Containerized service with embedded scripting tools for monitoring health state of hyper-converged infrastructure resources

Abstract

The disclosed method deploys a containerized health condition monitoring service that includes an embedded health condition monitoring service script. The containerized service generates a Secure Shell (SSH) key pair, including an SSH public key and an SSH private key. A management account of the containerized service is registered to a centralized account service. An SSH control module of a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) manager retrieves the management account of the containerized service from the account service. The control module accesses the containerized service to retrieve the SSH public key and stores the SSH public key to a target resource, such as a host or virtual machine, to enable any instance of the containerized service to remotely execute the health condition monitoring service script on the target resource using SSH commands.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to information processing systems, and more specifically to hyperconverged information processing systems and their health status monitoring. Background Technology

[0002] As the value and use of information continue to grow, individuals and businesses are seeking additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is an information processing system. Information processing systems typically process, compile, store, and / or transmit information or data for business, personal, or other purposes, thereby allowing users to leverage the value of this information. Because technology and information processing needs vary across different users or applications, information processing systems may also differ in terms of: what information is processed, how it is processed, how much information is processed, stored, or transmitted, and how quickly and efficiently it can be processed, stored, or transmitted. Variations in information processing systems allow them to be general-purpose or configured for specific users or purposes (such as financial transaction processing, airline ticketing, enterprise data storage, or global communications). Furthermore, information processing systems can include a variety of hardware and software components that can be configured to process, store, and transmit information, and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.

[0003] Information processing systems can be implemented using hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) that employs virtualized computing, storage, and networking resources, along with a centralized management platform. A growing number of organizations are evolving their application architectures into highly distributed, modern application environments, typically leveraging microservice-based architectures and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platforms, which can be hosted in either on-premises data centers or in the public cloud, or both.

[0004] Typically, HCI management platforms need to include some form of centralized health monitoring service. While many legacy scripting tools exist for monitoring host system health, these tools are usually designed to start with command-line execution for monitoring host CPU / memory usage, disk usage, network configuration, etc. The command-line framework of legacy scripting tools is generally unsuitable for use within containerized environments. Executing such scripts from microservices may require infrastructure support, but due to permission restrictions, they must still be executed within the host machine. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Based on the teachings disclosed herein, common problems associated with utilizing legacy command-line health monitoring resources are addressed by the methods and systems disclosed herein, including the method disclosed in which a container manager deploys a containerized health monitoring service that includes an embedded health monitoring service script. The containerized service generates a Secure Shell (SSH) key pair, including an SSH public key and an SSH private key. The management account for the containerized service is registered with a centralized account service. An SSH control module of a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) manager retrieves the management account for the containerized service from the account service. The control module accesses the containerized service to retrieve the SSH public key and stores it in a target resource such as a host or virtual machine, enabling any instance of the containerized service to remotely execute the health monitoring service script on the target resource using SSH commands. In at least one embodiment, the containerized health monitoring service is implemented as a Docker image.

[0006] The technical advantages of this disclosure will be readily understood by those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings, description, and claims included herein. The objectives and advantages of the embodiments will be realized and achieved, at least by the elements, features, and combinations specifically pointed out in the claims.

[0007] It should be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and not intended to limit the claims set forth in this disclosure. Attached Figure Description

[0008] This embodiment and its advantages can be more fully understood by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference numerals indicate similar features, and wherein:

[0009] Figure 1 This demonstrates a container platform for deploying containerized services;

[0010] Figure 2 A block diagram is shown for a health monitoring service that utilizes command-line health monitoring scripts used within a containerized environment;

[0011] Figure 3 It shows Figure 2 A diagram showing additional details of the health monitoring service;

[0012] Figure 4 A sequence diagram is shown for the disclosed method of utilizing legacy health monitoring service scripts within a containerized service; and

[0013] Figure 5 An exemplary information processing system suitable for use in conjunction with the disclosed health monitoring services is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0014] Exemplary implementation schemes and their advantages are described in reference. Figures 1 to 5 It is best understood that, unless otherwise explicitly indicated, similar reference numerals are used to indicate similar and corresponding parts.

[0015] For the purposes of this disclosure, an information processing system may include any tool or set of tools operable to calculate, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, generate, switch, store, display, indicate, detect, record, reproduce, dispose of, or utilize information, intelligence, or data of any form for commercial, scientific, control, entertainment, or other purposes. For example, an information processing system may be a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a consumer electronic device, a network storage device, or any other suitable device, and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. An information processing system may include memory, one or more processing resources (such as a central processing unit (“CPU”), a microcontroller, or hardware or software control logic. Additional components of the information processing system may include one or more storage devices, one or more communication ports for communicating with external devices, and various input / output (“I / O”) devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, and video display. The information processing system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communication between various hardware components.

