environments, and, optionally, specific resource pools within those data center environments, to be used for providing the target servers; in response to the migration request at the migration system, accessing the application map to identify the workloads associated with the application, the network connections between the workloads; and
the overlay networks used by the network connections;in further response to the migration request at the migration system, accessing the network map to (a) select one or more server resources from the resource pools of the identified data center environments for assignment as one or more target servers for a migrated application configuration, and (b) retrieve network connection data specifying how to deploy the overlay networks required by the migrated application configuration into the identified data center environments; in further response to the migration request at the migration system, deploying overlay networks for the target servers; updating the network map to reflect any newly deployed overlay networks; updating the application map to reflect the identification of selected target servers assigned for the migration application configuration and any configuration required to connect the selected target servers to the overlay networks; migrating each source server to a corresponding assigned target server within the identified data center environment; configuring each target server to access the overlay networks indicated by the migrated application configuration; and initiating the operations of the VNAs, overlay networks assigned for the migrated application configuration, and target servers assigned for the migration application configuration such that the application thereafter executes in the migrated application configuration. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53)
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Specification