Business continuation policy for server consolidation environment

• US 20040153708A1
• Filed: 06/27/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Dalal, Kaushal R., Joshi, Darshan B., Senicka, James A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,478,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5022 Workload threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 involving task migration

Abstract

A method, computer program product and system that establishes and maintains a business continuity policy in a server consolidation environment. Business continuity is ensured by enabling high availability of applications. When an application is started, restarted upon failure, or moved due to an overload situation, a system is selected best fulfilling the requirements for running the application. These requirements can include application requirements, such as an amount of available capacity to handle the load that will be placed on the system by the application. These requirements can further include system requirements, such as honoring a system limit of a number of applications that can be run on a particular system. Respective priorities of applications can be used to determine whether a lower-priority application can be moved to free resources for running a higher-priority application.

Claims

1. A method for providing business continuity comprising:

detecting that a first application of a plurality of applications running on a first system of a plurality of systems within a cluster has failed;

determining whether the first application can be failed over to a second system of the systems;

when the first application can be failed over, restarting the first application on the second system; and

when the first application cannot be failed over,

determining whether a third system of the systems satisfies a first prerequisite for the first application; and

when the third system satisfies the first prerequisite, moving the first application to the third system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein

the determining whether the first application can be failed over further comprises:

determining whether the first application will overload the second system; and

when the first application will overload the second system, determining that the first application cannot be failed over.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein

the determining whether the first application can be failed over further comprises:

determining whether the first application will overload the second system; and

when the first application will overload the second system, providing an overload warning.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein

the determining whether the third system satisfies the first prerequisite further comprises:

determining whether the first application will overload the third system; and

when the first application will overload the third system, determining that the third system does not satisfy the first prerequisite.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein

the third system satisfies the first prerequisite when the third system has an available resource fulfilling the first prerequisite.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein

the first prerequisite corresponds to a load placed on the third system by running the first application;

and

the third system satisfies the first prerequisite when the available resource corresponds to an available capacity greater than or equal to the load.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

ascertaining that the first application falls within a limit for the third system prior to the moving.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein

the limit corresponds to a maximum number of the applications that can be run on the third system.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein

the limit corresponds to a maximum number of the applications of a type of the first application that can be run on the third system.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

when the third system does not satisfy the first prerequisite,

determining whether a second application of the applications running on the third system of the systems can be moved to free a resource for running the first application;

when the second application can be moved,

determining whether a fourth system of the systems satisfies a second prerequisite for the second application of the applications; and

when the fourth system satisfies the second prerequisite,

moving the second application to the fourth system; and

moving the first application to the third system.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether a second application of the applications can be moved;

when the second application can be moved,

determining whether a fourth system of the systems satisfies a second prerequisite for the second application of the applications; and

when the fourth system satisfies the second prerequisite, moving the second application to the fourth system.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

ascertaining that the second application falls within a limit of the fourth system prior to the moving the second application.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using a first priority of the first application among the applications and a second priority of the second application among the applications for determining whether the second application can be moved.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein

detecting whether the first application has failed further comprises at least q0one of:

simulating that the first application has failed; and

simulating that the first system has failed.

15. A method for providing business continuity comprising:

detecting that a first application of a plurality of applications is to be started;

determining whether a first system of a plurality of systems in a cluster meets a first prerequisite for the first application;

when the first system meets the first prerequisite, starting the first application on the first system; and

when the first system does not meet the first prerequisite,

determining whether a second system of the systems satisfies the first prerequisite; and

when the second system satisfies the first prerequisite, starting the first application on the second system.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein

the detecting that the first application is to be started comprises detecting that the first application has failed while running on a third system of the systems.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein

the detecting that the first application is to be started comprises detecting that the first application is running on a third system of the systems, the third system being overloaded.

18. A system comprising:

means for detecting that a first application of a plurality of applications running on a first system of a plurality of systems within a cluster has failed;

first determining means for determining whether the first application can be failed over to a second system of the systems;

means for restarting the first application on the second system;

second determining means for determining whether a third system of the systems satisfies a first prerequisite for the first application; and

means for moving the first application to the third system.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising:

third determining means for determining whether a second application of the applications can be moved;

fourth determining means for determining whether a fourth system of the systems satisfies a second prerequisite for the second application of the applications; and

second moving means for moving the second application to the fourth system.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

means for using a first priority of the first application among the applications and a second priority of the second application among the applications for determining whether the second application can be moved.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein

the means for detecting whether the first application has failed further comprises:

means for simulating that the first application has failed; and

means for simulating that the first system has failed.

23. The computer program product of claim 21 further comprising:

third determining instructions to determine whether a second application of the applications can be moved;

fourth determining instructions to determine whether a fourth system of the systems satisfies a second prerequisite for the second application of the applications; and

second moving instructions to move the second application to the fourth system;

wherein

the computer-readable medium further stores the third determining instructions, the fourth determining instructions, and the second moving instructions.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 further comprising:

using instructions to use a first priority of the first application among the applications and a second priority of the second application among the applications to determine whether the second application can be moved;

wherein

the computer-readable medium further stores the using instructions.

22. A computer program product comprising:

detecting instructions to detect that a first application of a plurality of applications running on a first system of a plurality of systems within a cluster has failed;

first determining instructions to determine whether the first application can be failed over to a second system of the systems;

restarting instructions to restart the first application on the second system;

second determining instructions to determine whether a third system of the systems satisfies a first prerequisite for the first application;

moving instructions to move the first application to the third system; and

a computer-readable medium for storing the detecting instructions, the first determining instructions, the restarting instructions, the second determining instructions, and the moving instructions.