Virtual Machine Cold Migration Integrity via Shared Asset Metadata
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cold migration techniques for virtual machines face challenges in ensuring integrity, particularly with shared assets, and result in excessive downtime due to the need for manual intervention and lack of efficient asset identification during migration.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution involves an apparatus and method that extracts file-in-use metadata and shared asset metadata from the source virtual machine, determines the existence of shared assets in the target domain, and copies or updates metadata accordingly, reducing downtime by performing these operations in parallel and incorporating additional metadata fields for integrity-preserving cold migration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cold migration techniques are used, then virtual machine migration can be performed without shared storage requirements, but virtual machine integrity cannot be ensured and excessive downtime occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification of all files and shared assets that will be needed by the virtual machine in the target domain before the migration occurs. File-in-use metadata and shared asset metadata are extracted in advance, allowing the migration process to proceed without interruptions for asset discovery or manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces metadata structures (file-in-use metadata and shared asset metadata) as intermediaries that carry information about virtual machine assets between source and target domains. These metadata structures enable automated decision-making about which assets to copy and how to handle shared assets, eliminating the need for manual intervention and ensuring integrity.
2Ease of manufacture
If manual intervention is used in cold migration, then asset copying can be performed, but excessive downtime results
Solution Approach 1:
The migration system performs self-service by automatically identifying files and shared assets through metadata extraction, determining what needs to be copied, and executing the copying process without human intervention. The system autonomously handles the entire migration workflow, from asset identification to copying and verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the state of virtual machine assets from unknown/undetermined to identified and cataloged by extracting metadata parameters. File-in-use metadata and shared asset metadata provide structured information about asset locations, types, and relationships, enabling automated processing and eliminating manual asset copying.
3Productivity
If shared assets are not pre-identified, then migration can proceed simply, but virtual machine integrity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Shared asset metadata is extracted in advance before migration occurs, pre-identifying all shared assets that the virtual machine will need in the target domain. This preliminary identification ensures that no shared assets are missed during migration while allowing the process to proceed efficiently without post-migration asset discovery.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses shared asset metadata as feedback information to automatically determine which shared assets exist in the source domain and need to be copied to the target domain. The metadata provides continuous information about asset status and relationships, enabling the system to make accurate decisions about asset handling throughout the migration process.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes identifying a source virtual machine to be migrated from a source domain to a target domain, extracting file-in-use metadata and shared asset metadata from virtual machine metadata of the source virtual machine, and copying one or more files identified in the file-in-use metadata to a target virtual machine in the target domain. For each of one or more shared assets identified in the shared asset metadata, the method further includes (a) determining whether or not the shared asset already exists in the target domain, (b) responsive to the shared asset already existing in the target domain, updating virtual machine metadata of the target virtual machine to specify the shared asset, and (c) responsive to the shared asset not already existing in the target domain, copying the shared asset to the target domain and updating virtual machine metadata of the target virtual machine to specify the shared asset.