Storage Layer Orchestration for VM Migration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Host-based cloud disaster recovery solutions face inefficiencies in storage efficiency, network bandwidth, and labor-intensive failback operations due to differences in virtualization environments, leading to impracticality on an enterprise scale.
Innovation Solution
The storage layer cloud DR approach replicates and orchestrates virtual machine data at the storage layer, converting virtual disks into widely adopted storage representations like LUNs, allowing efficient launch and failover of virtualized systems across different virtualization environments without migrating at the guest operating system layer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If host-based cloud disaster recovery solutions are used to replicate virtual machines between different virtualization environments, then disaster recovery capability is achieved, but storage efficiency deteriorates and network bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses storage layer copying mechanisms to replicate virtual machine data between primary and secondary sites. Instead of copying entire virtual machine images including metadata, the system copies only the essential data blocks at the storage layer, dramatically reducing storage overhead and network bandwidth consumption while maintaining disaster recovery capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes virtual machine metadata from the replication process. By separating metadata from data blocks and only replicating necessary data at the storage layer, the system eliminates unnecessary storage consumption and network traffic associated with copying complete virtual machine images
2Reliability
If host-based cloud disaster recovery solutions are used to replicate virtual machines between different virtualization environments, then disaster recovery capability is achieved, but network bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements selective copying at the storage layer, transmitting only essential data blocks rather than complete virtual machine images. This selective replication strategy minimizes network bandwidth consumption while ensuring disaster recovery capability is maintained
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and excludes metadata from the network transmission process. By removing unnecessary metadata components from the replication stream and only transmitting essential data blocks, the system significantly reduces network bandwidth consumption
3Adaptability or versatility
If virtual machine migration is performed between different hypervisor platforms, then environment flexibility is achieved, but operation complexity increases due to metadata compatibility issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes metadata from the virtual machine migration process by separating data blocks from their associated metadata. This extraction allows virtual machine data to be migrated between different hypervisor platforms without encountering metadata compatibility issues, simplifying cross-environment operations
Solution Approach 2:
The system copies only raw data blocks without associated metadata when migrating virtual machines between different hypervisor platforms. This metadata-free copying approach eliminates compatibility problems between different virtualization environments and simplifies the migration operation
4Reliability
If incremental backups are performed at the guest operating system layer, then data protection is achieved, but storage efficiency and network bandwidth are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves the backup operation from the guest operating system layer to the storage layer, a different dimensional level in the system architecture. This dimensional shift enables incremental backups to be performed on storage data blocks directly, improving storage efficiency and reducing network bandwidth consumption while maintaining data protection capability
Data Source
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AI summary
A storage layer based orchestration method can efficiently migrate a virtualized, enterprise scale system across disparate virtualization environments. A copy of a source logical storage container with multiple virtual disks of virtual machines (VMs) can be created in a public cloud destination as a destination logical storage container. Each of the VMs is associated with at least one virtual disk that includes boot data ("boot disk") for the VM. With application programming interface function calls and/or scripted task automation and configuration management commands, the orchestration method coordinates different applications and tools to convert the boot disks into canonical storage representations (e.g., logical unit numbers (LUNs)), to instantiate VMs in the destination environment, and to chain load the boot disks to launch the VMs in a different virtualization environment.