Virtualized Standby Node for N+N Failover
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
High availability computer systems face challenges in seamless failover when multiple servers fail, as errant applications can interfere with other applications on standby servers, leading to potential failures and reduced system availability.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for providing failover in a virtualized environment using a standby node with a virtualized environment that supports multiple software partitions, employing a high-availability control module to instantiate partitions and manage resources, enabling an N+N failover configuration with minimal changes to existing data services and agents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a standby server is used for failover in an N+1 configuration, then system availability is improved, but the risk of application interference and catastrophic failure increases when multiple servers fail
Solution Approach 1:
The standby server is segmented into multiple virtual machines, each acting as an isolated partition. When failover occurs, only the specific virtual machine corresponding to the failed application is activated, while other virtual machines remain dormant. This segmentation prevents application interference between different failed services and eliminates the risk of catastrophic failure affecting the entire standby server.
2Reliability
If multiple standby servers are deployed to handle multiple failures, then system availability is improved, but device complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple standby servers are merged into a single physical server by deploying multiple virtual machines on the same hardware platform. This consolidation maintains the ability to handle multiple simultaneous failures while reducing hardware complexity, resource consumption, and management overhead compared to deploying separate physical standby servers for each potential failure scenario.
3Ease of operation
If traditional failover to a physical server is used, then seamless service transition is achieved, but the system cannot isolate failed applications from other applications
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of failing over to a complete physical server copy, the system creates and activates only the specific virtual machine copy needed for the failed application. This selective copying approach maintains seamless failover for the affected service while automatically isolating it from other applications, as each virtual machine operates in its own isolated environment with dedicated resources.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for providing failover to a virtualized environment. The method and apparatus comprise a standby node having a virtualized environment that supports a plurality of resource partitions that operate within the standby node upon a failover of a server within a computer system.