Compute instance migrations across availability zones of a provider network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9350682-B1
Application number	US-201414447519-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 30, 2014
Priority date	Jul 30, 2014
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A provider network may implement compute instance migrations across availability zones. Compute instances may be located in a particular availability zone of provider network that is implemented across multiple availability zones. A request may be received, from a client of the provider network or other component of the provider network, to migrate a compute instance that is currently operating for a client and located in one availability zone to another availability zone. A destination compute instance may be provisioned in the other availability zone based on a configuration of the currently operating compute instance. In some embodiments, other computing resources utilized by the currently operating compute instance, such as data storage resources, may be moved to the other availability zone. Migration may be completed such that the destination compute instance is currently operating for the client and the compute instance is not.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a plurality of compute nodes that together implement a provider network that provides virtual computing resources to clients and a network-based interface configured to process requests for the provider network, wherein individual ones of the plurality of computing nodes are located in different ones of a plurality of availability zones implemented as part of the provider network;
one or more of the plurality of compute nodes that together implement a migration manager for the provider network, configured to:
receive a request to migrate a virtual compute instance hosted at a compute node located in a particular availability zone to another availability zone of a provider network, wherein the virtual compute instance is currently operating for a client of the provider network, wherein the request to migrate the virtual compute instance is received from the client via the network-based interface, and wherein the particular availability zone and the other availability zone provide geographically diverse, fault-tolerant zones for hosting respective virtual computing resources such that in the event of a failure of one of the particular availability zone or the other availability zone the respective virtual computing resources hosted at a remaining availability zone continue operation;
configure a destination virtual compute instance hosted at another compute node located in the other availability zone that is provisioned for migration of the virtual compute instance, wherein the configuration is based, at least in part, on a current configuration of the virtual compute instance;
complete the migration of the virtual compute instance such that the destination virtual compute instance is currently operating for the client of the provider network, wherein the virtual compute instance is not currently operating for the client of the provider network; and
send a notification to the client indicating the completion of the migration for the virtual compute instance.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein to complete the migration of the virtual compute instance such that the destination virtual compute instance is currently operating for the client of the provider network, the migration manager is configured to:
receive a request to reboot the virtual compute instance;
stop operation of the virtual compute instance; and
start operation of the destination virtual compute instance.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the provider network provides the virtual computing resources to clients as a network-based virtual computing service implemented as part of the provider network, wherein the provider network implements one or more other network-based services, wherein the virtual compute instance utilizes one or more resources provided by the one or more other network-based services that are located in the particular availability zone, and wherein the migration manager is further configured to:
move the one or more resources to the other availability zone for use by the destination virtual compute instance.

4. A method, comprising:
performing, by one or more computing devices:
receiving a request to migrate a virtual compute instance located in a particular availability zone to another availability zone of a provider network, wherein the virtual compute instance is currently operating for a client of the provider network, wherein the request to migrate the virtual compute instance is received from the client of the provider network via a network-based interface for the provider network, and wherein the particular availability zone and the other availability zone provide independently accessible, fault-tolerant zones for hosting virtual computing resources;
configuring a destination virtual compute instance located in the other availability zone that is provisioned for migration of the virtual compute instance, wherein the configuration is based, at least in part, on a configuration of the virtual compute instance; and
completing the migration of the virtual compute instance such that the destination virtual compute instance is currently operating for the client of the provider network, wherein the virtual compute instance is not currently operating for the client of the provider network.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the request to migrate the virtual compute instance specifies the other availability zone for the migration, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining that capacity to host the destination virtual compute instance exists in the specified other availability zone; and
in response to said determining, performing said configuring and said completing.

6. The method of claim 5 , prior to receiving the request to migrate the virtual compute instance, providing one or more candidate availability zones to the client for migration of the virtual compute instance, wherein the specified other availability zone is included in the one or more candidate availability zones.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the request to migrate the virtual compute instance specifies a timeslot for performance of the migration, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining that the specified timeslot for the migration is available; and
in response to said determining, performing said configuring and said completing.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein said completing the migration of the virtual compute instance such that the destination virtual compute instance is currently operating for the client of the provider network, comprises reassigning a network address for the virtual compute instance to the destination virtual compute instance such that network traffic directed toward the network address is received at the destination virtual compute instance.

9. The method of claim 4 , further comprising moving one or more network-based resources utilized by the virtual compute instance and located in the availability zone to the other availability zone for use by the destination virtual compute instance.

10. The method of claim 4 , wherein said completing the migration of the virtual compute instance such that the destination virtual compute instance is currently operating for the client of the provider network, comprises:
receiving a request to reboot the virtual compute instance;
in response to receiving the request to reboot the virtual compute instance:
stopping operation of the virtual compute instance;
starting operation of the destination virtual compute instance; and
directing requests for the virtual compute instance to the destination virtual compute instance.

11. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving, from another client, another request to migrate another virtual compute instance located in a respective availability zone to a different availability zone of the provider network;
subsequent to initiating migration for the other virtual compute instance, determining that the migration for the other virtual compute instance is unable to complete;
in response to determining that the migration of the other virtual compute instance is unable to complete, providing a restored version of the other virtual compute instance in the respective availability zone for the other client.

12. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium, storing program instructions that when executed by one or more computing devices cause the one or more computing devices to implement:
receiving a request to migrate a virtual compute instance located in a particular availability zone to another availability zone of a provider network, wherein the virtual compute instance is currently operating for a client of the provider

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Gupta Diwakar
• Bauer Jean-Paul
• Scaife Kevin Robert
• Daya Marc Nevin

Classifications

• H04L47/746 Primary

  Reaction triggered by a failure · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

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

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45575

  Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances · CPC title