Virtual Infrastructure Management via Dual Service VM Cross-Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In virtual environments, identifying and restoring issues between service virtual machines (VMs) and service daemons is time-consuming, making it difficult to quickly restore the management mechanism when hardware status issues arise.
Innovation Solution
A management apparatus and method that utilizes two service VMs and their corresponding management managers to communicate and monitor each other's statuses, identify problem areas, and perform restoration operations, including simulating responses and adjusting communication paths to quickly diagnose and address issues within the virtual infrastructure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If a single service VM monitors hardware status, then the monitoring structure is simple, but the time to identify and restore problem areas increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a duplicate service VM (second service VM) that replicates the monitoring functions of the first service VM. Both VMs independently monitor the same hardware and virtualization infrastructure, enabling comparison of their observations to rapidly identify whether problems lie in the hardware, virtualization layer, or the VMs themselves. This copying approach resolves the contradiction by accepting doubled monitoring complexity in exchange for dramatically reduced problem identification time through cross-validation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the first and second service VMs exchange their monitoring results and communicate with each other's status. By comparing feedback from both VMs about the same system state, the management apparatus can quickly determine if a deviation is real (indicating a problem) or if both VMs are experiencing the same issue (indicating a systemic problem). This feedback loop enables rapid restoration by identifying whether to restart a VM or investigate hardware/virtualization issues.
2Productivity
If dual service VMs are used for monitoring, then problem identification speed improves, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the monitoring functions of two service VMs into a unified management apparatus that coordinates both VMs. The management apparatus consolidates the status information from both VMs, compares their observations, and makes centralized restoration decisions. This merging approach maintains high problem identification speed by utilizing both VMs simultaneously while reducing the operational complexity burden on individual VMs, as the coordination logic is centralized in the management apparatus rather than distributed across both VMs.
3Reliability
If service VMs communicate mutually to monitor status, then restoration accuracy improves, but communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements partial communication between service VMs by having them exchange only critical status information needed for problem identification rather than continuously sharing all system state data. The VMs communicate selectively when status changes occur or when problem identification is needed, rather than maintaining constant bidirectional communication. This partial action approach maintains high restoration accuracy by sharing essential diagnostic information while significantly reducing communication overhead compared to continuous full-state synchronization.
Data Source
AI summary
A management apparatus is configured to acquire status information of a virtual infrastructure on which a first management service operates, perform mutual communication with a second management service that has a function identical to a function of the first management service and that operates on the virtual infrastructure, identify a status for an item used for identifying a problem area based on a communication status, the status information of the virtual infrastructure, and a communication status with the second management service, acquire, from the second management service, a status identified for the item based on status information of the virtual infrastructure and a communication status of the mutual communication, identify, based on the identified status and the acquired status for the item, whether the problem area is either the first management service or the second management service, and perform a restoration operation corresponding to the identified problem area.