[0016] Additionally, the information processing system may include firmware for controlling and / or communicating with, for example, hard disk drives, network circuitry, memory devices, I / O devices, and other peripheral devices. For example, a management program and / or other components may include firmware. As used in this disclosure, firmware includes software embedded in an information processing system component for performing predefined tasks. Firmware is typically stored in non-volatile memory or memory that does not lose stored data upon power failure. In some embodiments, firmware associated with an information processing system component is stored in non-volatile memory accessible to one or more information processing system components. In the same or alternative embodiments, firmware associated with an information processing system component is stored in non-volatile memory dedicated to and including as a part of said component.

[0017] For the purposes of this disclosure, a computer-readable medium may include a tool or set of tools capable of retaining data and / or instructions for a period of time. A computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to: storage media such as direct access storage devices (e.g., hard disk drives or floppy disks), sequential access storage devices (e.g., magnetic tape drives), optical discs, CD-ROMs, DVDs, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and / or flash memory; and communication media such as wires, optical fibers, microwaves, radio waves, and other electromagnetic and / or optical carrier waves; and / or any combination of the foregoing.

[0018] For the purposes of this disclosure, "information processing resources" can be broadly used to refer to any component system, apparatus, or device of an information processing system, including but not limited to: processors, service processors, basic input / output systems (BIOS), buses, memory, I / O devices and / or interfaces, storage resources, network interfaces, motherboards, and / or any other components and / or elements of the information processing system.

[0019] In the following description, details are illustrated by way of example to facilitate discussion of the disclosed subject matter. However, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the disclosed embodiments are exemplary and not exhaustive of all possible embodiments.

[0020] Throughout this disclosure, the hyphenated form of the reference numerals refers to a specific instance of an element, while the non-hyphenated form of the reference numerals refers to an element in general. Thus, for example, "device 12-1" refers to an instance of a category of devices, which can be collectively referred to as device "device 12", and any one of these devices can be generally referred to as "device 12".

[0021] As used herein, when two or more elements are referred to as “coupled” to each other, such terms indicate that such two or more elements are in electronic communication or mechanical connection, including thermal and fluid connection, thermal connection or mechanical connection, whether the connection is indirect or direct, with or without intermediate elements.

[0022] Now refer to the attached diagram, Figure 1An information processing system 100 is illustrated, configured to create and support a containerized environment, referred to herein as a container platform 101. The illustrated information processing system 100 implements the container platform 101 within a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) appliance 102, characterized by four nodes 105 housed in a common chassis and including a host node 105-1 supporting the illustrated container platform 101. As its name suggests, the HCI appliance 102 incorporates an HCI architecture that includes virtualized and tightly integrated compute, storage, and networking resources. In at least some embodiments, each node 105 of the HCI appliance 102 is a different physical resource also incorporated with an HCI architecture. Suitable for use as Figure 1 Commercial distribution examples of HCI equipment 102 include Dell EMC VxRail equipment of any G-series model from Dell Technologies. Although Figure 1 A container platform 101 implemented within a multi-node HCI appliance is illustrated, but other implementations may employ two or more single-node HCI appliances. More generally, in other implementations, the container platform 101 may be included in any suitable server-type information processing system with virtualization capabilities.

[0023] Figure 1 The container platform 101 includes a host system, or more simply, a host 110, which contains physical resources, collectively referred to herein as host device 106 and host operating system (OS) 120. Host resources 106 may include one or more central processing units (CPUs), memory and storage devices, and networking devices. For clarity, Figure 1 The components including host resource 106 have been omitted. The host OS 120 can be Linux or a Linux-derived OS, a Microsoft Windows series OS, or another suitable general-purpose operating system.

[0024] The container manager 130, running within the host OS 120, is depicted as supporting three containers 140, namely a first container 140-1, a second container 140-2, and a third container 140-3. The container manager 130 can be implemented using any of a variety of container orchestration packages, including but not limited to DockerSwarm, Kubernetes, or suitable alternatives. Although Figure 1 The container manager 130 is shown supporting three containers 140, but it will be easy to understand that the container manager 130 can support more or fewer containers.

[0025] Figure 1Virtual Infrastructure Manager 150 and HCI Manager 160 are further illustrated. As their names suggest, Virtual Infrastructure Manager 150 provides a centralized and scalable platform for managing virtual infrastructure, including but not limited to container 140. In at least some embodiments, Virtual Infrastructure Manager 150 may correspond to vCenter software from Dell Technologies. HCI Manager 160, as shown, provides centralized management services for managing the node cluster within HCI device 102. For implementations employing VxRail devices as HCI device 102, HCI management may correspond to VxRail Manager software from Dell Technologies.

[0026] Figure 2 Selected elements of a health monitoring service 201 suitable for remotely executing scripts on a target host / VM resource 211 within a containerized environment using health monitoring scripts (such as command-line scripts) are shown. Figure 2 The health monitoring service 201 includes a containerized health service 204, an HCI manager SSH control module 210, and a host VM 211 including a host device 212 and one or more virtual machines 214 running therein. Figure 2 The resources and elements shown can be configured to enable the remote execution of embedded script 205 on the target host / VM 211.

