SINGLE CLICK HOST MAINTENANCE

• US 20150007174A1
• Filed: 06/28/2013
• Published: 01/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: JAIN, Puneet Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 9,841,983 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors

Abstract

Techniques to facilitate virtual machine (VM) host maintenance are disclosed. A host requiring maintenance is converted to a VM running on another host which satisfies certain requirements, such as having sufficient resources and the same network connectivity as the host requiring maintenance. As part of this physical-to-virtual conversion, or after said conversion, the VM may be synchronized to the host requiring maintenance, such that the CPU state and memory contents of the VM and host are identical. Active control may then be passed to the VM, and the host powered down for the maintenance. After maintenance is completed and the host powered back on, virtual-to-physical conversion may be applied to convert the VM back to the host. The host may then be synchronized to the VM, and active control passed back to the host.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a selection of a first host system hosting at least a first VM, wherein the first host system is a physical computing server which requires maintenance;

identifying a second host system which satisfies requirements for performing a physical-to-virtual conversion of the first host system to a first VM running on the second host system;

performing the physical-to-virtual conversion of the first host system to the first VM;

passing active control from the first host system to the first VM; and

shutting down the first host system for the maintenance.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the requirements for performing the physical-to-virtual conversion include the second host system having sufficient computing resources.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the requirements for performing the physical-to-virtual conversion include the second host system having a network connectivity state matching a corresponding network connectivity state of the first host system.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, after, or as part of, performing the physical-to-virtual conversion, synchronizing the first VM with the first host system.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, after the maintenance is performed on the first host system:

powering on the first host system;

performing a virtual-to-physical conversion of the first VM to the first host system;

synchronizing the first host system with the first VM after, or as part of, the virtual-to-physical conversion; and

passing active control from the first VM to the first host.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the first host system is performed via a mouse click.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, if identification of the second host is unsuccessful, displaying a notification that maintenance cannot currently be performed.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying computer program instructions for performing operations comprising:

receiving a selection of a first host system hosting at least a first VM, wherein the first host system is a physical computing server which requires maintenance;

identifying a second host system which satisfies requirements for performing a physical-to-virtual conversion of the first host system to a first VM running on the second host system;

performing the physical-to-virtual conversion of the first host system to the first VM;

passing active control from the first host system to the first VM; and

shutting down the first host system for the maintenance.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the requirements for performing the physical-to-virtual conversion include the second host system having sufficient computing resources.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the requirements for performing the physical-to-virtual conversion include the second host system having a network connectivity state matching a corresponding network connectivity state of the first host system.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising, after, or as part of, performing the physical-to-virtual conversion, synchronizing the first VM with the first host system.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising, after the maintenance is performed on the first host system:

powering on the first host system;

performing a virtual-to-physical conversion of the first VM to the first host system;

synchronizing the first host system with the first VM after, or as part of, the virtual-to-physical conversion; and

passing active control from the first VM to the first host.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the selection of the first host system is performed via a mouse click.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising, if identification of the second host is unsuccessful, displaying a notification that maintenance cannot currently be performed.

15. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, wherein the memory includes a program for reducing perceived read latency, the program being configured to perform operations comprising;

receiving a selection of a first host system hosting at least a first VM, wherein the first host system is a physical computing server which requires maintenance,

identifying a second host system which satisfies requirements for performing a physical-to-virtual conversion of the first host system to a first VM running on the second host system,

performing the physical-to-virtual conversion of the first host system to the first VM,

passing active control from the first host system to the first VM, and

shutting down the first host system for the maintenance.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the requirements for performing the physical-to-virtual conversion include the second host system having sufficient computing resources.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the requirements for performing the physical-to-virtual conversion include the second host system having a network connectivity state matching a corresponding network connectivity state of the first host system.

18. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising, after, or as part of, performing the physical-to-virtual conversion, synchronizing the first VM with the first host system.

19. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising, after the maintenance is performed on the first host system:

powering on the first host system;

performing a virtual-to-physical conversion of the first VM to the first host system;

synchronizing the first host system with the first VM after, or as part of, the virtual-to-physical conversion; and

passing active control from the first VM to the first host.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the selection of the first host system is performed via a mouse click.