Virtual machine migration into the cloud

• US 9,977,698 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2012
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: V3 Systems Holdings, Inc. (Sphere 3D Corporation)
• Original Assignee: V3 Systems Holdings, Inc. (Sphere 3D Corporation)
• Inventors: Bookman, Peter, Featherstone, Chris R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Swift, Charles M
• Application Number:
  US13/563,603
• Publication Number:
  US 20140040888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,121 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• 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 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/461 Saving or restoring of program or task context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• 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 9/4862 the task being a mobile agent, i.e. specifically designed to migrate
• 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 9/5088 involving task migration

Abstract

The migration of virtual machines internal to a cloud computing environment. The cloud maintains the replicas for virtual machines that could be migrated. The cloud also is aware of location of user data for each of the virtual machines. The replica together with the user data, represents the virtual machine state. If migration to the cloud computing environment is to occur for any given virtual machine, the cloud computing environment correlates the replica with the user data for that virtual machine, and then uses the correlation to instantiate the virtual machine in the cloud.

Claims

1. A method for a cloud computing environment to facilitate migration of a virtual machine from a host computing system to the cloud computing environment, the method comprising the following for at least one virtual machine:

maintaining a first instance of a localized portion of a virtual machine state for the virtual machine on the host computing system, wherein the localized portion of the virtual machine state comprises at least one of backing files for the virtual machine and a replica image for the virtual machine;

maintaining a second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state for the virtual machine in the cloud computing environment external to the host computing system that hosts the virtual machine;

determining a location of a centralized portion of the virtual machine state for the virtual machine that is accessible to the host computing system and the cloud computing environment, wherein the centralized portion of the virtual machine state comprises user data for the virtual machine, the centralized portion and the localized portion of the virtual machine state each including a portion of the virtual machine state excluded from the other, and the location of the centralized portion of the virtual machine state being different from a location of the first instance of the localized portion and a location of the second instance of the localized portion, and the location of the centralized portion of the virtual machine state being external to the cloud computing environment and the host computing system;

responding to a determination that migration of the virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment is to occur, migrating the virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment by;

correlating the centralized portion of the virtual machine state for the virtual machine with the second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state for the virtual machine; and

instantiating the virtual machine in the cloud computing environment using the centralized portion of the virtual machine state and the second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state;

wherein

prior to migrating the virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment, the virtual machine operates at the host computing system to provide a client image state for a corresponding client computing device; and

after migrating the virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment, the virtual machine operates at a cloud host computing system in the cloud computing environment to provide the client image state for the same corresponding client computing device.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state is a replica corresponding to the virtual machine.

3. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is a first virtual machine, the method further comprising:

maintaining a second instance of a localized portion of virtual machine state of a second virtual machine in the cloud computing environment;

determining a location of a centralized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine;

in response to determining that migration of the second virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment is to occur, performing the following;

correlating the centralized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine with the second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine; and

instantiating the second virtual machine in the cloud computing environment using the centralized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine and the second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine.

4. The method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the first and second virtual machines operated on the host computing system prior to migration.

5. The method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the first and second virtual machines belong to a same tenant.

6. The method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the first and second virtual machines belong to different tenants.

7. The method in accordance with claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

preventing a first tenant corresponding to the first virtual machine from accessing the second virtual machine in the cloud computing environment; and

preventing a second tenant corresponding to the second virtual machine from accessing the first virtual machine in the cloud computing environment.

8. The method in accordance with claim 6, wherein the first and second virtual machines operate on the same cloud host computing system in the cloud computing environment.

9. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the method is performed for all virtual machines running in the host computing system.

10. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the migration occurs as part of a failover event in which performance of the host computing system is at least degraded.

