International Business Machines Corporation

Sungjin Yook

Khalid Filali-Adib

David W Sheffield

Nathaniel S Tomsic

Perinkulam I Ganesh

John Mark McConaughy

Stephen Bailey Peckham

Frederic Barrat

Laurent Dufour

Christophe Lombard

Kevin Lynn Fought

Marc Joel Stephenson

Edward Shvartsman

Philippe Bergheaud

Luke Mathew Browning

Donald Ray Stence

Paul David Mazzurana

Guy Menanteau

Christine M Briand

J Mark McConaughy

Khalid Filali-Abid

Mechanisms are provided for performing a live update of an operating system. The mechanisms receive an update to an operating system and clone a root volume group associated with an operating system instance executing in a first logical partition of the data processing system to generate a cloned root volume group. The mechanisms apply the update to the cloned root volume group to generate an updated and cloned root volume group and boot a second logical partition of the data processing system using the updated and cloned root volume group. Moreover, the mechanisms migrate application instances and application data to the second logical partition.

Live operating system update mechanisms

Mechanisms are provided for performing a live update of an operating system. The mechanisms receive an update to an operating system and clone a root volume group associated with an operating system instance executing in a first logical partition of the data processing system to generate a cloned root volume group. The mechanisms apply the update to the cloned root volume group to generate an updated and cloned root volume group and boot a second logical partition of the data processing system using the updated and cloned root volume group. Moreover, the mechanisms mirror the original root volume group associated with an operating system instance executing in a first logical partition and import the mirrored root volume group into the second logical partition. The mechanisms migrate application instances to the second logical partition by restarting the application instances in the second logical partition using the mirrored root volume group.

Provided are techniques for comparing a first fileset associated with a first operating system (OS) with a second fileset associated with a second OS; determining, based upon the comparing, that the second OS is a more current version of the first OS; in response to the determining that the second OS is a more current version of the first OS, moving, in conjunction with live application mobility, a virtual machine (VM) workload partition (WPAR) on the first LPAR to a second LPAR, the moving comprising determining a set of overlays associated with the WPAR corresponding to the second OS; removing from the WPAR any overlays associated with the first OS; applying to the WPAR a set of overlays corresponding to the second OS; check pointing processes associated with the WAPR; and copying live data associated with the LPAR from the first LPAR to the second LPAR.

Live application mobility from one operating system level to an updated operating system level and applying overlay files to the updated operating system

Provided are techniques for comparing a first fileset associated with a first operating system (OS) with a second fileset associated with a second OS; determining, based upon the comparing, that the second OS is a more current version of the first OS; in response to the determining that the second OS is a more current version of the first OS, moving, in conjunction with live application mobility, a virtual machine (VM) workload partition (WPAR) on the first LPAR to a second LPAR, the moving comprising determining a set of overlays associated with the WPAR corresponding to the second OS; removing from the WPAR any overlays associated with the first OS; applying to the WPAR a set of overlays corresponding to the second OS; check pointing processes associated with the WPAR; and copying live data associated with the LPAR from the first LPAR to the second LPAR.

A mechanism is provided for isolation of device namespace to allow duplicate or common names in root volume group workload partitions. The mechanism creates a scratch file system that contains enough information to create an execution environment for a workload partition and information about which physical volumes to use for the root volume group file systems. The mechanism then populates the root file systems on a disk in the global space. The mechanism boots the workload partition from the scratch file system and configures the devices to be exported to the workload partition based information in the scratch file system. The mechanism then renames the logical volume names to the traditional names. The mechanism then temporarily mounts the root volume group file system onto the scratch file system.

Isolation of device namespace to allow duplicate/common names in root volume group workload partitions

Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to receiving a request from a first instance of an operating system (e.g., a virtual operating system) to load a kernel extension that extends functionality of a kernel, where the kernel and the first instance of the operating system are managed by a second instance of the operating system (e.g., a global operating system), and where the first and second instances of the operating system share the kernel. Some embodiments are further directed to recording an indicator that indicates that the first of the plurality of the instances of the operating system requested to load the kernel extension, where the indicator is accessible only to the second instance of the operating system. In some embodiments, the method is further directed to loading the kernel extension, where loading the kernel extension extends functionality of the kernel. In some embodiments, the method is further directed to receiving a request by the first instance of the operating system to remove the functionality from the kernel and determining, based on the indicator, that the first instance of the operating system had previously requested to load the kernel extension. In some embodiments, the method is further directed to removing the functionality from the kernel in response to the determining, based on the indicator, that the first instance of the operating system had previously requested to load the kernel extension.

Tracking loading and unloading of kernel extensions in isolated virtual space

Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to detecting a file that a first instance of an operating system is configured to load where the file is configured to extend functionality of a kernel when loaded. In some embodiments, the first instance of the operating system is managed by a second instance of the operating system (e.g., the first instance of the operating system is a virtual operating system and the second instance is a global operating system). The first and second instances of the operating system share the kernel. Some embodiments are further directed to generating a unique electronic identifier based on properties of the file. The unique electronic identifier uniquely identifies the file. Some embodiments are further directed to providing a copy of the file to the first instance of the operating system, and some time later, receiving a request from the first instances of the operating system to load the copy of the file. Some embodiments are further directed to determining, using the unique electronic identifier, that the copy of the file from the first instance of the operating system is equivalent to the file. Some embodiments are further directed to loading the copy of the file in response to determining, using the unique electronic identifier, that the copy of the file is equivalent to the file. The loading extends the functionality of the kernel.

Managing unique electronic identification for kernel extensions in isolated virtual space

Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to receiving a request from a first instance of an operating system (e.g., a virtual operating system) to load a kernel extension that extends functionality of a kernel, where the kernel and the first instance of the operating system are managed by a second instance of the operating system (e.g., a global operating system), and where the first and second instances of the operating system share the kernel. Some embodiments are further directed to loading the kernel extension as a shared kernel extension. Some embodiments are further directed to receiving a request by the first instances of the operating system to unload the kernel extension and determining that a third instance of the operating system (e.g., another virtual operating system also managed by the global operating system) requires the kernel extension to remain loaded. Some embodiments are further directed to notifying the first instance of the operating system that the kernel extension was unloaded while leaving the kernel extension loaded in the kernel.

Managing loading and unloading of shared kernel extensions in isolated virtual space

A method, system, and computer usable program product for isolating a workload partition space are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A boot process of a workload partition in a data processing system is started using a scratch file system, the scratch file system being in a global space. A portion of a storage device containing a file system for the workload partition is exported to the workload partition, the portion forming an exported disk. The partially booted up workload partition may discover the exported disk. The exporting causes an association between the global space and the exported disk to either not form, or sever. The exporting places the exported disk in a workload partition space associated with the workload partition. The boot process is transitioned to stop using the scratch file system and start using the data in the exported disk for continuing the boot process.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Sungjin Yook