Method and system that simulates a computer-system aggregation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10826787-B2
Application number	US-201715666313-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2017
Priority date	Aug 1, 2017
Publication date	Nov 3, 2020
Grant date	Nov 3, 2020

Abstract

The current document is directed to aggregation of computers into distributed computing systems and, in particular, to methods and systems that simulate computer-system aggregations to test computer-system-aggregation management subsystems. In a described implementation, a host-gateway appliance is modified to simulate host-server-computer responses to management commands and requests. In this implementation, a replicated and modified management-server database is used both by a management server under test as well as by the modified host-gateway appliance.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A testing and simulation system comprising:
a management server that includes one or more processors, one or more memories, and communications controllers and that provides a management interface for managing a virtual infrastructure, operation of which is tested by the testing and simulation system;
a management-server database, accessed by the management server, that stores configuration information, configuration and operational parameters, and descriptive information related to a virtual infrastructure that is simulated by the testing and simulation system; and
a host-gateway appliance that connects the management server to simulated host computer systems of the virtual infrastructure that is simulated by the testing and simulation system and that simulates host-computer responses to, and host-computer state changes that result from, management commands and requests transmitted by the management server to simulated host computer systems through the host-gateway appliance.

2. The testing and simulation system of claim 1 wherein the host-gateway appliance comprises:
a server computer with hardware, virtualization, and system-processes-and-virtual-machine layers;
a communications process that is logically connected to a host-management interface within the management server; and
a virtual-infrastructure-simulation subsystem that cooperates with the communications process to simulate host-computer responses to, and host-computer state changes that result from, management commands and requests transmitted by the management server to simulated host computer systems.

3. The testing and simulation system of claim 2 wherein the virtual-infrastructure-simulation subsystem receives a management-interface command or request from the communications process sent by the management server to a target host computer system and simulates the host-computer-system response to, state change that results from, the management-interface command by:
accessing information stored in the management-server database to determine a host address and/or a host identifier for the target host computer system;
accessing information stored in the management-server database to generate a host-computer-system response and a state change for the host-computer system;
storing a new host state corresponding to the state change in the management-server database; and
forwarding the host-computer-system response to the communications process for transmission to the management server.

4. The testing and simulation system of claim 3 wherein accessing information stored in the management-server database to generate a host-computer-system response and a state change for the host-computer system by the virtual-infrastructure-simulation subsystem further comprises:
accessing stored state changes and responses in the management-server database for the management-interface command or request;
generating a pseudorandom probability;
iteratively accumulating probabilities associated with each stored state change and response until the accumulated probability is greater than or equal to the pseudorandom probability; and
selecting the stored state change and response associated with the last accumulated probability.

5. The testing and simulation system of claim 3 wherein accessing information stored in the management-server database to generate a host-computer-system response and a state change for the host-computer system by the virtual-infrastructure-simulation subsystem further comprises:
accessing stored state-change information in the management-server database for one or more host computer systems receiving the management-interface command or request; and
selecting a stored state change and response based on a generated pseudorandom number.

6. The testing and simulation system of claim 2 wherein the host-gateway appliance periodically generates a heartbeat message for each simulated host computer system by:
in response to a heartbeat timer expiration, determining one or more of a host identifier and a host address for the host computer system;
accessing information stored in the management-server database to generate a state/version indication for the host computer system;
packaging the state/version indication into a heartbeat message;
sending the heartbeat message to the management server; and
resetting the heartbeat timer for the host computer system.

7. The testing and simulation system of claim 2 wherein the virtual-infrastructure-simulation subsystem receives a host-sync command the communications process sent by the management server to a target host computer system and simulates the host-computer-system response to the host-sync command by:
accessing information stored in the management-server database to determine a host address and/or a host identifier for the target host computer system;
accessing information stored in the management-server database to generate a configuration difference for the target host computer system; and
coordinating with the communications process for transmission of the configuration difference to the management server.

8. The testing and simulation system of claim 1 wherein the management server and the host-gateway appliance both access a single management-server database.

9. The testing and simulation system of claim 1 wherein each of the management server and the host-gateway appliance is associated with a separate management-server database.

10. The testing and simulation system of claim 1 wherein the management-server database is replicated from the management-server database of a virtual infrastructure and modified by setting values for all host computer systems in the management-server database to indicate that the host computer systems receive commands and requests from the management server through the host-gateway appliance.

11. A method that that simulates a virtual infrastructure in order to test a management server, the method comprising:
replicating and modifying a management-server database within the virtual infrastructure to a testing management-server database, the management-server database storing configuration information, configuration and operational parameters, and descriptive information related to the virtual infrastructure;
providing access, to a management server under test, to the testing management-server database, the management server under test including one or more processors, one or more memories, and communications controllers and hardware and that provides a management interface for managing a virtual infrastructure;
interconnecting the management server under test with a host-gateway appliance that connects the management server under test to simulated host computer systems of the virtual infrastructure and that simulates host-computer responses to, and host-computer state changes that result from, management commands and requests transmitted by the management server under test to simulated host computer systems through the host-gateway appliance.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the host-gateway appliance comprises:
a server computer with hardware, virtualization, and system-processes-and-virtual-machine layers;
a communications process that is logically connected to a host-management interface within the management server under test; and
a virtual-infrastructure-simulation subsystem that cooperates with the communications process to simulate host-computer responses to, and host-computer state changes that result from, management commands and requests transmitted by the management server under test to simulated host computer systems.

13. The method of c

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Soundararajan Vijayaraghavan
• Grigorov Danail
• Strelkov Ivan
• Gelev Emil

Classifications

• H04L43/20

  the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L41/0856

  by backing up or archiving configuration information · CPC title

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L43/50

  Testing arrangements · CPC title