Live migration of virtual machines across virtual switches in virtual infrastructure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016196158-A1
Application number	US-201514986041-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 31, 2015
Priority date	Dec 31, 2014
Publication date	Jul 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques are described for migrating virtual machines (VMs) across virtual switches. To migrate a VM, a destination distributed virtual switch module may, prior to migration, instantiate a distributed virtual port on a destination VM host and reserve the distributed virtual port for each virtual network adapter of the VM. Further, a configuration file for the VM specifying the distributed virtual ports reserved for the virtual network adapters may be copied from a source VM host to the destination VM host or created in the destination VM host. As part of the migration, network state data of the distributed virtual ports used by the VM at the source VM host is copied and applied to the appropriate reserved distributed virtual ports on the destination host. Then, when the migrated VM is powered on at the destination host, the VM configuration specifying the reserved distributed virtual ports is used to attach the virtual network adapters of the VM to the reserved distributed virtual ports.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for migrating a virtual machine (VM) across virtual networks, comprising:
allocating a respective distributed virtual port on a destination distributed virtual switch for each of one or more virtual network adapters of the VM; receiving copied network states of distributed virtual ports, on a source distributed virtual switch distinct from the destination virtual switch, to which the VM is connected prior to a VM migration; applying, to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch, the copied network states; and subsequent to the VM migration, connecting the virtual network adapters of the VM to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the source distributed virtual switch and the destination distributed virtual switch are in a same cloud management domain, and wherein the copied network states include configuration properties and runtime properties and policies.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the source distributed virtual switch and the destination distributed virtual switch are in distinct cloud management domains, and wherein the copied network states include runtime properties and policies.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising, live migrating the VM across the distinct cloud management domains.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a configuration file associated with the VM, wherein the configuration file references the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch, and wherein the virtual network adapters of the VM are connected to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch based on the configuration file.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, receiving a user selection of a destination network to which the migrated VM is to be connected, wherein the distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch are allocated based on the selected destination network.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network states of the distributed virtual ports on the source distributed virtual switch are copied via a same interface used to migrate the VM.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, reclaiming the distributed virtual ports on the source distributed virtual switch as free distributed virtual ports.

9 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for migrating a virtual machine (VM) across virtual networks by performing operations comprising:
allocating a respective distributed virtual port on a destination distributed virtual switch for each of one or more virtual network adapters of the VM; receiving copied network states of distributed virtual ports, on a source distributed virtual switch distinct from the destination virtual switch, to which the VM is connected prior to a VM migration; applying, to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch, the copied network states; and subsequent to the VM migration, connecting the virtual network adapters of the VM to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the source distributed virtual switch and the destination distributed virtual switch are in a same cloud management domain, and wherein the copied network states include configuration properties and runtime properties and policies.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the source distributed virtual switch and the destination distributed virtual switch are in distinct cloud management domains, and wherein the copied network states include runtime properties and policies.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , the operations further comprising, live migrating the VM across the distinct cloud management domains.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
generating a configuration file associated with the VM, wherein the configuration file references the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch, and wherein the virtual network adapters of the VM are connected to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch based on the configuration file.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , the operations further comprising, receiving a user selection of a destination network to which the migrated VM is to be connected, wherein the distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch are allocated based on the selected destination network.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the network states of the distributed virtual ports on the source distributed virtual switch are copied via a same interface used to migrate the VM.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , the operations further comprising, reclaiming the distributed virtual ports on the source distributed virtual switch as free distributed virtual ports.

17 . A system, comprising:
a memory; and a processor storing one or more applications, which, when executed on the processor, perform operations for migrating a virtual machine (VM) across virtual networks, the operations comprising:
allocating a respective distributed virtual port on a destination distributed virtual switch for each of one or more virtual network adapters of the VM,
receiving copied network states of distributed virtual ports, on a source distributed virtual switch distinct from the destination virtual switch, to which the VM is connected prior to a VM migration,
applying, to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch, the copied network states, and
subsequent to the VM migration, connecting the virtual network adapters of the VM to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the source distributed virtual switch and the destination distributed virtual switch are in a same cloud management domain, and wherein the copied network states include configuration properties and runtime properties and policies.

19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the source distributed virtual switch and the destination distributed virtual switch are in distinct cloud management domains, and wherein the copied network states include runtime properties and policies.

20 . The system of claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
generating a configuration file associated with the VM, wherein the configuration file references the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch, and wherein the virtual network adapters of the VM are connected to the allocated distributed virtual ports on the destination distributed virtual switch based on the configuration file.

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Nipane Nilesh
• Yu Jia
• Su Chi-Hsiang

Classifications

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

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

• G06F2009/45595

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

• H04L49/70

  Virtual switches · CPC title