Distributed Hypervisor Lifecycle Management via Key-Value Store
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing virtualized computing systems rely on external coordination engines for hypervisor lifecycle management, which become a central point of failure and fail to scale with increasing host clusters, lacking high availability and redundancy.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a distributed autonomous lifecycle management system that uses a distributed key-value store to enable hosts to autonomously coordinate and perform hypervisor lifecycle operations, such as patching and upgrading, without relying on external engines, leveraging peer-to-peer mechanisms for software image distribution and declarative state documents for configuration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an external coordination engine is used to manage hypervisor lifecycle operations, then centralized control and coordination are achieved, but the system becomes a central point of failure and fails to scale with increasing host clusters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized coordination function into distributed autonomous agents deployed on each host. Each agent independently manages its host's lifecycle operations while coordinating with peers through a distributed key-value store, eliminating the single point of failure inherent in centralized architectures and enabling horizontal scaling with the host cluster.
Solution Approach 2:
Each host runs autonomous remediation software that self-manages its own lifecycle operations without requiring external coordination. The software autonomously determines when to enter maintenance mode, coordinates with other hosts through the distributed store, and executes patching or upgrading operations independently, thereby eliminating dependence on external coordination engines.
2Productivity
If hosts perform lifecycle operations autonomously using a distributed key-value store, then scalability and fault tolerance are improved, but coordination complexity among hosts increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a distributed key-value store as an intermediary mechanism that simplifies coordination among autonomous hosts. Each host interacts with the store to read and write its state and desired state documents, allowing indirect coordination without complex peer-to-peer communication protocols. This intermediary abstraction layer reduces coordination complexity while maintaining scalability and fault tolerance.
3Reliability
If the number of concurrent maintenance mode hosts is limited by storage availability constraints, then distributed storage reliability is maintained, but the number of hosts that can be patched simultaneously is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic adjustment of the number of hosts in maintenance mode based on real-time storage availability conditions. The system continuously monitors storage capacity and automatically adjusts the concurrency level of remediation operations, allowing maximum parallel patching when storage is abundant and reducing concurrency when storage is constrained. This dynamic approach maintains storage reliability while optimizing parallel remediation capacity.
Data Source
AI summary
An example method of hypervisor lifecycle management in a virtualized computing system having a cluster of hosts is described. The method includes: obtaining, by remediation software executing in a host of the hosts, a host state document from a distributed key-value store, the host state document defining a desired state of software in the host, the software including a hypervisor; and performing, by the remediation software in coordination with other hosts of the hosts through the distributed key-value store, a lifecycle operation on the software of the host in response to determining that a current state of the software does not match the desired state.