Server farm management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016019098-A1
Application number	US-201514719983-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 22, 2015
Priority date	Oct 20, 2010
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A cloud manager controls the deployment and management of machines for an online service. A build system creates deployment-ready virtual hard disks (VHDs) that are installed on machines that are spread across one or more networks in farms that each may include different configurations. The build system is configured to build VHDs of differing configurations that depend on a role of the virtual machine (VM) for which the VHD will be used. The build system uses the VHDs to create virtual machines (VMs) in both test and production environments for the online service. The cloud manager system automatically provisions machines with the created virtual hard disks (VHDs). Identical VHDs can be installed directly on the machines that have already been tested.

First claim

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . A system for managing a server farm, comprising:
a build system that accesses one or more build projects that specify actions to create a set of virtual hard disks and virtual machines for deployment; and a manager that is operative to:
access a farm goal that specifies at least a target number of machines for a virtual machine role; and
automatically deploy virtual machines built using the virtual hard disks based on the farm goal.

22 . The system of claim 21 , further comprising:
a data store that is configured to store virtual hard disks that are used in deployment of machines.

23 . The system of claim 22 , wherein the data store is further configured to store the farm goal; and
wherein, the build system accesses the farm goal by retrieving the farm goal from the data store.

24 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the farm goal includes a plurality of target numbers for a plurality of virtual machine roles.

25 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the build system is further operative to decommission virtual machines based on the farm goal.

26 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the build system is operative to automatically configure the farm goal.

27 . The system of claim 26 , wherein the farm goal is changed to respond to changes in activity and capacity needs of the server farm.

28 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the virtual machine role specifies a virtual hard disk, a number of processors used by the virtual machine, and an amount of memory used by the virtual machine.

29 . A method for deploying virtual machines in a server farm, the method comprising:
accessing one or more build projects that specify actions to perform to create a set of virtual hard disks and virtual machines for deployment; accessing a farm goal that specifies a target number of machines for a virtual machine role; and automatically deploying virtual machines built using the virtual hard disks based on the farm goal.

30 . The method of claim 29 , further comprising:
storing the set of virtual hard disks in a data store; and accessing a virtual hard disk from the set of virtual hard disks stored in the data store to build a virtual machine.

31 . The method of claim 29 , wherein accessing the farm goal comprises retrieving the farm goal from the data store.

32 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the farm goal includes a plurality of target numbers for a plurality of virtual machine roles.

33 . The method of claim 29 , further comprising decommissioning a virtual machine based on the farm goal.

34 . The method of claim 29 , further comprising automatically configuring the farm goal.

35 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the farm goal is changed to respond to changes in activity and capacity needs of the server farm.

36 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the virtual machine role specifies a virtual hard disk, a number of processors used by the virtual machine, and an amount of memory used by the virtual machine.

37 . A system for managing a server farm, comprising:
a data store configured to store data for the server farm; a build machine that is operative to:
access one or more build projects that specify actions to perform to create a set of virtual hard disks; and
store the set of virtual hard disks in the data store; and
a manager comprising:
at least one processing device; and
at least one computer readable data storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the build machine to:
access a farm goal in the data store that specifies a plurality of target numbers for a plurality of virtual machine roles;
build a set of virtual machines using the virtual hard disks; and
automatically deploy virtual machines built using the virtual hard disks based on the farm goal.

38 . The system of claim 37 , wherein the virtual machine role specifies a virtual hard disk, a number of processors used by the virtual machine, and an amount of memory used by the virtual machine

39 . The system of claim 37 , wherein the at least one computer readable data storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, further cause the manager to decommission virtual machines based on the farm goal.

40 . The system of claim 37 , wherein the at least one computer readable data storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, further cause the manager to automatically configure the farm goal.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Cahill Jason M
• Hopmann Alexander
• Windle Marc Keith
• Lerma Erick Raymundo

Classifications

• G06F9/5077 Primary

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title

• G06F9/45533

  Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

  Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title