Replication of a virtualized computing environment to a computing system with offline hosts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016283281-A1
Application number	US-201514738963-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 15, 2015
Priority date	Mar 26, 2015
Publication date	Sep 29, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In an example, a method of replication between computing systems includes replicating virtual machine files from primary storage in a primary computing system to secondary storage in a secondary computing system. The virtual machine files implement a plurality of virtual machines in the primary computing system and a plurality of replica virtual machines in the secondary computing system. The method further includes replicating configuration data, from virtualization software in the primary computing system to secondary virtualization software installed on a host computer in the secondary computing system, through a platform management system in the host computer while the host computer is in a low-power state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of replication between computing systems, comprising:
replicating virtual machine files from primary storage in a primary computing system to secondary storage in a secondary computing system, the virtual machine files implementing a plurality of virtual machines in the primary computing system and a plurality of replica virtual machines in the secondary computing system; and replicating configuration data, from virtualization software in the primary computing system to secondary virtualization software installed on a host computer in the secondary computing system through a platform management system in the host computer while the host computer is in a low-power state.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the secondary virtualization software is not executing on the host computer when the host computer is in the low-power state.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of replicating the configuration data comprises:
connecting to the platform management system through a network interface; and modifying persistent files of the secondary virtualization software stored on a storage device in the platform management system.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of modifying comprises:
accessing at least one logical storage unit exported by a distributed file system service executing on a controller in the platform management system.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the modified persistent files comprise a portion of a system image of the secondary virtualization software.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein configuration data configures the secondary virtualization software.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the configuration data registers a replica virtual machine of the plurality of replica virtual machines with, or de-registers the replica virtual machine from, the secondary virtualization software.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data configures at least one of the plurality of replica virtual machines registered with the secondary virtualization software.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
copying additional virtual machine files implementing another virtual machine in the primary computing system to a temporary storage location in the secondary computing system; and configuring the secondary virtualization software, through the platform management system while the host computer is in a low-power state, to register a new replica virtual machine implemented by the additional virtual machine files.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the temporary storage location comprises a temporary directory on a storage device in the platform management system.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the secondary virtual machine software is configured to move the additional virtual machine files to another storage location in the destination computing system during or after boot.

12 . A computer system, comprising:
a hardware platform including a central processing unit (CPU) and a computer-readable storage medium; management software comprising instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium and executable by the CPU to:
configure replication of virtual machine files from primary storage in a primary computing system to secondary storage in a secondary computing system, the virtual machine files implementing a plurality of virtual machines in the primary computing system and a plurality of replica virtual machines in the secondary computing system; and
configure replication of configuration data, from virtualization software in the primary computing system to secondary virtualization software installed on a host computer in the secondary computing system, through a platform management system in the host computer while the host computer is in a low-power state.

13 . The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the secondary virtualization software is not executing on the host computer when the host computer is in the low-power state.

14 . The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the management software is configured to replicate the configuration data by connecting to the platform management system through a network interface, and modifying persistent files of the secondary virtualization software stored on a storage device in the platform management system.

15 . The computer system of claim 14 , wherein the management software is configured to modify the persistent files by accessing at least one logical storage unit exported by a distributed file system service executing on a controller in the platform management system.

16 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed in a computer system, causes the computer system to carry out a method of replication between computing systems, comprising:
replicating virtual machine files from primary storage in a primary computing system to secondary storage in a secondary computing system, the virtual machine files implementing a plurality of virtual machines in the primary computing system and a plurality of replica virtual machines in the secondary computing system; and replicating configuration data, from virtualization software in the primary computing system to secondary virtualization software installed on a host computer in the secondary computing system, through a platform management system in the host computer while the host computer is in a low-power state.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the secondary virtualization software is not executing on the host computer when the host computer is in the low-power state.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the step of replicating the configuration data comprises:
connecting to the platform management system through a network interface; and modifying persistent files of the secondary virtualization software stored on a storage device in the platform management system.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the step of modifying comprises:
accessing at least one logical storage unit exported by a distributed file system service executing on a controller in the platform management system.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the modified persistent files comprise a portion of a system image of the secondary virtualization software.

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Antony Jinto

Classifications

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45562

  Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances · CPC title

• G06F9/5055 Primary

  considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine · CPC title

• G06F3/065

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title