Hybrid Cloud Application Migration via Overlay Networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Migrating complex computer applications across hybrid cloud environments is challenging due to the difficulty in replicating original VLANs, subnets, and addresses, leading to functional disruptions and requiring extensive reconfiguration, which is time-consuming and often impossible without knowledge of the original network configurations.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a system that uses a network virtualization manager to create secure overlay networks, a workload migrater to migrate workloads between physical, virtual, or cloud servers, and a migration manager to automate the process, ensuring that workloads retain their original network configuration and relationships, thereby maintaining application functionality without modifying the application or user access procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If workload migration is performed in hybrid cloud environment, then resource flexibility and cost optimization are improved, but network configuration complexity and migration difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a network virtualization layer with overlay networks as an intermediary between the physical infrastructure and workload network configurations. This virtualization layer abstracts the complex physical network topology, allowing workloads to maintain their original network configurations while being migrated across different physical locations in the hybrid cloud environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a virtual network dimension above the physical network infrastructure. By creating overlay networks that operate in this additional virtual dimension, the system enables workloads to access each other through virtual network paths that are independent of the underlying physical network topology, thus simplifying migration while maintaining network relationships.
2Productivity
If complex applications are migrated across hybrid cloud environments, then resource utilization efficiency is improved, but migration time and operational disruption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring overlay networks and establishing virtual network paths before actual workload migration occurs. The network virtualization infrastructure is prepared in advance, and network relationships are mapped and preserved, allowing workloads to be migrated without needing to reconfigure network connections during the migration process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates virtual copies of network configurations and overlay network representations that can be replicated and transported with workloads. These virtual network configuration copies allow workloads to maintain their original network identities and relationships in the target environment without requiring time-consuming reconfiguration.
3Reliability
If original network configurations are preserved during migration, then application functionality is maintained, but migration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The network virtualization layer acts as an intermediary that decouples the workload's network configuration from the physical network infrastructure. By introducing this virtualization intermediary, the system can preserve original network configurations at the workload level while the physical migration occurs transparently in the background without affecting application functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the network configuration into two independent layers: the virtual overlay network layer that preserves workload identities and relationships, and the physical infrastructure layer that handles actual migration. This segmentation allows each layer to be managed independently, maintaining application functionality while simplifying the migration process.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and methods for the migration of complex computer applications and the workloads comprising them between physical, virtual, and cloud servers that span a hybrid cloud environment comprising private local and remote customer data centers and public cloud data centers, without modification to the applications, their operational environments, or user access procedures. A virtual network manager securely extends the subnets and VLANS within the customer's various data center across the distributed, hybrid environment using overlay networks implemented with virtual network appliances at nodes of the overlay network. A server migrater migrates individual workloads of servers used by the complex application from one pool of server resources to another. A migration manager application provides a control interface, and also maps and manages the resources of the complex application, the hybrid environment, and the virtual network spanning the hybrid cloud environment.