Method and system for generating remediation options within a cluster of host computers that run virtual machines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015309826-A1
Application number	US-201414264700-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 29, 2014
Priority date	Apr 29, 2014
Publication date	Oct 29, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for adjusting the configuration of host computers in a cluster on which virtual machines are running in response to a failed change in state is disclosed. The method involves receiving at least one reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check, associating the at least one reason with at least one remediation action, wherein the remediation action would allow the change in state to pass both a present check and a future check, assigning the at least one remediation action a cost, and determining a set of remediation actions to perform based on the cost assigned to each remediation action. In an embodiment, the steps of this method may be implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions that, when executed in a computing device, causes the computing device to carry out the steps.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for adjusting the configuration of host computers in a cluster on which virtual machines are running in response to a failed change in state, the method comprising:
receiving at least one reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check; associating the at least one reason with at least one remediation action, wherein the remediation action would allow the change in state to pass both a present check and a future check; assigning the at least one remediation action a cost; and determining a set of remediation actions to perform based on the cost assigned to each remediation action.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a set of remediation actions involves:
determining if a reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check can be resolved by a remediation action that can be performed by the computer system; if a reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check can be resolved by a remediation action that can be performed by the computer system, performing the remediation action by the system; and if a reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check cannot be resolved by a remediation action that can be performed by the computer system, selecting the remediation action with the lowest assigned cost from the at least one remediation actions and presenting the remediation action to a user.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cost assigned to a remediation action is previously defined by a user.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the remediation action a cost is performed by the action-cost module.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the action-cost module assigns a cost to a remediation action by:
determining if the remediation action has a cost previously assigned to it; and if the remediation action does not have a cost previously assigned to it, assigning the remediation action a default cost and, if the remediation action has the lowest assigned cost, presenting the remediation action to a user; and if the remediation action does have a cost previously assigned to it and the cost is the lowest assigned cost, presenting the remediation action to the user; and if the remediation action is accepted by the user, assigning the remediation action a lower cost and if the remediation action is refused, assigning the remediation action a higher cost.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a present check determines if historical demand of at least one virtual machine in a cluster of host computers can be met by resources available in the cluster of host computers after the change in state is applied to the cluster.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a future check determines if predefined criteria for resources to be available within a cluster of host computers can be maintained after at least one different predefined change in state is applied to the cluster.

8 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed in a computing device, causes the computing device to carry out the steps of:
receiving at least one reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check; associating the at least one reason with at least one remediation action, wherein the remediation action would allow the change in state to pass both a present check and a future check; assigning the at least one remediation action a cost; and determining a set of remediation actions to perform based on the cost assigned to each remediation action.

9 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein determining a set of remediation actions involves:
determining if a reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check can be resolved by a remediation action that can be performed by the computer system; if a reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check can be resolved by a remediation action that can be performed by the computer system, performing the remediation action by the system; and if a reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check cannot be resolved by a remediation action that can be performed by the computer system, selecting the remediation action with the lowest assigned cost from the at least one remediation actions and presenting the remediation action to a user.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the cost assigned to a remediation action is previously defined by a user.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein assigning the remediation action a cost is performed by the action-cost module.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the action-cost module assigns a cost to a remediation action by:
determining if the remediation action has a cost previously assigned to it; and if the remediation action does not have a cost previously assigned to it, assigning the remediation action a default cost and, if the remediation action has the lowest assigned cost, presenting the remediation action to a user; and if the remediation action does have a cost previously assigned to it and the cost is the lowest assigned cost, presenting the remediation action to the user; and if the remediation action is accepted by the user, assigning the remediation action a lower cost and if the remediation action is refused, assigning the remediation action a higher cost.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein a present check determines if historical demand of at least one virtual machine in a cluster of host computers can be met by resources available in the cluster of host computers after the change in state is applied to the cluster.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein a future check determines if predefined criteria for resources to be available within a cluster of host computers can be maintained after at least one different predefined change in state is applied to the cluster.

15 . A computer system comprising:
at least one host computing device, the host computing device including a processor and memory for running instantiated virtual machines; and a virtual machine management system including an action-cost module for adjusting the configuration of host computing devices in response to a failed present check or future check, the action-cost module being configured to:
receive at least one reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check;
associate the at least one reason with at least one remediation action, wherein the remediation action would allow the change in state to pass both a present check and a future check;
assign the at least one remediation action a cost; and
determine a set of remediation actions to perform based on the cost assigned to each remediation action.

16 . The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the determination of a set of remediation actions involves:
if a reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check can be resolved by a remediation action that can be performed by the computer system, performing the remediation action by the computer system; and if a reason a change in state failed the present check or the future check cannot be resolved by a remediation action that can be performed by the computer system, selecting the remediation action with the lowest assigned cost from the at least one remediation action and presenting the rem

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Kirubanandam Jeevitha
• Shanmuganathan Ganesha
• Farkas Keith
• Epping Duncan
• Parikh Aashish

Classifications

• G06F2009/45595

  Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F11/0709

  in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems · CPC title

• G06F11/07

  Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance · CPC title

• G06F11/0793

  Remedial or corrective actions (recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40) · CPC title