Workload management for heterogeneous hosts in a computing system environment
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatus involve managing workload migration to host devices in a data center having heterogeneously arranged computing platforms. Fully virtualized images include drivers compatible with varieties of host devices. The images also include an agent that detects a platform type of a specific host device upon deployment. If the specific host is a physical platform type, the agent provisions native drivers. If the specific host is a virtual platform type, the agent also detects a hypervisor. The agent then provisions front-end drivers that are most compatible with the detected hypervisor. Upon decommissioning of the image, the image is returned to its pristine state and saved for later re-use. In other embodiments, detection methods of the agent are disclosed as are computing systems, data centers, and computer program products, to name a few.
1. In a computing system environment, a method of managing workload migration to at least one host of a plurality of heterogeneous host devices having computing platforms, the method comprising:
configuring a fully virtualized workload image for storage on a storage computing device, the fully virtualized image including a plurality of drivers compatible with each of the plurality of heterogeneous host devices and an embedded agent configured to detect a platform type of the at least one host upon deployment thereto, the step of detecting including determining whether the at least one host platform type is a physical or virtual machine; and
after said step of detecting, by the embedded agent, provisioning the fully virtualized workload image with one of the plurality of drivers that is most compatible with the detected platform type of the at least one host;
wherein configuring the fully virtualized workload image further includes configuring the embedded agent for querying a synthetic cpuid leaf to detect a hypervisor type if the platform type is a virtual machine; and
wherein the stored fully virtualized workload image includes front-end and native drivers of the plurality of drivers that are configured to be provisioned when the embedded agent detects the platform type of the at least one host as a virtual or a physical machine, respectively.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuring the fully virtualized workload image to detect the platform type further includes configuring the embedded agent that can execute a cpuid instruction.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the provisioning the fully virtualized workload image with said one of the drivers that is most compatible with the detected platform type further includes configuring necessary front-end drivers.
4. The method of claim 1 , further including restoring the provisioned fully virtualized workload image to a pristine state upon decommissioning from said deployment.
5. The method of claim 1 , further including rebooting the computing platform of the at least one host upon which the fully virtualized workload image is said provisioned upon the deployment.
6. In a computing system environment, a method of managing workload migration to host devices in a data center having heterogeneously arranged computing platforms, the method comprising:
configuring a storage computing device with a plurality of fully virtualized workload images, each of the fully virtualized workload images including a plurality of drivers compatible with pluralities of said host devices and an embedded agent configured to detect a platform type of a specific host device of the pluralities of said host devices upon deployment of one image of the plurality of fully virtualized workload images thereto;
by the embedded agent of the deployed one image of the plurality of fully virtualized workload images, detecting a platform type of a specific host device of the pluralities of said host devices, including determining whether the specific host device is a physical or a virtual machine; and
provisioning the deployed one image with at least one driver of the plurality of drivers that is most compatible with the detected platform type;
wherein configuring the storage computing device includes providing the plurality of fully virtualized workload images with front-end and native drivers of the plurality of drivers that are configured to be provisioned when the embedded agent detects the platform type of the specific host device as a virtual or a physical device, respectively; and
wherein the embedded agent is configured to query a synthetic cpuid leaf to detect a hypervisor type if the specific host device is a virtual machine.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the provisioning the deployed one image with said at least one driver further includes provisioning a front-end driver if the detected platform type is a virtual machine.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the provisioning the deployed one image with said at least one driver further includes provisioning a native driver if the detected platform type is a physical machine.
9. The method of claim 6 , further including restoring the deployed one image to a pristine state on the storage computing device upon decommissioning from said deployment to the specific host device.
10. The method of claim 6 , further including rebooting the specific host device upon the deployment.
11. A computing system to manage workload migration to host devices in a data center having heterogeneously arranged computing platforms, the computing system comprising:
a processor;
a storage computing device storing pluralities of fully virtualized workload images, each of the stored fully virtualized workload images including a plurality of drivers compatible with pluralities of said host devices and an embedded agent configured to determine a platform type of a specific said host device upon deployment thereto, further wherein the embedded agent determines whether said specific host device is a virtual or a physical machine;
at least first and second virtual and/or physical computing devices having a hardware platform with a processor and memory upon which a plurality of workloads can be configured, the virtual computing devices further having a hypervisor; and
an orchestrator configured to identify which of the stored fully virtualized workload images are to be deployed to one or both of the first and second virtual and/or physical computing devices;
wherein the pluralities of fully virtualized workload images of the storage computing device include front-end and native drivers of the plurality of drivers that are configured to be provisioned when the embedded agent detects the platform type of the specific said host device as a virtual or a physical platform, respectively; and
wherein the embedded agent is configured for querying a cpuid leaf to detect a hypervisor type if the platform type is a virtual machine.
12. The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the embedded agent of said each of the stored fully virtualized workload images is configured to dynamically provision a respective said fully virtualized workload image with at least one driver of the plurality of drivers that is most compatible with the detected platform type.