Live Migration of Virtual Machines Across Distributed Virtual Switches
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing virtual machine (VM) migration technologies across distributed virtual switches and cloud management systems result in network connectivity issues, as the VM's configuration file continues to point to network resources of the original switch, preventing seamless migration across distinct virtual networks.
Innovation Solution
The method involves instantiating and reserving distributed virtual ports on the destination switch, copying and applying the network state data of the source ports, and modifying the VM configuration to reference these reserved ports, ensuring network connectivity is maintained during and after migration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a VM is migrated across distributed virtual switches using traditional methods, then the VM can be moved to a different host, but the VM's configuration file continues to point to network resources of the original switch, causing network connectivity loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-allocating distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch before the VM migration is initiated. This ensures that network resources are ready and configured in advance, allowing the VM to connect to the correct network resources at the destination without connectivity loss. The configuration file is updated to reference these pre-allocated ports, ensuring seamless network connectivity throughout the migration process.
2Reliability
If the VM configuration file is updated to point to destination network resources, then network connectivity is maintained, but the migration process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by enabling the VM configuration file to automatically update its network resource references during the migration process. The system manages the configuration updates seamlessly without requiring manual intervention or complex external management processes. The distributed virtual switch infrastructure handles the configuration synchronization automatically, reducing overall process complexity while maintaining network connectivity.
3Reliability
If VMs are restricted to migrate only within the same distributed virtual switch, then network connectivity is maintained, but the migration flexibility and adaptability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by enabling distributed virtual ports to function across multiple distributed virtual switches. The pre-allocated ports on the destination switch can handle VM connections from any source switch, making the migration process universally applicable across the entire virtualized infrastructure. This multi-functional capability allows VMs to migrate freely between different distributed virtual switches while maintaining network connectivity, significantly enhancing migration flexibility and adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for migrating virtual machines (VMs) across virtual switches. To migrate a VM, a destination distributed virtual switch module may, prior to migration, instantiate a distributed virtual port on a destination VM host and reserve the distributed virtual port for each virtual network adapter of the VM. Further, a configuration file for the VM specifying the distributed virtual ports reserved for the virtual network adapters may be copied from a source VM host to the destination VM host or created in the destination VM host. As part of the migration, network state data of the distributed virtual ports used by the VM at the source VM host is copied and applied to the appropriate reserved distributed virtual ports on the destination host. Then, when the migrated VM is powered on at the destination host, the VM configuration specifying the reserved distributed virtual ports is used to attach the virtual network adapters of the VM to the reserved distributed virtual ports.