IP Library Granted Patent US 9,703,651
Granted Patent B2
US 9,703,651 · App. 14/822,915 · Granted Jul 11, 2017

Providing availability of an agent virtual computing instance during a storage failure

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,703,651
App. No.
14/822,915
Granted
Jul 11, 2017
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure includes detecting a failure associated with a first storage location on which a first agent virtual computing instance (AVCI) is deployed, wherein the first AVCI is being executed by a first hypervisor, stopping the execution of the first AVCI, determining whether a second AVCI that provides services analogous to the first AVCI is being executed by a second hypervisor and is deployed on a second storage location, creating a linked clone of the second AVCI on the second storage location responsive to the second AVCI being executed by the second hypervisor and deployed on the second storage location, redeploying the first AVCI on the second storage location responsive to the second AVCI not being executed by the second hypervisor or not deployed on the second storage location, and deleting files of the first AVCI from the first storage location after the failure is corrected.

Claims (40)

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by a processing resource to cause a computing system to:

detect a failure associated with a first storage location on which a first agent virtual computing instance (VCI) is deployed, wherein the first agent VCI is being executed by a first hypervisor;

stop the execution of the first agent VCI;

determine whether a second agent VCI that provides services analogous to the first agent VCI is being executed by a second hypervisor and is deployed on a second storage location;

create a linked clone of the second agent VCI on the second storage location responsive to a determination that the second agent VCI is being executed by the second hypervisor and is deployed on the second storage location;

redeploy the first agent VCI on the second storage location responsive to a determination that the second agent VCI is not being executed by the second hypervisor or is not deployed on another storage location; and

delete files of the first agent VCI from the first storage location after the failure is corrected.

2. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the first agent VCI provides functionality to a dependent VCI, and wherein the dependent VCI is deployed on the second storage location.

3. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to detect the failure comprise instructions to monitor a connectivity of the first agent VCI and a connectivity of the first storage location.

4. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to detect the failure comprise instructions to detect that:

a connection state of the first agent VCI is disconnected; and

a status of the first storage location is inaccessible.

5. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the failure being corrected comprises the first storage location being reconnected with the first hypervisor.

6. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the second hypervisor is part of a same cluster as the first hypervisor.

7. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the first agent VCI being executed by the first hypervisor provides functionality to any dependent VCI being executed by the first hypervisor.

8. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the first agent VCI being executed by the first hypervisor provides functionality to a dependent VCI being executed by the first hypervisor regardless of a storage location on which the dependent VCI is deployed.

9. The medium of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and the second hypervisor has read and write access to both of the first and the second storage locations before the failure and after the failure is corrected.

10. The medium of claim 1 , including instructions to redeploy the first agent VCI on the second storage location responsive to a determination that the second agent VCI is being executed by the second hypervisor and responsive to a failure to deploy the linked clone.

11. A method for providing availability of an agent virtual computing instance (VCI) during a storage failure, comprising:

stopping an execution of a first agent virtual computing instance (VCI) deployed on a first storage location and being executed by a first hypervisor responsive to detecting a failure associated with the storage location;

identifying a second agent VCI deployed on a second storage location and being executed by a second hypervisor that provides services analogous to the first agent VCI;

creating a linked clone of the second agent VCI on the second storage location to be executed by the first hypervisor responsive to identifying the second agent VCI; and

deleting files of the first agent VCI from the first storage location after a correction of the failure.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the method includes monitoring traffic in and out of the first hypervisor to detect the failure associated with the storage location.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the linked clone of the second agent VCI provides services to at least one dependent VCI that are analogous to services provided by the first agent VCI to the at least one dependent VCI before the detection of the failure.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the method includes restarting a dependent VCI on the second hypervisor, wherein the restarted dependent VCI is deployed on the first storage location, and is provided services by the first agent VCI.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the correction of the failure includes deploying the linked clone on the second storage location, wherein the second storage location is in communication with the first hypervisor.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the linked clone provides services analogous to the first agent VCI and the second agent VCI.

17. A system, comprising:

an agent virtual computing instance (VCI) executed by a first hypervisor and deployed on a first storage location in a cluster;

a first dependent VCI executed by the first hypervisor and deployed on the first storage location in the cluster;

a second dependent VCI executed by the first hypervisor and deployed on a second storage location in the cluster; and

a cluster controller in communication with the cluster and configured to:

redeploy the agent VCI on the second storage location in response to detecting a failure associated with the first storage location; and

restart the first dependent VCI on a second hypervisor that is in communication with the first storage location.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the cluster controller is configured to delete files of the agent VCI from the first storage location after the agent VCI is redeployed on the second storage location.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the cluster controller is configured to:

redeploy the agent VCI on the second storage location without user input; and

restart the first dependent VCI on the second hypervisor without user input.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the cluster controller is configured to redeploy the agent VCI on the second storage location in response to detecting the failure associated with the storage location only if there is no other instance of the agent VCI being executed by the second hypervisor.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Apr 15, 2024
From: VMWARE, INC.
To: VMWARE LLC
Reel/Frame 067102/0314 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 11, 2015
From: HANUMANTHARAYA, VINAYA; MARAKALA, SANTHOSH; ESHWARAPPA, KIRAN
To: VMWARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 036294/0032 →