CONFIGURING MONITORING FOR VIRTUALIZED SERVERS

• US 20160162312A1
• Filed: 12/05/2014
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Doherty, Liam M., Kwan, King-Yan, Shewell, Mark A., Woodward, Peter G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,495,193 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/301 where the computing system is a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems virtual machines G06F9/45533; logical partitioning of resources G06F9/5077
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• 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 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5022 Mechanisms to release resources

Abstract

A method for configuring and maintaining external monitoring of one or more instances of a virtual machine within a virtualized computing environment. The method includes a computer processor monitoring a hypervisor. The method further includes a computer processor identifying a first list, wherein the first list is comprised of one or more monitoring templates respectively associated with one or more virtual machine types, and maintaining a second list comprised plurality of provisioned instances of virtual machines, wherein the second list also includes a first information respectively associated with the plurality of provisioned instances of virtual machines. The method further includes a computer processor compiling a third list and transmitting the third list to the monitoring system. The method further includes a computer processor receiving the third list and in response, a computer processor executing one or more monitoring functions based, at least in part, on the third list.

Claims

1-8. -8. (canceled)

9. A computer program product for configuring and maintaining external monitoring of one or more instances of a virtual machine within a virtualized computing environment, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to monitor a hypervisor;

program instructions to identify a first list, wherein the first list is comprised of one or more monitoring templates respectively associated with one or more virtual machine types;

program instructions to maintain a second list comprised plurality of provisioned instances of virtual machines, wherein the second list also includes a first information respectively associated with the plurality of provisioned instances of virtual machines, and wherein the first information respectively includes at least one of an ID, a state of a virtual machine, a virtual machine template, and a virtual machine type;

program instructions to compile a third list;

in response to compiling the third list, program instructions to communicate with a monitoring system, wherein communicating includes, at least in part, program instructions to transmit the third list to the monitoring system; and

in response to the monitoring system receiving the third list, program instructions to execute one or more monitoring functions based, at least in part, on the third list.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the third list is a list of monitored instances of provisioned virtual machines based, at least in part, on the first list and the second list, and wherein the list of monitored instances is respectively associated with one or more monitoring templates.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

program instructions to detect provisioning of a first instance of a virtual machine;

program instructions to identify a first information associated with the first instance of a virtual machine;

program instructions to determine whether a virtual machine type is associated with the first information of the first instance of the virtual machine and whether the virtual machine type is included within the first list; and

program instructions to respond to a determination that the virtual machine type associated with the first instance of the virtual machine is included within the first list, program instructions to update the third list based, at least in part, on first information of the first instance of the virtual machine and the monitoring template associated with the respective virtual machine type.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

program instructions to obtain an indication, from the hypervisor, that a change to the first information is associated with a second instance of a virtual machine occurred;

program instructions to determine whether the change to the first information comprised a change in state and whether the change in state is deleted;

program instructions to determine whether an ID associated with the second instance is identified within the third list; and

program instructions to in respond to a determination that the change in state of the second instance is deleted and that the ID associated with the second instance is identified within the third list, program instructions to respectively remove the second instance from the second list and the third list.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

program instructions to obtain another indication, from the hypervisor, that another change to the first information associated with a third instance of a virtual machine occurred;

program instructions to determine whether the other change to the first information comprised another change in state and whether the other change in state is not deleted;

program instructions to determine whether the ID associated with the third instance is identified within the third list;

program instructions to determine respond to a determination that the other change in state of the third instance is not deleted, and that the ID associated with the third instance is identified within the third list, program instructions to respectively update the other state associated with the third instance in the third list, based at least in part, on the other change to the first information associated with a third instance; and

program instruction to modify the execution of the one or more monitoring functions associated with the third instance of the virtual machine based, at least in part, on the other change in state associated with the third instance of the virtual machine.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions to obtain, from the hypervisor, a new first information associated with a new instance of a virtual machine server;

program instructions to determine that a first virtual machine type within the first list is associated with the new instance of the virtual machine server and that the first virtual machine type is included within the first list;

program instructions to respond to a determination that the first virtual machine type is associated with new instance of the virtual machine server, program instructions to identify a predefined template associated with the first virtual machine type;

program instructions to populate the predefined template, at least in part, with the new first information obtained from the hypervisor; and

program instructions to associate the populated template with the new instance of the virtual machine server.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions to obtain one or more user requirements related to creating an instance of another virtual machine server;

