Moving virtual machines using migration profiles

A method of moving a virtual machine instance (VMI) within a compute service provider, the method comprising:

• determining a resource of a first host server computer running the VMI;
• acquiring at a first time point and at a second time point, according to a policy for automatically generating migration profiles associated with the VMI, state information for the resource used by the VMI while running on the first host server computer;
• generating, based on the policy for automatically generating migration profiles associated with the VMI, a first migration profile for the first time point based on the determined resource and the state information acquired at the first time point;
• generating, based on the policy for automatically generating migration profiles associated with the VMI, a second migration profile for the second time point based on the determined resource and the state information acquired at the second time point;
• indexing the first migration profile and the second migration profile according to the first time point and the second time point and the state information acquired at the first time point and at the second time point;
• storing the indexed first migration profile and second migration profile;
• receiving a user selection of the first time point or the second time point, wherein the receiving of the user selection includes receiving an API request selecting the first time point or the second time point from a list of the generated first migration profile and second migration profile;
• selecting the second host server computer from available host server computers within the compute service provider by matching a resource of the second host server computer with the determined resource within the first migration profile or the second migration profile based on the user selection;
• and
• migrating the VMI from the first host server computer to a second host server computer based on the resource and the state information of the first migration profile or the second migration profile based on the user selection, wherein the user selection allows the user to launch the VMI using the determined resource and acquired state information associated with the first time point or the second time point.

A system for moving a virtual machine instance (VMI) in a multi-tenant environment, the system comprising:

• host server computers coupled together through a network to form the multi-tenant environment, at least a portion of the host server computers for executing virtual machines associated with a customer account;
• a VMI migration service for generating, according to a policy associated with a tenant of the multi-tenant environment, a first migration profile at a first time point and a second migration profile at a second time point for one of the host server computers executing one of the virtual machines, each of the first migration profile and the second migration profile comprising state information of at least one hardware and/or software resource of the at least one host server computer at the corresponding first time point or the second time point, the VMI migration service for migrating the one of the virtual machines to a different host server computer within the multi-tenant environment using one of the first migration profile or second migration profile based on a user selection of one of the first time point or second time point, or a user selection of the first migration profile associated with the first time point or the second migration profile associated with the second time point;
• and
• a database coupled to the VMI migration service for storing the first migration profile and the second migration profile, wherein VMI migration service is configured to index the first migration profile and the second migration profile according to the first time point or the second time point for storage in the database, wherein the VMI migration service is operable to:
• receive a first API request for available migration profiles for the virtual machines;
• and
• in response to the first API request, display a list of available migration profiles including the first migration profile and the second migration profile;
• receive a second API request for the selection of the first time point or the second time point, or the first migration profile or the second migration profile, for re-launching the one of the virtual machines;
• terminate, in response to receiving the second API request, the one of the virtual machines running on the one of the host server computers;
• and
• re-launch the one of the virtual machines on the one of the host server computers using state information of at least one hardware and/or software resource within the first migration profile or the second migration profile based on the second API request.