Live Migration of Virtual Machines in MR-IOV Environments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Live migration of virtual machines in a multi-root I/O virtualization (MR-IOV) environment faces challenges such as data loss during network packet handling, hardware status synchronization, and driver configuration issues, particularly when migrating virtual functions (VFs) across different physical hosts.
Innovation Solution
A method and device for live migration of virtual machines in an MR-IOV environment, where a source computing host migrates a virtual machine to a destination host, involving a management host to reassess and reassign virtual functions, and remap configuration information to an extended page table, ensuring driver and hardware status synchronization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If pass-through network devices are used to perform live migration of VMs, then migration capability is enabled, but data loss occurs during network packet handling and hardware status synchronization fails
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a bridge device as an intermediary between the source and destination hosts during live migration. This bridge receives network packets from the source host, performs translation and forwarding, and ensures data integrity is maintained throughout the migration process. The bridge acts as a mediator that resolves the conflict between enabling migration and maintaining data integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by establishing the bridge device and configuring network paths before the actual live migration begins. The bridge is set up in advance to handle packet translation and forwarding, ensuring that when migration occurs, data integrity is already protected by the pre-configured infrastructure.
2Productivity
If virtual functions are migrated from source host to destination host, then resource utilization improves, but driver and hardware status synchronization becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a copy of the virtual function configuration and state information during migration. The bridge device captures the network packet data and forwards it to the destination host, effectively copying the necessary operational state. This copying mechanism simplifies the synchronization complexity by maintaining a replicable state rather than requiring complex real-time synchronization protocols.
3Ease of operation
If NIC driver status is preserved during migration, then configuration simplicity is maintained, but hardware status mismatch occurs between driver and physical hardware
Solution Approach 1:
The bridge device serves as an intermediary that handles the status mismatch between the NIC driver and physical hardware during migration. It receives packets from the source host's NIC driver (which retains its original configuration) and forwards them to the destination host, bridging the gap between the preserved driver status and the new hardware environment without requiring driver reconfiguration.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for live migration of a virtual machine in a MR-IOV environment is provided. The method is used in a system, wherein the system includes a plurality of computing hosts, an MR-IOV device, and a management host including a physical function and configured to implement a plurality of virtual functions. Eand each computing host and the management host are coupled to the MR-IOV device. The method includes: migrating, by a source computing host of the computing hosts, a source virtual machine in the source computing host to a destination VM in a destination computing host of the computing hosts, wherein the source VM includes a source VF; transmitting, by the destination computing host, a request message to a management host and reassigning, by the management host, a first VF corresponding to the source VF in the management host to the destination VM according to the request message.