Methods, systems, and computer readable media for emulating virtualization resources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9785527-B2
Application number	US-201414224024-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2014
Priority date	Mar 27, 2013
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for emulating virtualization resources are disclosed. According to one method, the method occurs at a computing platform. The method includes receiving a message associated with a device under test (DUT) and in response to receiving the message, performing an action associated with at least one of an emulated hypervisor and an emulated virtual machine (VM).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for emulating virtualization resources, the method comprising:
at a computing platform configured to emulate a hypervisor by responding to hypervisor directed messages, wherein the emulated hypervisor lacks functionality for executing VMs:
receiving a message from a device under test (DUT) for creating a virtual machine (VM);
in response to receiving the message, performing an action associated with the emulated hypervisor or an emulated VM, wherein performing the action associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM includes emulating the VM by creating an entry in a VM state data structure for representing emulated VMs associated with the emulated hypervisor, wherein the entry includes a VM identifier, a VM operating system identifier, a hypervisor identifier, and state information indicating that the VM has been created, and responding to the message using the state information indicating that the VM has been created, wherein the emulated VM is a non-executing data representation of the VM, wherein the computing platform uses or modifies the entry in the VM state data structure when responding to a subsequent message directed to the emulated VM.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein performing the action includes sending a response message, monitoring performance of the DUT, creating the emulated VM, powering up the emulated VM, powering down the emulated VM, modifying state information associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM, deleting state information associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM, adding state information associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM, emulating a communications protocol associated with the DUT, emulating traffic associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM, emulating a virtual networking component or instantiating a virtual networking component.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing platform is configured to emulate network interfaces, network traffic, protocols, applications executing on the emulated VM, or applications executing on the emulated hypervisor.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing platform is configured to emulate an overlay tunnel associated with the emulated hypervisor and to add header information associated with the overlay tunnel to one or more packets transmitted from or to the computing platform.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the DUT includes a router, a network switch, a hypervisor controller, a data center manager, or a network controller.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the message is for moving or migrating the emulated VM from the emulated hypervisor to a second emulated hypervisor.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein performing the action includes:
updating state information associated with the emulated VM in a data structure maintained by the computing platform to indicate that the emulated VM is moving to the second emulated hypervisor,
sending at least one message for moving the emulated VM from a first interface associated with the emulated hypervisor to a second interface associated with the second emulated hypervisor,
updating the state information associated with the emulated VM to indicate that the emulated VM is associated with the second emulated hypervisor, and
stopping traffic associated with the emulated VM sent via the first interface associated with the emulated hypervisor.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing platform is configured to maintain state information associated with the emulated VM or the emulated hypervisor in a data structure such that the computing platform is capable of responding to the messages with appropriate state information.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the state information associated with the emulated VM or the emulated hypervisor includes information about the emulated VM, information about the emulated hypervisor associated with the emulated VM, information about a previous emulated hypervisor associated with the emulated VM, information about an emulated application executing on the emulated VM, information about an emulated protocol associated with the emulated VM, information about an emulated operating system associated with the emulated VM, information about an operating status associated with the emulated VM, information about the emulated hypervisor, information about a plurality of emulated VMs associated with the emulated hypervisor, information about an emulated application executing on the emulated hypervisor, information about an emulated protocol associated with the emulated hypervisor, information about an emulated operating system associated with the emulated hypervisor, or information about an operating status associated with the emulated hypervisor.

10. A system for emulating virtualization resources, the system comprising:
a computing platform comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory, wherein the computing platform is configured to emulate a hypervisor by responding to hypervisor directed messages, wherein the emulated hypervisor lacks functionality for executing VMs, wherein the computing platform is configured to receive a message from a device under test (DUT) for creating a virtual machine (VM) and to perform, in response to receiving the message, an action associated with at least one of the emulated hypervisor and an emulated VM, wherein performing the action associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM includes emulating the VM by creating an entry in a VM state data structure for representing emulated VMs associated with the emulated hypervisor, wherein the entry includes a VM identifier, a VM operating system identifier, a hypervisor identifier, and state information indicating that the VM has been created, and responding to the message using the state information indicating that the VM has been created, wherein the emulated VM is a non-executing data representation of the VM, wherein the computing platform uses or modifies the entry in the VM state data structure when responding to a subsequent message directed to the emulated VM.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the computing platform is configured to send a response message, monitoring performance of the DUT, create the emulated VM, power up the emulated VM, power down the emulated VM, modify state information associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM, delete state information associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM, add state information associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM, emulate a communications protocol associated with the DUT, emulate traffic associated with the emulated hypervisor or the emulated VM, emulate a virtual networking component, or instantiate a virtual networking component.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the computing platform is configured to emulate network interfaces, network traffic, protocols, applications executing on the emulated VM, or applications executing on the emulated hypervisor.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the computing platform is configured to emulate an overlay tunnel associated with the emulated hypervisor.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the computing platform is configured to add header information associated with the overlay tunnel to one or more packets transmitted from or to the computing platform.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the DUT includes a router, a network switch, a hypervisor controller, a data center manager, or a network controller.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the message is for moving or migrating the emulated VM

Assignees

• Ixia

Inventors

• Regev Alon
• Arora Deepesh
• Dudhwala Toshal
• Majumder Anirban

Classifications

• G06F11/3688

  for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites · CPC title

• G06F11/263 Primary

  Generation of test inputs, e.g. test vectors, patterns or sequences {; with adaptation of the tested hardware for testability with external testers} · CPC title

• G06F9/30076

  to perform miscellaneous control operations, e.g. NOP · CPC title

• G06F11/261

  by simulating additional hardware, e.g. fault simulation · CPC title

• G06F11/203

  using migration · CPC title