System and method for implementing storage for a virtualization environment

• US 9,619,257 B1
• Filed: 01/18/2013
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Inventors: Aron, Mohit, Pandey, Dheeraj, Singh, Ajeet
• Primary Examiner(s): Swift, Charles
• Application Number:
  US13/744,655
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/128 Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion use of snapshots for error detection or correction G06F11/14, G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1748 De-duplication implemented within the file system, e.g. based on file segments de-duplication techniques in storage systems for the management of data blocks G06F3/0641
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1873 Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/06 Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers , e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0638 Organizing or formatting or addressing of data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0641 De-duplication techniques
• 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 9/4881 : Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• 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 9/5016 : the resource being the memory
• 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 9/5061 : Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 : Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 : Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 : Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 : involving task migration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/356 : for storage area networks

Abstract

A system for implementing storage for a virtualization environment, including a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes implements a virtualization environment, a plurality of storage devices that are accessed by virtual machines in the virtualization environment, and wherein the plurality of storage devices comprises a local storage device that is locally attached to one of the plurality of nodes, and in which the local storage device can be managed as part of a global storage space for the virtualization environment.

Claims

1. A system for implementing storage for a virtualization environment, comprising:

a plurality of nodes implementing a virtualization environment, the plurality of nodes comprising at least a first node and a second node, the second node being different from the first node, and at least the first node and the second node including a respective service virtual machine;

a plurality of storage devices that are accessed by virtual machines in the virtualization environment, the plurality of storage devices comprising a first storage device tier and a second storage device tier,

the first storage device tier comprising local storage devices that are locally attached to respective nodes of the plurality of nodes comprising at least a first local storage device on the first node and a second local storage device on the second node,

the second storage device tier comprising network attached storage devices that are accessed through a network,

the first storage device tier and the second storage device tier being part of a global storage pool, and the global storage pool being managed by the respective service virtual machines as a global resource pool; and

at least some of the service virtual machines of the respective nodes exposes one or more virtual disks to the virtual machines, at least one of the one or more virtual disks are structured from both the first local storage device on the first node and the second local storage device on the second node and the networked attached storage devices in the global storage pool.

2. The system of claim 1 in which one or more virtual disks are formed from the plurality of storage devices in the global storage pool.

3. The system of claim 2 in which the one or more virtual disks correspond to one or more block devices or server targets.

4. The system of claim 1 in which a service virtual machine operates as a storage controller for a node, wherein the service virtual machine is external to a hypervisor.

5. The system of claim 1 in which the local storage device comprises a solid state drive (SSD).

6. The system of claim 1 in which data requiring faster access is stored to the local storage device.

7. The system of claim 1 in which data that requires frequent access is stored to the local storage device.

8. The system of claim 1 in which data that does not require frequent or fast access is stored to a non-local storage device.

9. The system of claim 8 in which the non-local storage device comprises a networked storage device or a cloud storage structure.

10. The system of claim 1 in which a networking protocol is used to communicate between the virtual machines and a storage controller in the virtualization environment.

11. The system of claim 10 in which the networking protocol comprises iSCSI or NFS.

12. The system of claim 1 in which the plurality of storage devices are organized into a storage universe having a plurality of storage pools.

13. The system of claim 12 in which a virtual disk is formed from a container within a storage pool.

14. The system of claim 1 in which the plurality of storage devices are organized into tiers of storage, in which the local storage device is classified into a tier with other similar devices.

15. The system of claim 1, in which the global storage pool comprises cloud storage.

16. A method for implementing storage for a virtualization environment, comprising:

identifying a plurality of nodes implementing a virtualization environment, the plurality of nodes comprising at least a first node and a second node, the second node being different from the first node, at least the first node and the second node including a respective service virtual machine, and wherein a plurality of storage devices are accessed by virtual machines in the virtualization environment;

implementing the plurality of storage devices to comprise multiple tiers of storage including a first storage device tier and a second storage device tier,

the first storage device tier comprising local storage devices that are locally attached to the plurality of nodes comprising at least a first local storage device on the first node and a second local storage device on the second node,

the second storage device tier comprising network attached storage devices that are accessed through a network,

the first storage device tier and the second storage device tier being part of a global storage pool, and the global storage pool being managed by the respective service virtual machines as a global resource pool; and

exposing one or more virtual disks to the virtual machines by at least some of the service virtual machines of the respective nodes, at least one of the one or more virtual disks are structured from both the first local storage device on the first node and the second local storage device on the second node and the networked attached storage devices in the global storage pool.

