Management Server SLA Maintenance via Dynamic VM Migration
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Solution Overview
Problem
VM administrators face difficulties in maintaining service level agreements (SLAs) for virtual machines due to lack of knowledge about physical resources and challenges in detecting failures and locating alternative resources that satisfy SLAs, especially when automatic migration is not feasible.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that monitor physical resources, dynamically allocate new resources to virtual machines when failures are detected, and move affected VMs to suitable new resources to maintain SLAs, using a management server with a processor, network interface, and memory to manage virtual machines and resources, and receive notifications of events affecting SLAs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If VM administrators manually monitor and manage physical resources to maintain SLAs, then they can detect failures and locate alternative resources, but the complexity of physical resource topology and lack of involvement in resource management makes this difficult
Solution Approach 1:
A management server is introduced as an intermediary between VM administrators and physical resources. The management server monitors physical resource events, determines SLA impacts, and facilitates resource allocation and VM migration, thereby shielding VM administrators from physical resource complexity while maintaining SLA compliance.
2Reliability
If automatic VM migration is implemented when physical resource failures are detected, then SLA compliance can be maintained, but the system cannot handle cases where appropriate destinations are not found due to insufficient free capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts resource allocation strategies based on real-time conditions. When predefined resources are insufficient, the management server creates new resource pools on-demand and dynamically assigns them to affected VMs, enabling the system to adapt to varying capacity constraints while maintaining SLA compliance.
Solution Approach 2:
The management server proactively monitors physical resource events and determines SLA impacts before failures occur, allowing preemptive resource allocation and VM migration planning. This preliminary action enables the system to handle edge cases where destinations might otherwise be unavailable.
3Ease of operation
If VM administrators are kept informed about physical resource status, then they can make informed decisions about resource allocation, but the complexity of monitoring and information management increases
Solution Approach 1:
The management server implements a feedback mechanism that monitors physical resource events, determines SLA impacts, and provides summarized information to VM administrators through notifications. This feedback loop keeps administrators informed of critical status changes without requiring them to directly monitor complex physical resource topology.
Data Source
AI summary
A management server is provided in a computer system having one or more hosts, one or more storage systems and one or more switches, the hosts having a plurality of virtual machines, each virtual machine being defined according to a service level agreement. The management server is operable to manage the virtual machines and resources associated with the virtual machines; receive a notification of an event from a node in the computer system; determine if the event affects a service level agreement for any of the virtual machines defined in the computer system, the service level agreements listing required attributes for the corresponding virtual machines; allocate a new resource for a virtual machine whose service level agreement is affected by the event; and move the virtual machine whose service level agreement is affected by the event to the newly allocated resource.