Rapid migration to managed clouds with multiple change windows

• US 9,684,470 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Perales, Erick E., Markley, Matthew A., Schlatter, Marcel, Widmayer, Gerhard, Pfitzmann, Birgit M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tang, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US14/503,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20160092127A1
• Time in Patent Office: 994 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45541 Bare-metal, i.e. hypervisor runs directly on hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

An image version of a source instance is prepared and is transferred to a destination environment. Two or more copies of the transferred image version of the source instance are created at the destination environment. The first copy of the transferred image version of the source instance is adjusted while the source instance is in use. The second copy of the transferred image version of the source instance is resynchronized with one or more changes made to the source instance. The adjustments made to the first copy of the source instance are applied to the resynchronized second copy of the source instance.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

preparing an image version of a source instance;

transferring the image version of the source instance to a destination environment;

creating two or more copies of the transferred image version of the source instance at the destination environment;

adjusting the first copy of the transferred image version of the source instance while the source instance is in use;

resynchronizing the second copy of the transferred image version of the source instance with one or more changes made to the source instance;

applying the adjustments made to the first copy of the source instance to the resynchronized second copy of the source instance;

providing a first change window, wherein preparing the image version of the source instance occurs during the first change window; and

providing a second change window, wherein applying the adjustments made to the first copy of the source instance to the resynchronized second copy of the source instance occurs during the second change window.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein resynchronizing one or more changes made to the source instance with the second copy of the transferred image version of the source instance further comprises:

updating the second copy of the transferred image version of the source instance with changes that the source instance users made between the opening of the first change window and the opening of the second change window.

3. A method comprising:

preparing an image version of a source instance;

transferring the image version of the source instance to a destination environment;

creating two or more copies of the transferred image version of the source instance at the destination environment;

adjusting the first copy of the transferred image version of the source instance while the source instance is in use;

resynchronizing the second copy of the transferred image version of the source instance with one or more changes made to the source instance;

applying the adjustments made to the first copy of the source instance to the resynchronized second copy of the source instance; and

determining whether to carry out said preparing, transferring, creating, adjusting, resynchronizing, and applying steps, based on, transfer time adjustment time, and available change window length.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining whether the source instance has a known separation of an operating system and other data.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising, if the source instance has a simple separation of the operating system and other data:

requiring a change freeze on the operating system during the preparing and adjustment steps;

applying the resynchronizing step only to the other data; and

omitting the applying step.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to said memory, said at least one processor being operative to;

prepare an image version of a source instance;

transfer the image version of the source instance to a destination environment;

create two or more copies of the transferred image version of the source instance at the destination environment;

adjust the first copy of the transferred image version of the source instance while the source instance is in use;

resynchronize the second copy of the transferred image version of the source instance with one or more changes made to the source instance; and

apply the adjustments made to the first copy of the source instance to the resynchronized second copy of the source instance;

wherein said at least one processor is further operative to provide a first change window, wherein preparing the image version of the source instance occurs during the first change window; and

wherein said at least one processor is further operative to provide a second change window, wherein applying the adjustments made to the first copy of the source instance to the resynchronized second copy of the source instance occurs during the second change window.