program instructions to obtain, from the hypervisor, a set of virtual machine parameters associated with the created instance of the other virtual machine server and a first information associated with the created instance of the other virtual machine server;

program instructions to determine that the other virtual machine server is not associated with a virtual machine type within the first list;

program instructions to respond to a determination that the other virtual machine server is not associated with a virtual machine type within the first list, program instructions to determine a degree of similarity between first set of virtual machine parameters and respective sets of virtual machine parameters associated with the first list;

program instructions to select a second virtual machine type based on at least one of at least one user requirement, the degree of similarity, at least one computing resource, and at least one software, wherein the virtual machine type is based on a virtual machine template or a virtual machine image; and

program instructions to respond to a selection of the virtual machine type, program instructions to associate the other virtual machine server with the second virtual machine type, and wherein associating also includes program instructions to apply a monitoring template dictated by the selected second virtual machine type; and

program instructions to add the second virtual machine type to the first list.

16. A computer system for configuring and maintaining external monitoring of one or more instances of a virtual machine within a virtualized computing environment, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more computer readable storage media;

program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to monitor a hypervisor;

program instructions to identify a first list, wherein the first list is comprised of one or more monitoring templates respectively associated with one or more virtual machine types;

program instructions to maintain a second list comprised plurality of provisioned instances of virtual machines, wherein the second list also includes a first information respectively associated with the plurality of provisioned instances of virtual machines, and wherein the first information respectively includes at least one of an ID, a state of a virtual machine, a virtual machine template, and a virtual machine type;

program instructions to compile a third list, wherein the third list is a list of monitored instances of provisioned virtual machines based, at least in part, on the first list and the second list, and wherein the list of monitored instances is respectively associated with one or more monitoring templates;

in response to compiling the third list, program instructions to communicate with a monitoring system, wherein communicating includes, at least in part, program instructions to transmit the third list to the monitoring system; and

in response to the monitoring system receiving the third list, program instructions to execute one or more monitoring functions based, at least in part, on the third list.

17. The computer system of claim 16, further comprising:

program instructions to detect provisioning of a first instance of a virtual machine;

program instructions to identify a first information associated with the first instance of a virtual machine;

program instructions to determine whether a virtual machine type is associated with the first information of the first instance of the virtual machine and whether the virtual machine type is included within the first list; and

program instruction respond to a determination that the virtual machine type associated the first instance of the virtual machine is included within the first list, program instructions to update the third list based, at least in part, on first information of the first instance of the virtual machine and the monitoring template associated with the respective virtual machine type.

18. The computer system of claim 16, further comprising:

program instructions to obtain an indication, from the hypervisor, that a change to the first information is associated with a second instance of a virtual machine occurred;

program instructions to determine whether the change to the first information comprised a change in state and whether the change in state is deleted;

program instructions to determine whether an ID associated with the second instance is identified within the third list; and

program instructions to in respond to a determination that the change in state of the second instance is deleted and that the ID associated with the second instance is identified within the third list, program instructions to respectively remove the second instance from the second list and the third list.

19. The computer system of claim 18, further comprising:

program instructions to obtain another indication from the hypervisor that another change to the first information, associated with a third instance of a virtual machine, occurred;

program instructions to determine whether the other change to the first information comprised another change in state and whether the other change in state is not deleted;

program instructions to determine whether the ID associated with the third instance is identified within the third list;

program instructions to determine respond to a determination that the other change in state of the third instance is not deleted, and that the ID associated with the third instance is identified within the third list, program instructions to respectively update the other state associated with the third instance in the third list, based at least in part, on the other change to the first information associated with a third instance; and

program instruction to modify the execution of the one or more monitoring functions associated with the third instance of the virtual machine based, at least in part, on the other change in state associated with the third instance of the virtual machine.

20. The computer system of claim 17, further comprising:

program instructions to obtain, from the hypervisor, a new first information associated with a new instance of a virtual machine server;

program instructions to determine that a first virtual machine type within the first list is associated with the new instance of the virtual machine server and that the first virtual machine type is included within the first list;

program instructions to respond to a determination that the first virtual machine type is associated with new instance of the virtual machine server, program instructions to identify a predefined template associated with the first virtual machine type;

program instructions to populate the predefined template, at least in part, with the new first information obtained from the hypervisor; and

program instructions to associate the populated template with the new instance of the virtual machine server.