[0027] Now for reference Figure 3 Additional details of the Health Monitoring Service 200 are shown.

[0028] Now for reference Figure 5 Any one or more of the operations or components shown in the foregoing figures can be implanted as a result of Figure 5 The illustrated information processing system 500 is an example of an information processing system or is embedded therein. The illustrated information processing system includes one or more general-purpose processors or central processing units (CPUs) 501, which are communicatively coupled to memory resources 510 and input / output hubs 520, with various I / O resources and / or components communicatively coupled to the input / output hubs. Figure 5The I / O resources explicitly depicted include a network interface 540, commonly referred to as a NIC (Network Interface Card), storage resources 530, and additional I / O devices, components, or resources 550, which, as non-limiting examples, include a keyboard, mouse, monitor, printer, speaker, microphone, etc. The illustrated information processing system 500 includes a baseboard management controller (BMC) 560, which, among other features and services, provides out-of-band management resources that can be coupled to a management server (not shown). In at least some embodiments, the BMC 560 can manage the information processing system 500 even when it is powered off or powered on to a standby state. The BMC 560 may include a processor, memory, an out-of-band network interface separate and physically isolated from the in-band network interface of the information processing system 500, and / or other embedded information processing resources. In some embodiments, the BMC 560 may include or be a component of a remote access controller (e.g., a Dell remote access controller or an integrated Dell remote access controller) or a chassis management controller.

[0029] This disclosure covers all variations, substitutions, alterations, modifications, and alterations of the exemplary embodiments herein that will be understood by those skilled in the art. Similarly, where appropriate, the appended claims cover all variations, substitutions, alterations, modifications, and alterations of the exemplary embodiments herein that will be understood by those skilled in the art. Furthermore, references in the appended claims to a device or system or a component of a device or system adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operably perform a particular function include said device, system, or component, whether or not the particular function is activated, turned on, or unlocked, provided that said device, system, or component is adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operably perform the particular function.

[0030] All examples and conditional language described herein are intended to aid the reader in understanding this disclosure and for educational purposes related to advancing concepts in the field, as contributed by the inventors, and should be construed as not being limited to such specific examples and conditions. Although embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and modifications can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for managing containerized services, wherein the method includes: Retrieve access account information for the containerized health monitoring service from the access account, which is registered in a centralized account service for managing resources by the containerized health monitoring service, which contains legacy health monitoring service scripts suitable for command-line execution. Based on the access account information, access the containerized health status monitoring service to retrieve the SSH public key generated by the containerized health status monitoring service; as well as By using the management resource, the SSH public key is stored in the target resource so that the instance of the containerized health monitoring service can remotely execute the legacy health monitoring service script on the target resource using SSH commands.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the containerized health status monitoring service includes a health status monitoring service Docker image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the management resources include the management resources of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the target resource is selected from: virtual machines deployed on the HCI device and hosts within the HCI device.

5. An information processing system, comprising: Central Processing Unit (CPU); as well as The CPU-accessible memory includes processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the CPU, cause the system to perform health status monitoring service management operations, wherein the health status monitoring service management operations include: Retrieve access account information for the containerized health monitoring service from the access account, which is registered in a centralized account service for managing resources by the containerized health monitoring service, which contains legacy health monitoring service scripts suitable for command-line execution. Based on the access account information, access the containerized health status monitoring service to retrieve the SSH public key generated by the containerized health status monitoring service; and By managing the service, the SSH public key is stored in the target resource so that an instance of the containerized health monitoring service can remotely execute the legacy health monitoring service script on the target resource using SSH commands.

6. The information processing system according to claim 5, wherein the containerized health status monitoring service includes a health status monitoring service Docker image.

7. The information processing system according to claim 5, wherein the management resources include the management resources of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) devices.

8. The information processing system according to claim 7, wherein the target resource is selected from: virtual machines deployed on the HCI device and hosts within the HCI device.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including processor-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor of an information processing system, cause the system to perform health status monitoring service management operations, wherein the health status monitoring service management operations include: Retrieve access account information for the containerized health monitoring service from the access account, which is registered in a centralized account service for managing resources by the containerized health monitoring service, which contains legacy health monitoring service scripts suitable for command-line execution. Based on the access account information, access the containerized health status monitoring service to retrieve the SSH public key generated by the containerized health status monitoring service; as well as By using the management resource, the SSH public key is stored in the target resource so that the instance of the containerized health monitoring service can remotely execute the legacy health monitoring service script on the target resource using SSH commands.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the containerized health monitoring service includes a health monitoring service Docker image.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the management resources include management resources of a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the target resource is selected from: virtual machines deployed on the HCI device and hosts within the HCI device.

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