Canonical Destination Path for VM Data Migration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Migrating data between different virtual machine (VM) architectures is complex due to proprietary conventions for locating objects, leading to potential disruptions, lengthy migration times, and data corruption, requiring skilled administrators familiar with architecture-specific commands.
Innovation Solution
A standardized 'canonical' destination path is introduced to represent VM objects in a hypervisor-agnostic format, allowing data objects to be copied or moved between VMs by specifying the destination path, which is automatically converted into hypervisor-specific formats using a hypervisor-agnostic data object.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If proprietary conventions and architecture-specific commands are used for data migration between VMs, then data can be transferred between different VM architectures, but the migration process becomes complex and requires skilled administrators
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a standardized path convention that acts as an intermediary between different VM architectures. This universal path format enables data objects to be located and transferred between VMs without requiring architecture-specific commands, thereby reducing migration complexity while maintaining adaptability across different VM types
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a universal path convention that can be used across multiple VM architectures (e.g., LPAR, KVM, Xen). This single standardized approach replaces the need for separate architecture-specific conventions, allowing the same path format to serve multiple functions across different virtualization platforms
2Adaptability or versatility
If architecture-specific migration commands are used, then data can be migrated between VMs, but service disruptions and lengthy migration times occur
Solution Approach 1:
The standardized path convention serves as a mediator that enables direct data object identification across VM architectures. By eliminating the need for complex architecture-specific command sequences, the migration process is streamlined and completed more quickly, reducing service disruption time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes path conventions in advance that are designed to work across multiple architectures. This preliminary standardization allows migration operations to proceed directly without requiring runtime conversion or complex command sequences, thereby reducing migration time
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If proprietary path conventions are used for locating VM objects, then data objects can be located within each VM architecture, but data corruption may occur during migration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies homogeneity by using a uniform path convention format across different VM architectures. This consistent structure ensures that data object locations are represented in the same way regardless of the underlying architecture, eliminating mismatches that could lead to data corruption during migration
Data Source
AI summary
Exemplary embodiments described herein relate to a destination path for use with multiple different types of VMs, and techniques for using the destination path to convert, copy, or move data objects stored in one type of VM to another type of VM. The destination path represents a standardized (canonical) way to refer to VM objects from a proprietary VM. A destination location may be specified using the canonical destination path, and the location may be converted into a hypervisor-specific destination location. A source data object may be copied or moved to the destination location using a hypervisor-agnostic path.