Nutanix, Inc.

Ajeet Singh

Mohit Aron

Dheeraj Pandey

Rishi Bhardwaj

Brent Chun

Venkata Ranga Radhanikanth Guturi

Prakash Narayanasamy

An improved architecture is provided which enables significant convergence of the components of a system to implement virtualization. The infrastructure is VM-aware, and permits scaled out converged storage provisioning to allow storage on a per-VM basis, while identifying I/O coming from each VM. The current approach can scale out from a few nodes to a large number of nodes. In addition, the inventive approach has ground-up integration with all types of storage, including solid-state drives. The architecture of the invention provides high availability against any type of failure, including disk or node failures. In addition, the invention provides high performance by making I/O access local, leveraging solid-state drives and employing a series of patent-pending performance optimizations.

Architecture for implementing a virtualization environment and appliance

Disclosed is an improved approach to implement I/O and storage device management in a virtualization environment. According to some approaches, a Service VM is employed to control and manage any type of storage device, including directly attached storage in addition to networked and cloud storage. The Service VM implements the Storage Controller logic in the user space, and can be migrated as needed from one node to another. IP-based requests are used to send I/O request to the Service VMs. The Service VM can directly implement storage and I/O optimizations within the direct data access path, without the need for add-on products.

Architecture for managing I/O and storage for a virtualization environment

A system for managing storage devices, includes a plurality of nodes that implement a virtualization environment, each node of the plurality of nodes comprising a hypervisor, a service virtual machine that sits above the hypervisor, and one or more user virtual machines that sit above the hypervisor; a plurality of storage devices that are accessed by the user virtual machines via the service virtual machines, wherein a first node of the plurality of nodes comprises a first hypervisor, a first service virtual machine and a first set of one or more user virtual machines, wherein a second node of the plurality of nodes comprises a second hypervisor, a second service virtual machine and a second set of one or more user virtual machines, wherein the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor are of different types, and wherein the first virtual machine and the second service virtual machine are of the same type.

Architecture for managing I/O and storage for a virtualization environment with multiple hypervisor types

A system for implementing storage for a virtualization environment, including a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes implements a virtualization environment, a plurality of storage devices that are accessed by virtual machines in the virtualization environment, and wherein the plurality of storage devices comprises a local storage device that is locally attached to one of the plurality of nodes, and in which the local storage device can be managed as part of a global storage space for the virtualization environment.

System and method for implementing storage for a virtualization environment

A method for handling storage in response to migration of a virtual machine in a virtualization environment, including receiving an I/O request for a virtual disk, determining that a service virtual machine which implements a storage controller is not registered as owner of the virtual disk, obtaining ownership of the virtual disk by the service virtual machine, the service virtual machine handling the I/O request after obtaining ownership of the virtual disk.

Method and system for handling storage in response to migration of a virtual machine in a virtualization environment

A system for managing de-duplication of data in a virtualization environment, that includes a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes implements a virtualization environment, a plurality of primary storage devices that are accessed by virtual machines in the virtualization environment, and wherein data undergoes de-duplication in the virtualization environment such that an instruction to store a data item that is issued by a virtual machine is not duplicatively stored if the data item is already stored in the plurality of the primary storage devices.

Method and system for managing de-duplication of data in a virtualization environment

A method for handling storage in a virtualization environment including identifying a situation in which a storage controller ownership change is to occur for a virtual disk, identifying a candidate replacement owner for the virtual disk and transferring ownership of the virtual disk to the candidate replacement owner.

Method and system for handling ownership transfer in a virtualization environment

A system for communicating to a storage controller in a virtualization environment, including a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes implements a virtualization environment, and a node comprises a hypervisor and multiple user virtual machines; a plurality of storage devices that are accessed by the virtual machine; and a storage controller implemented as a service virtual machine on the node to manage access by the multiple user virtual machines to the plurality of storage devices, wherein a networking protocol is used to communicate between the multiple user virtual machines and the storage controller.

Method and system for communicating to a storage controller in a virtualization environment

A system for implementing a virtual disk in a virtualization environment, including a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes implements a virtualization environment, and a node comprises a hypervisor, user virtual machines, and a storage controller implemented as a service virtual machine; a plurality of storage devices that are accessed by user virtual machines and are managed by storage controllers, in which a first and a second virtual disk (vDisk) are formed from the plurality of storage devices and the first virtual disk is accessible by just a first user virtual machine and the second virtual disk is accessible by just a second user virtual machine.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Ajeet Singh