Virtual Machine Mirroring for High Availability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems require dedicated hardware and operating systems to ensure continuous operation during hardware failures and maintenance, limiting flexibility and increasing costs.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing two host computers, each executing virtual machines, where one mirrors the executable image and internal state of the other, allowing for redundant and multi-operation modes to maintain availability without dedicated systems, enabling continuous service even during hardware failures and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dedicated hardware and operating systems are used to ensure continuous operation during hardware failures and maintenance, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements redundancy by creating a copy of the virtual machine image on a standby host computer. When the active host fails or requires maintenance, the virtual machine can be activated on the standby host, ensuring continuous service without requiring dedicated hardware systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses standard host computers with general-purpose operating systems rather than dedicated hardware. The same hardware infrastructure serves both active and standby roles, and the virtual machine image can run on either host, providing multi-functionality and reducing overall system complexity.
2Reliability
If dedicated hardware and operating systems are used to ensure continuous operation during maintenance, then system availability is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring separate dedicated hardware for redundancy, the patent creates a virtual copy of the machine image that can be activated on existing standby hardware, reducing the need for additional physical resources and lowering overall system cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the active and standby systems into a unified virtualization framework where a single virtual machine image can run on either host. This merging of functions into shared infrastructure reduces total hardware requirements and associated costs.
3Reliability
If virtual machine images are mirrored between host computers for redundancy, then system availability is improved, but data transmission requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual machine image is mirrored to the standby host in advance before failure occurs. This preliminary action ensures that when the active host fails, the standby host already has the complete image ready for immediate activation, avoiding the need for large-scale data transmission during critical failure recovery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a complete copy of the virtual machine image on the standby host, enabling immediate failover without requiring transmission of operational data during the switch. This copying approach trades initial data transmission for elimination of transmission during failure recovery.
Data Source
AI summary
Availability against hardware failure and availability against maintenance are implemented without using dedicated systems. A system is provided, including: a first host computer to execute a first virtual machine for running a first application; and a second host computer to execute a second virtual machine for running a second application, wherein in a redundant operation mode, the second host computer mirrors an executable image of the first virtual machine to an executable image of the second virtual machine while stopping the execution of the second virtual machine, and in a multi-operation mode, the second host computer mirrors an internal state of the first application to an internal state of the second application while executing the second virtual machine in parallel with the first virtual machine.