Live migration of virtual machines in a hybrid network environment

• US 9,197,489 B1
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vincent, Pradeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Chirag R
• Application Number:
  US13/435,220
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for performing live migration of virtual machines in a hybrid network environment. A network tunnel infrastructure is established between a first network and a second network. A secure communication channel is then created over the network tunnel infrastructure between a source host computer hosting the virtual machine and a target host computer. Live migration of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer is performed using the secure communication channel, and the network address of the virtual machine is transferred to the target host computer. The operation of the fully migrated virtual machine may then be resumed on the target host computer.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

establish a first network tunnel between a first border device in a private network and a second border device in a public network;

establish a second network tunnel between the source host computer and the first border device and a third network tunnel between the second border device and the target host computer;

initiate migration of one or more storage devices from the private network to the public network over the first network tunnel;

establish a secure communication channel through the first, second, and third network tunnels between a source host computer hosting a virtual machine in the private network and a target host computer in the public network;

perform a migration of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer utilizing the secure communication channel;

transfer a network address of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer via fast IP migration; and

resume operation of the virtual machine on the target host computer.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein establishing the secure communication channel comprises implementing a protocol adaptor to convert migration communication in a first protocol supported by a virtualization architecture of the source host computer to a second protocol supported by a virtualization architecture of the target host computer.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that cause the computer to:

call a first API of a mapping service to prepare a networking infrastructure in the private network and the public network for transfer of the network address of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer;

call a second API of the mapping service to effect the transfer of the network address of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer; and

call a third API of the mapping service to complete the transfer of the network address of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer.

4. A computer-implemented method of migrating a virtual machine, the method comprising executing instructions in a computer system to perform the operations of:

establishing a communication channel between a source host computer hosting a virtual machine in a first network and a target host computer in a second network, the communication channel comprising a first network tunnel between the source host computer and a first border device accessible to the source host computer, a second network tunnel between the first border device and a second border device accessible to the target host computer host computer, and a third network tunnel between the second border device and the target host computer;

performing a migration of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer utilizing the communication channel;

transferring a network address of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer; and

resuming operation of the virtual machine on the target host computer.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein establishing the communication channel comprises implementing a protocol adaptor to convert migration communications in a first protocol supported by a virtualization architecture of the source host computer to a second protocol supported by a virtualization architecture of the target host computer.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising initiating migration of one or more storage devices between the first network and the second network over the network tunnel.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein initiating migration of one or more storage devices comprises starting a first local storage device connected to the source host computer and a second local storage device connected to the target host computer in synchronous mode.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein initiating migration of one or more storage devices comprises:

attaching the target host computer to a first network storage device in the first network;

initiating a migration of a volume on the first network storage device to a second network storage device in the second network; and

upon completion of the migration of the volume, attaching the target host computer to the second network storage device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein transferring the network address of the virtual machine to the target host computer comprises performing a fast IP migration of the network address.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein performing the fast IP migration of the network address comprises:

calling a first API of a mapping service to prepare networking infrastructures in the first network and the second network for the transfer of the network address of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer;

calling a second API of the mapping service to effect the transfer of the network address from the source host computer to the target host computer; and

calling a third API of the mapping service to complete the transfer of the network address.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the first API call causes an address translation module on a host in the second network to operate in a fast polling mode, and wherein the third API call causes the address translation module on the host to return to normal operation.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein each API call is split into an internal call for the networking infrastructure of the second network and an external call for the networking infrastructure of the first network.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein transferring a network address of the virtual machine to the target host computer comprises:

establishing a redirection of network packets addressed to the virtual machine received at the source host computer across the network tunnel and to the target host computer for consumption by the virtual machine; and

upon completion of a reconfiguration of a networking infrastructure of the first network and a networking infrastructure of the second network to effect transfer of the network address, tearing down the redirection.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising performing a pre-migration compatibility check to determine if live migration is possible between the source host computer and the target host computer.

15. A system for migrating a virtual machine in a hybrid network environment, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a main memory coupled to the one or more processors and configured with one or more software modules that cause the one or more processors to

establish a first network tunnel between a source host computer hosting a virtual machine and a first border device accessible to the source host computer,

establish a second network tunnel between the first border device and a second border device accessible to a target host,

establish a third network tunnel between the second border device and a target host computer,

establish a secure communication channel between the source host computer and the target host computer over the first, second, and third network tunnels,

perform a migration of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer utilizing the secure communication channel,

transfer a network address of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the target host computer, and

resume operation of the virtual machine on the target host computer.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the secure communication channel comprises a protocol adaptor configured to convert migration communications in a first protocol supported by a virtualization architecture of the source host computer to a second protocol supported by a virtualization architecture of the target host computer.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or software module further cause the one or more processors to initiate migration of one or more storage devices between a private network and a public network over the second network tunnel.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or software module further cause the one or more processors to transfer the network address of the virtual machine to the target host computer via fast IP migration of the network address.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the source host computer hosting the virtual machine and the first border device are in a private network and the target host computer and the second border device are in a public network.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the source host computer hosting the virtual machine and the first border device are in a private network and the target host computer and the second border device are in a virtual private network.