VM Deployment via Dummy VM Resource Reservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current high availability solutions for virtual machines (VMs) in cloud environments are inadequate, particularly for non-clustered server pools, as they either restrict live migration due to CPU affinity requirements or lead to costly licensing issues, and manual intervention is often necessary for VM relocation during failures.
Innovation Solution
Deploying a first VM on a non-clustered server pool with a dummy VM configured on another hypervisor to reserve resources, allowing the first VM to be powered on with a cold start using the dummy VM's resources and maintaining the same configuration, enabling seamless workload migration without downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a VM is migrated to another hypervisor in a non-clustered server pool, then VM availability is improved, but manual intervention is required and the process is complex
Solution Approach 1:
A dummy VM is configured in advance on a different hypervisor from the active VM, with the same resources (CPU, RAM) but not powered on. This preliminary configuration ensures that when the active VM needs to be migrated, the target hypervisor already has the necessary resources reserved and configured, eliminating the need for manual intervention during the migration process.
Solution Approach 2:
The dummy VM acts as an intermediary that holds reserved resources on the target hypervisor. It serves as a placeholder that prepares the target environment for the active VM migration, facilitating the transfer without requiring manual resource allocation or configuration at the time of migration.
2Speed
If resources are reserved for VM migration on target hypervisor, then migration speed is improved, but resource overcommitment may occur
Solution Approach 1:
Resources are reserved locally on each target hypervisor specifically for its associated dummy VM, rather than creating a centralized resource pool. This local reservation ensures that resources are committed only when needed for specific migrations, preventing global overcommitment while enabling fast local migration operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the state parameter of the dummy VM from 'powered off' to 'powered on' only when migration is needed. This parameter change allows the dummy VM to activate reserved resources temporarily for the migration process, then power down again, preventing permanent resource overcommitment while enabling rapid migration when required.
Data Source
AI summary
According to a computer-implemented method, a first virtual machine (VM) is deployed on a first hypervisor from a non-clustered server pool to run a workload of one or more applications. A dummy VM is configured on a second hypervisor from the non-clustered server pool to reserve same resources as the first VM without powering the dummy VM. The first VM is powered with a cold start on the second hypervisor using the resources on the dummy VM. Also, the first VM is provided with a same VM configuration on the second hypervisor that was on the first hypervisor.