VM Migration Address Consistency via Intermediary Agent

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Solution Overview

Problem

In cloud computing scenarios, virtual machine migration across different virtualization systems often results in service interruption due to address inconsistencies between systems, leading to prolonged downtime.

Innovation Solution

A method and apparatus that utilize a temporary address to maintain consistency of the virtual machine's address during migration by using a migration agent to modify the destination virtual machine's address to match the source virtual machine's address, ensuring seamless migration across virtualization systems.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If a virtual machine is migrated across different virtualization systems, then resource utilization is balanced, but service interruption time increases due to address inconsistency

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveresource utilization balanceVSAvoidservice interruption time

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a migration agent as an intermediary component that is installed on the virtual machine before migration. This agent maintains the original virtual machine address during the migration process, acting as a mediator between the source and destination virtualization systems. By preserving the address through this intermediary mechanism, the system achieves resource balancing while minimizing service interruption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-installing the migration agent on the virtual machine before the actual migration occurs. This agent is configured with the original virtual machine address in advance, so when migration happens, the address is already preserved and ready to be used at the destination system, eliminating address reconfiguration delays.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Adaptability or versatility

If different virtualization systems are used simultaneously, then system flexibility is improved, but address consistency deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesystem flexibilityVSAvoidaddress consistency

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The migration agent is designed as a universal component that can operate across different virtualization systems (e.g., VMware, VirtualBox, KVM). It performs the multi-function of maintaining address consistency while enabling migration between heterogeneous systems, thus achieving both system flexibility and address stability through a single versatile mechanism.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS11210132B2Virtual machine migration in virtualization environment having different virtualization systems

Publication Date: 2021.12.28 HUAWEI CLOUD COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES CO LTD

AI summary

A method and an apparatus for migrating a virtual machine across virtualization systems, and a system, where a first virtualization system in which a source virtual machine is located specifies a temporary address of a destination virtual machine. After a second migration tool of a second virtualization system migrates the to-be-migrated virtual machine to the second virtualization system to generate the destination virtual machine, a first migration tool of the first virtualization system controls a migration agent on the destination virtual machine to modify the address of the destination virtual machine to an address of the source virtual machine such that the address of the virtual machine remains unchanged before and after migration, thereby shortening service interruption duration caused by virtual machine migration.