VMM Domain Framework for Heterogeneous Data Center Policy Enforcement
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Solution Overview
Problem
In a large-scale heterogeneous data center, existing approaches fail to enforce uniform policies across different types of hypervisors and virtual machine management systems, limiting the deployment of application tiers and efficient use of network resources.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) domains and Endpoint Groups (EPGs) allows for the creation of a common policy framework that can be instantiated across multiple compute platforms, enabling uniform policy enforcement and efficient reuse of network resources by mapping tenant EPGs to diverse VM management systems, thereby accommodating diverse hypervisors and management systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single VM management system is used to manage the data center, then management simplicity is maintained, but the data center scale is limited and cannot accommodate multiple Points of Delivery
Solution Approach 1:
The data center is segmented into multiple Points of Delivery (PoDs), each managed by its own VM management system. This segmentation allows the overall data center to scale beyond the capacity of a single management system while maintaining manageable units through standardized domain definitions and policy templates that can be replicated across PoDs.
2Adaptability or versatility
If different types of hypervisors are deployed to increase versatility, then compute resource diversity is improved, but uniform policy enforcement becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal policy framework that can enforce consistent policies across multiple hypervisor types (VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM). This is achieved through abstraction layers and standardized domain definitions that translate vendor-specific configurations into uniform policy enforcement, allowing the system to maintain versatility while ensuring reliability through consistent policy application.
3Ease of manufacture
If application tiers are deployed on individual VM management systems, then deployment simplicity is maintained, but network resource reuse is inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges application tier deployments across multiple VM management systems by introducing a multi-VMM domain architecture. This allows application tiers to be distributed across different VMM domains while maintaining centralized policy enforcement and coordinated network resource management, thereby improving network resource reuse efficiency without significantly complicating the deployment process through standardized integration interfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the embodiments are directed to forming a virtual machine management (VMM) domain in a heterogeneous datacenter. Aspects can include mapping an endpoint group to multiple VMM domains, each VMM domain associated with one or more virtual machine management systems of a single type that each share one or more management system characteristics; instantiating a virtual switch instance, the virtual switch instance associated with a the VMM domain; and instantiating the endpoint group mapped to the VMM domain as a network component associated with the virtual switch instance.