Detecting and managing idle virtual storage servers

摘要

Detecting and managing idle virtual storage servers (VSSs) on a host system. The host system may execute several VSSs, each VSS may comprise a virtual machine implementing a virtualized storage operating system and provide storage services for one or more clients. Detecting and managing idle virtual storage servers comprises three stages: 1) detecting idle VSSs, 2) suspending an idle VSS, and 3) un-suspending a suspended VSS. For the first stage, idle VSSs are detected using a first metric relating to network activity of the VSS, a second metric relating to storage object-related requests received by a VSS, and a third metric relating to inbound data for a VSS. For the second stage, an idle virtual storage server is suspended to release its resources while preserving its state for possible later use. For the third stage, a suspended virtual storage server may be unsuspended if a client attempts to access it.

主权项

1. A system for detecting idle virtual storage servers, the system comprising:
a host system configured for: executing a plurality of virtual storage servers, each virtual storage server comprising a virtual machine implementing a storage operating system for providing data storage services to one or more network connected client systems; allocating hardware resources of the host system to each virtual storage server; detecting that a virtual storage server is idle by: monitoring network activity of the virtual storage server; determining that no network activity has occurred on the virtual storage server for a predetermined time period; and identifying the virtual storage server as an idle virtual storage server each virtual storage server is allocated one or more virtual interfaces, each virtual interface having an associated Internet Protocol (IP) address; and suspending an identified idle virtual storage server by: releasing the hardware resources of the host system allocated to the identified idle virtual storage server for availability to another virtual storage server; and transferring the IP addresses associated with the identified idle virtual storage server to virtual interfaces of a placeholder virtual machine configured on the host system.