Compatibility of high availability clusters supporting application failover with shared storage in a virtualization environment without sacrificing on virtualization features
View Patent ↗Compatibility is provided between a high availability clustering system and a virtualization environment. A hardware level hypervisor runs on each host, and VM(s) run on each hypervisor. A shared virtual storage manager runs on each VM, and facilitates sharing virtual storage between VMs. Sharing virtual storage can be performed in the context of a failed application or VM. A shared virtual storage manager VM detects that the application is being failed over from the source VM to the target VM, detaches the virtual storage from the source VM, and attaches it to the target VM. The shared virtual storage manager can also enable sharing of the virtual storage when a monitored application is failed over in response to the failure of a hypervisor. Virtual storage can additionally act as an arbitrator to resolve an occurrence of split brain, when VMs become disconnected.
1. A computer implemented method for providing compatibility between a high availability clustering system supporting failover of monitored applications and a virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a high availability cluster comprising at least two nodes, wherein each node comprises a VM (virtual machine);
providing a high availability clustering system supporting failover of monitored applications;
providing a virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage and running in conjunction with the high availability clustering system, wherein a hardware level hypervisor runs on each of at least one physical host computer(s), and wherein at least one VM comprising a node in the high availability cluster runs on each hardware level hypervisor; and
sharing virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs, thereby enabling the high availability clustering system to share storage and to failover monitored applications in conjunction with the virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage, without requiring replication of storage media.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein sharing virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs further comprises:
detecting that a specific monitored application is being failed over from a source VM to a target VM in response to the specific monitored application failing;
detaching virtual storage that was being accessed by the specific monitored application from the source VM; and
attaching the virtual storage to the target VM, by a component running on the target VM, thereby providing the specific monitored application with access to the virtual storage on the target VM.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein:
the source VM and the target VM are both running on a single hardware level hypervisor, the single hardware level hypervisor running on a single host computer.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein:
the source VM is running on a first hardware level hypervisor, the first hardware level hypervisor running on a first host computer; and
the target VM is running on a second hardware level hypervisor, the second hardware level hypervisor running on a second host computer.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein sharing virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs further comprises:
detecting that a specific monitored application is being failed over from a source VM to a target VM in response to the source VM failing;
detaching virtual storage from the source VM; and
attaching the virtual storage to the target VM, by a component running on the target VM, thereby providing the specific monitored application with access to the virtual storage on the target VM.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein:
the source VM and the target VM are both running on a single hardware level hypervisor, the single hardware level hypervisor running on a single host computer.
7. The method of claim 5 wherein:
the source VM is running on a first hardware level hypervisor, the first hardware level hypervisor running on a first host computer; and
the target VM is running on a second hardware level hypervisor, the second hardware level hypervisor running on a second host computer.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein sharing virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs further comprises:
attaching virtual storage that was being accessed by the specific monitored application to a VM running on a target hardware level hypervisor, responsive to a failure of a source hardware level hypervisor, wherein the specific monitored application was running on a VM on the source hardware level hypervisor, thereby providing the specific monitored application with access to the virtual storage on the VM on the target hardware level hypervisor.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the virtualization environment further provides high availability functionality for VMs running on a failed hardware level hypervisor, the method further comprising:
responsive to the failure of the source hardware level hypervisor, allowing the virtualization environment to failover the VM on the source hardware level hypervisor to the target hardware level hypervisor;
detaching virtual storage from the VM on the source hardware level hypervisor; and
attaching the virtual storage to the VM that was failed over to the target hardware level hypervisor.
10. The method of claim 8 wherein the virtualization environment does not further provide high availability functionality for VMs running on a failed hardware level hypervisor, the method further comprising:
responsive to the failure of the source hardware level hypervisor, failing over the specific monitored application from the VM running on the source hardware level hypervisor to a separate VM running on the target hardware level hypervisor;
detaching virtual storage from the VM running on the source hardware level hypervisor; and
attaching the virtual storage to the separate VM running on the target hardware level hypervisor.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
using virtual storage as an arbitrator to resolve an occurrence of split brain in the high availability cluster, wherein the occurrence of split brain further comprises separate VMs having become communicatively disconnected and the high availability clustering system attempting to run a specific monitored application on each one of the separate VMs.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein using virtual storage as an arbitrator to resolve an occurrence of split brain in the high availability cluster further comprises:
maintaining an attachment between a specific one of the VMs on which the specific monitored application is running and the shared storage, such that the other ones of the VMs are unable to attach the virtual storage and run the specific monitored application, thereby enabling the specific monitored application to continue to run on the specific one of the VMs and to remain stable, despite the occurrence of split brain.
