Virtual Machine Migration via Temporary Shared Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cloud infrastructure faces challenges in maintaining service availability during maintenance or resource contention, as live migration of virtual machines across different physical locations is often associated with downtime and performance issues.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that migrates virtual machines between source and destination clouds using temporary shared storage, involving a first storage location migration to temporary storage, followed by a second migration to final destination storage, while ensuring minimal disruption and service availability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional VM migration methods are used, then service availability is maintained, but downtime and performance issues occur during migration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-copying virtual machine disk data to a shared temporary storage location before the actual migration process begins. This allows the VM to be migrated with minimal downtime since the data transfer is initiated in advance and can proceed in parallel with VM suspension, thereby reducing the overall migration time while maintaining service availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a shared temporary storage system as an intermediary between the source and destination storage systems. This intermediary storage facilitates the migration process by providing a common platform where VM data can be staged and transferred, enabling seamless data movement between different storage locations without causing service interruptions or performance degradation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If VM migration is performed across different physical locations, then operational flexibility is improved, but service disruption and performance degradation occur
Solution Approach 1:
The shared temporary storage acts as an intermediary that decouples the source and destination systems, allowing VM migration across different physical locations without direct interference between them. This intermediary platform maintains service performance by providing a stable, controlled environment for data transfer, thereby enabling operational flexibility without sacrificing productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The migration process is segmented into distinct phases: data copying to temporary storage, VM suspension, data finalization, and VM activation at the destination. This segmentation allows each phase to be optimized independently, maintaining service performance during critical operations while achieving operational flexibility through controlled, staged migration.
3Reliability
If live migration is implemented, then service availability is maintained, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shared temporary storage serves as a simplifying intermediary that standardizes the migration interface between source and destination systems. By providing a common, standardized platform for data exchange, it reduces the complexity of direct point-to-point migration implementations while maintaining live migration capabilities and service availability.
Data Source
AI summary
A virtual machine is migrated between a source cloud and a destination cloud. A temporary storage is mounted to a partition management firmware of the source cloud and to a partition management firmware of the destination cloud. A first storage location migration migrates the virtual machine from the source cloud to the at least one temporary storage. A second storage location migration migrates the virtual machine from the at least one temporary storage to final destination storage of the destination cloud. The temporary storage is then unmounted from the partition management firmware of the source cloud and from the partition management firmware of the destination cloud.