Cloud black box for cloud infrastructure

摘要

A cloud black box (CBB) subsystem in a cloud computing infrastructure includes CBB storage and computer processing circuitry executing a CBB application having first and second operating modes. In a depository mode information messages are continually received from hardware computing devices during normal operation and device information from the messages is stored into the CBB storage. The information messages are generated by CBB agents executing on the hardware computing devices, which continually collect the device information and generate the information messages according to a common information transfer protocol. In a retrieval mode, device information in the CBB storage is provided to a requestor such as a data analysis application, which may be part of or external to the CBB subsystem. The CBB subsystem operates independently and remains available upon failure of hardware or software components in the cloud infrastructure, providing a centralized source of information for diagnosis or other analysis.

主权项

1. A cloud black box subsystem for use in a cloud computing infrastructure having a set of network-connected hardware computing devices including host computers, storage arrays and network switches, the host computers being operative to execute one or more applications of a cloud infrastructure user, the applications engaging in application data storage accesses with the storage arrays and engaging in application network data transfers via the network switches, comprising:
cloud black box storage; and computer processing circuitry operative to execute a cloud black box application having first and second operating modes, the first operating mode being a depository mode in which information messages are continually received from the hardware computing devices during normal operation of the cloud computing infrastructure and device information from the information messages is stored into the cloud black box storage, the information messages generated by respective cloud black box agents executing on the hardware computing devices and continually operative to collect the device information during operation of the respective hardware computing devices and to generate the information messages containing the device information according to a common information transfer protocol, the second operating mode being a retrieval mode in which the device information in the cloud black box storage is provided to a data analysis application, the cloud black box subsystem operating independently of the applications and hardware computing devices so as to be functional in the retrieval mode in an event of failure or disruption of any of the applications and hardware computing devices.