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Moving execution of a virtual machine across different virtualization platforms

Moving execution of a virtual machine across different virtualization platforms description/claims

The present application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/889,994 titled, “Virtualization Methods for a Blade Computing System,” which was filed on Feb. 15, 2007, whose inventor was Syed Mohammad Amir Husain.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a server computer system including a plurality of server computers, where each server computer executes virtualization platform software. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for moving execution of a virtual machine across different types of virtualization platforms.

2. Description of the Related Art

Many commercial businesses and enterprises make extensive use of personal computers (PCs) in their daily operations. Typically, each user of a PC in the enterprise has a networked PC at his/her desk or work area. As the number of networked computer systems utilized in an enterprise increases, the management of resources in the network may become increasingly complex and expensive. Some of the manageability issues involved in maintaining a large number of networked computer systems may include ease of installation and deployment, the topology and physical logistics of the network, asset management, scalability (the cost and effort involved in increasing the number of units), troubleshooting network or unit problems, support costs, software tracking and management, as well as the simple issue of physical space, be it floor space or room on the desktop, as well as security issues regarding physical assets, information protection, software control, and computer virus issues.

Many of these issues may be addressed by centralizing the locations of computing resources. For example, each individual user may connect through a network to a server computer system and use computing resources provided by the server computer system.

Some server computer systems are capable of leveraging the physical hardware resources available through virtualization. Virtualization provides the ability for multiple virtual machines to run together on the same physical server computer. For example, each virtual machine may execute its own operating system and may appear to a user of the virtual machine to be the same as an independent physical computer. The software layer that executes on the physical server computer and manages the various virtual machines is called a hypervisor or virtual machine host software. The hypervisor can run on bare hardware (called a Type 1 or native VM) or under control of an operating system (called a Type 2 or hosted VM).

Various embodiments of a system and method for moving execution of a virtual machine from a first server computer to a second server computer are disclosed. The first server computer and the second server computer may implement different types of virtualization platforms. For example, virtual machines that execute within the virtualization platform of the first server computer may not be directly supported by the virtualization platform of the second server computer.

According to one embodiment, the first server computer may be configured to execute a first virtual machine within a first virtualization platform. The first server computer may create snapshot information for the first virtual machine, where the snapshot information represents a state of the first virtual machine. The snapshot information may be transmitted to the second server computer.

The second server computer may be configured to create a second virtual machine within a second virtualization platform, where the second virtualization platform is a different type of virtualization platform than the first virtualization platform. The second server computer may set the second virtual machine to a state corresponding to the state of the first virtual machine using the snapshot information.

A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained when the following detailed description of the embodiment is considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates computer systems including peripheral devices coupled to computer blades in a cage, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a computer blade, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a computer blade having a power supply, hard drive, and motherboard, according to one embodiment;

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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