17. The method of claim 16 in which one or more virtual disks are formed from the plurality of storage devices in the global storage pool.

18. The method of claim 17 in which the one or more virtual disks correspond to one or more block devices or server targets.

19. The method of claim 16 in which a service virtual machine operates as a storage controller for a node, wherein the service virtual machine is external to a hypervisor.

20. The method of claim 16 in which the local storage device comprises a solid state drive (SSD).

21. The method of claim 16 in which data requiring faster access is stored to the local storage device.

22. The method of claim 16 in which data that requires frequent access is stored to the local storage device.

23. The method of claim 16 in which data that does not require frequent or fast access is stored to a non-local storage device.

24. The method of claim 23 in which the non-local storage device comprises a networked storage device or a cloud storage structure.

25. The method of claim 16 in which a networking protocol is used to communicate between the virtual machines and a storage controller in the virtualization environment.

26. The method of claim 25 in which the networking protocol comprises iSCSI or NFS.

27. The method of claim 16 in which the plurality of storage devices are organized into a storage universe having a plurality of storage pools.

28. The method of claim 27 in which a virtual disk is formed from a container within a storage pool.

29. The method of claim 16 in which the plurality of storage devices are organized into tiers of storage, in which the local storage device is classified into a tier with other similar devices.

30. The method of claim 16, in which the global storage pool comprises cloud storage.

31. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a method for implementing storage for a virtualization environment, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of nodes implementing a virtualization environment, the plurality of nodes comprising at least a first node and a second node, the second node being different from the first node, at least the first node and the second node including a respective service virtual machine, and wherein a plurality of storage devices are accessed by virtual machines in the virtualization environment;

implementing the plurality of storage devices to comprise multiple tiers of storage including a first storage device tier and a second storage device tier,

the first storage device tier comprising local storage devices that are locally attached to the plurality of nodes comprising at least a first local storage device on the first node and a second local storage device on the second node,

the second storage device tier comprising network attached storage devices that are accessed through a network,

the first storage device tier and the second storage device tier being part of a global storage pool, and the global storage pool being managed by the respective service virtual machines as a global resource pool; and

exposing one or more virtual disks to the virtual machines by at least some of the service virtual machines of the respective nodes, at least one of the one or more virtual disks are structured from both the first local storage device on the first node and the second local storage device on the second node and the networked attached storage devices in the global storage pool.

32. The computer program product of claim 31 in which one or more virtual disks are formed from the plurality of storage devices in the global storage pool.

33. The computer program product of claim 32 in which the one or more virtual disks correspond to one or more block devices or server targets.

34. The computer program product of claim 31 in which a service virtual machine operates as a storage controller for a node, wherein the service virtual machine is external to a hypervisor.

35. The computer program product of claim 31 in which the local storage device comprises a solid state drive (SSD).

36. The computer program product of claim 31 in which data requiring faster access is stored to the local storage device.

37. The computer program product of claim 31 in which data that requires frequent access is stored to the local storage device.

38. The computer program product of claim 31 in which data that does not require frequent or fast access is stored to a non-local storage device.

39. The computer program product of claim 38 in which the non-local storage device comprises a networked storage device or a cloud storage structure.

40. The computer program product of claim 31 in which a networking protocol is used to communicate between the virtual machines and a storage controller in the virtualization environment.

41. The computer program product of claim 40 in which the networking protocol comprises iSCSI or NFS.

42. The computer program product of claim 31 in which the plurality of storage devices are organized into a storage universe having a plurality of storage pools.

43. The computer program product of claim 42 in which a virtual disk is formed from a container within a storage pool.

44. The computer program product of claim 31 in which the plurality of storage devices are organized into tiers of storage, in which the local storage device is classified into a tier with other similar devices.

45. The computer program product of claim 31, in which the global storage pool comprises cloud storage.