Virtual machine (vm) migration from switched fabric based computing system to external systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017269958-A1
Application number	US-201715616956-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 8, 2017
Priority date	Mar 16, 2015
Publication date	Sep 21, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An aspect of the present disclosure provides for migration of a virtual machine (VM) on a switched-fabric based computing system to another (external) switched-fabric based computing system or non-switched-fabric based (external) computing system. Both of such external computing systems are communicatively coupled to the switched-fabric based computing system by Internet such that the data transfer after the migration is based on IP packets on the Internet. According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an appliance contains multiple nodes for hosting virtual machines. A switched fabric switches packets between the nodes based on point-to-point connections between each pair of ports, wherein each port is coupled directly to a corresponding node. A bridge supports migration of a first VM to a first external system coupled to the first appliance by Internet Protocol (IP) based network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A first appliance comprising:
a plurality of nodes for hosting virtual machines (VMs), said plurality of nodes including a first node hosting a first VM and a second VM; a switched fabric switching packets between said plurality of nodes based on point-to-point connections between each pair of ports, wherein each port is coupled directly to a corresponding node of said plurality of nodes; and a bridge to support migration of said first VM to a first external system external to said first appliance, said first external system being coupled to said first appliance by Internet Protocol (IP) based network, said first external system being addressable by a first IP address, wherein said bridge forwards packets from said second VM in said first appliance to said first VM migrated to said first external system in the form of IP datagrams, each IP datagram having a destination IP field set to said first IP address.

2 . The first appliance of claim 1 , wherein each of said VMs executing in said first appliance is assigned a corresponding VM identifier (MID), wherein said switched fabric switches each packet received on one port to another port based on said MID contained in the packet.

3 . The first appliance of claim 2 , wherein each of said VMs executing in said first appliance is assigned a corresponding MAC (medium access control) address, wherein said MAC address is maintained to be the same for said first VM in both of said first appliance and said first external system.

4 . The first appliance of claim 3 , wherein each VM generates MAC packets destined for remote VMs, wherein each MAC packet is encapsulated by a fabric header to form a switched packet designed for switching by said switched fabric,
wherein said bridge is operable to support a virtual local area network (VLAN) on top of said IP based network, each out-migrated VM and in-migrated VM being identified associated with a corresponding end point on said VLAN, said bridge further operable to:
generate a VLAN packet by stripping off said fabric header from a corresponding switched packet received from said switched fabric, and adding an outer header, said outer header containing said destination IP field set to said first IP address, said outer header also identifying a corresponding virtual network identifier (VNI) indicating a segment of said VLAN; and
send said VLAN packet on said IP based network,
wherein said bridge is also addressable by an IP address, said outer header of VLAN packet containing said IP address of said bridge in a source IP address field when said VLAN packet is transported to said first VM migrated to said first external system.

5 . The first appliance of claim 4 , wherein said bridge further comprises:
a VTEP (virtual tunnel end point) table mapping the MAC address of said first VM in said first appliance to said first IP address in said first external system, and said VNI; and a network manager to generate said VLAN packet using said VTEP table and to send said VLAN packet on said IP based network.

6 . The first appliance of claim 5 , wherein a third VM from said first external system is in-migrated to said first appliance and assigned a local MID (machine identifier), wherein said bridge further comprises:
a bridge table mapping the MAC address of said third VM to said local MID in said first appliance, to an IP address of said third VM in said external system, and to said VNI, wherein said VTEP table contains additional entries, with each entry including a mapping of the remote VM in said first external system to said first IP address.

7 . The first appliance of claim 6 , wherein said switched fabric and said first appliance are in accordance with InfiniBand (IB) technology, and said VLAN is in accordance with VXLAN technology.

8 . The first appliance of claim 7 , wherein said first external system is coupled to said IP based network by a broadcast medium based LAN, wherein said LAN uses said broadcast medium to send said MAC packets to said first VM.

9 . The first appliance of claim 7 , wherein said first external system is also in accordance with said IB technology, wherein said VLAN packet is processed at said first external system to generate a second switched packet that is switched by a second switched fabric in said first external system to forward said MAC packet to said first VM.

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Narasimhamurthy Giridhar
• Marathe Kailasa Malehithlu
• Yellupur Venkatesh Pramod

Classifications

• H04L49/70

  Virtual switches · CPC title

• G06F9/54

  Interprogram communication · CPC title

• 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