11. A computer program product comprising one or more computer storage media having thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method for a cloud computing environment to facilitate migration of a virtual machine from a host computing system having a first instance of a localized portion of a virtual machine state to the cloud computing environment in a context in which a second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state machine for a plurality of virtual machines are maintained in the cloud computing environment external to the particular host computing systems that host each of the virtual machines, wherein the localized portion of the virtual machine state comprises at least one of backing files for the virtual machine and a replica image for the virtual machine, the method comprising the following for at least one of the plurality of virtual machines;

determining a location of a centralized portion of the virtual machine state that is accessible to the particular host computing system for that virtual machine and the cloud computing environment, wherein the centralized portion of the virtual machine state comprises user data for the virtual machine, the centralized portion and the localized portion of the virtual machine state each including a portion of the virtual machine state excluded from the other, and the location of the centralized portion of the virtual machine state being different from a location of the first instance of the localized portion and a location of the second instance of the localized portion, and the location of the centralized portion of the virtual machine state being external to the cloud computing environment and the particular host computing system;

responding to a determination that migration of the virtual machine from the particular host computing system to the cloud computing environment is to occur, migrating the virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment by;

correlating the centralized portion of the virtual machine state for that virtual machine with the second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state for that virtual machine; and

instantiating that virtual machine in the cloud computing environment using the centralized portion of the virtual machine state and the second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state;

wherein

prior to migrating the virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment, the virtual machine operates at the host computing system to provide a client image state for a corresponding client computing device; and

after migrating the virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment, the virtual machine operates at a cloud host computing system in the cloud computing environment to provide the client image state for the same corresponding client computing device.

12. The computer program product in accordance with claim 11, wherein the second instance of the localized portion of the virtual machine state is a replica corresponding to the virtual machine.

13. The computer program product in accordance with claim 11, wherein the virtual machine is a first virtual machine, the method further comprising;

determining a location of a centralized portion of the virtual machine state of a second virtual machine;

in response to determining that migration of the second virtual machine from the host computing system to the cloud computing environment is to occur, performing the following;

correlating the centralized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine with the second instance of a localized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine; and

instantiating the second virtual machine in the cloud computing environment using the centralized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine and the second instance of a localized portion of the virtual machine state of the second virtual machine.

14. The computer program product in accordance with claim 13, wherein the first and second virtual machines operated on the host computing system prior to migration.

15. The computer program product in accordance with claim 13, wherein the first and second virtual machines belong to a same tenant.

16. The computer program product in accordance with claim 13, wherein the first and second virtual machines belong to different tenants.

17. The computer program product in accordance with claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

preventing a first tenant corresponding to the first virtual machine from accessing the second virtual machine in the cloud computing environment; and

preventing a second tenant corresponding to the second virtual machine from accessing the first virtual machine in the cloud computing environment.

18. The computer program product in accordance with claim 11, wherein the method is erformed for all virtual machines running, in the host computing system.

19. A cloud computing environment comprising:

a replica store in which a plurality of replicas are stored that correspond to a plurality of virtual machines, each virtual machine running on a source computing system outside the cloud computing environment and each replica corresponding to one of the virtual machines, wherein for each virtual machine in the plurality of virtual machines the source computing system on which that virtual machine is running comprises at least one of backing files corresponding to the replica stored on the replica store and a source replica image corresponding to the replica stored on the replica store;

a plurality of host computing systems;

a migration orchestration module that, for at least some of the plurality of virtual machines, upon determining that migration of the corresponding virtual machine is to occur from the source computing system on which the corresponding virtual machine is running into the cloud computing environment, migrates the corresponding virtual machine from the source computing system to the cloud computing environment by;

correlating a particular replica from the plurality of replicas in the replica store with user data associated with the corresponding virtual machine, wherein the user data is stored at a location different from the replica store, and the location of the user data is external to the source computing system and the cloud computing environment; and

instantiating the corresponding virtual machine in one of the plurality of host computing systems in the cloud computing environment using the particular replica and the user data;

wherein

prior to migrating the virtual machine from the source computing system to the cloud computing environment, the virtual machine operates at the host computing system to provide a client image state for a corresponding client computing device; and

after migrating the virtual machine from the source computing system to the cloud computing environment, the virtual machine operates at one of the host computing systems in the cloud computing environment to provide the client image state for the same corresponding client computing device.

20. The cloud computing environment of claim 19, wherein virtual machines migrated from a plurality of tenants are containable in a single host computing system of the plurality of host computing systems, wherein the migration orchestration module further ensures isolation between virtual machines from different tenants.