Hardware Independent Interface for VM Image Migration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data migration in virtualized storage environments is resource-intensive and limited by network bandwidth, particularly for on-board migrations, which are slow and distance-constrained, whereas off-board migrations are faster and more distance-tolerant but only support LUN-level data transfer, not image-level across disparate systems.
Innovation Solution
A hardware-independent pathing interface is developed to enable off-board data migration across disparate systems at the image level by isolating APIs within a container, such as a Docker container, allowing the migration appliance to communicate with various storage systems and perform long-distance replication based on image requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If on-board migration is used to migrate data at image level, then migration can be performed across disparate systems, but migration speed is limited by network bandwidth and administrative complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a storage migration appliance as an intermediary device that sits between the source and destination storage systems. This appliance handles the complex migration operations autonomously, providing a standardized interface that simplifies the migration process while enabling fast data transfer by bypassing traditional host-based network constraints.
2Productivity
If off-board migration is used to increase migration speed, then data can be transferred faster bypassing network interface cards, but migration is limited to LUN level and cannot operate across disparate systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal migration interface that can operate across different storage systems and platforms. The migration appliance provides a standardized set of interfaces that can communicate with various storage systems, enabling it to perform off-board migration at image level across disparate systems while maintaining high transfer speeds.
3Adaptability or versatility
If on-board migration tooling is used to migrate individual virtual machines, then migration can be performed at image level, but administrative time increases due to multiple steps required
Solution Approach 1:
The migration appliance is designed to perform migration operations autonomously without requiring extensive administrative intervention. It provides self-service capabilities for discovering source images, validating migration parameters, and executing the migration process, thereby reducing the time administrators need to spend on manual configuration and monitoring.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for off-board data migration. Responsive to receiving a request to migrate a virtual machine image, a memory location of the source virtual machine is identified. Using a generalized pathing interface, a range of logical blocks is accessed for both the source and destination virtual machines. The memory location of the source virtual machine is copied to a memory location of the destination virtual machine. The destination virtual machine is started, and; and the source virtual machine is stopped.