13. At least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium for providing compatibility between a high availability clustering system supporting failover of monitored applications and a virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage, the at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when loaded into computer memory and executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the following steps:
providing a high availability cluster comprising at least two nodes, wherein each node comprises a VM (virtual machine);
providing a high availability clustering system supporting failover of monitored applications;
providing a virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage and running in conjunction with the high availability clustering system, wherein a hardware level hypervisor runs on each of at least one physical host computer(s), and wherein at least one VM comprising a node in the high availability cluster runs on each hardware level hypervisor; and
sharing virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs, thereby enabling the high availability clustering system to share storage and to failover monitored applications in conjunction with the virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage, without requiring replication of storage media.
14. The at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium of claim 13 wherein sharing virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs further comprises:
detecting that a specific monitored application is being failed over from a source VM to a target VM in response to the specific monitored application failing;
detaching virtual storage that was being accessed by the specific monitored application from the source VM; and
attaching the virtual storage to the target VM, by a component running on the target VM, thereby providing the specific monitored application with access to the virtual storage on the target VM.
15. The at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium of claim 13 wherein sharing virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs further comprises:
detecting that a specific monitored application is being failed over from a source VM to a target VM in response to the source VM failing;
detaching virtual storage from the source VM; and
attaching the virtual storage to the target VM, by a component running on the target VM, thereby providing the specific monitored application with access to the virtual storage on the target VM.
16. The at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium of claim 13 wherein sharing virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs further comprises:
attaching virtual storage that was being accessed by the specific monitored application to a VM running on a target hardware level hypervisor, responsive to a failure of a source hardware level hypervisor, wherein the specific monitored application was running on a VM on the source hardware level hypervisor, thereby providing the specific monitored application with access to the virtual storage on the VM on the target hardware level hypervisor.
17. The at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium of claim 16 wherein the virtualization environment further provides high availability functionality for VMs running on a failed hardware level hypervisor, the at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium further storing computer executable instructions to perform the following additional steps:
responsive to the failure of the source hardware level hypervisor, allowing the virtualization environment to failover the VM on the source hardware level hypervisor to the target hardware level hypervisor;
detaching virtual storage from the VM on the source hardware level hypervisor; and
attaching the virtual storage to the VM that was failed over to the target hardware level hypervisor.
18. The at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium of claim 16 wherein the virtualization environment does not further provide high availability functionality for VMs running on a failed hardware level hypervisor, the at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium further storing computer executable instructions to perform the following additional steps:
responsive to the failure of the source hardware level hypervisor, failing over the specific monitored application from the VM running on the source hardware level hypervisor to a separate VM running on the target hardware level hypervisor;
detaching virtual storage from the VM running on the source hardware level hypervisor; and
attaching the virtual storage to the separate VM running on the target hardware level hypervisor.
19. The at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium of claim 13 further storing computer executable instructions to perform the following additional step:
using virtual storage as an arbitrator to resolve an occurrence of split brain in the high availability cluster, wherein the occurrence of split brain further comprises separate VMs having become communicatively disconnected and the high availability clustering system attempting to run a specific monitored application on each one of the separate VMs.
20. A computer system for providing compatibility between a high availability clustering system supporting failover of monitored applications and a virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage, the computer system comprising:
a high availability cluster comprising at least two nodes, wherein each node comprises a VM (virtual machine);
a high availability clustering system supporting failover of monitored applications;
a virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage and running in conjunction with the high availability clustering system, wherein a hardware level hypervisor runs in system memory of each of at least one physical host computer(s), and wherein at least one VM runs on each hardware level hypervisor, in the system memory of the corresponding physical host computer; and
a shared virtual storage manager running on each VM (virtual machine), each shared virtual storage manager being programmed to share virtual storage of the virtualization environment between multiple VMs, thereby enabling the high availability clustering system to share storage and to failover monitored applications in conjunction with the virtualization environment utilizing virtual storage, without requiring replication of storage media.