Method and apparatus for providing computer failover to a virtualized environment

An apparatus comprising:

• a standby server, wherein
• the standby server is configured to
• launch a virtualized environment,
• launch a plurality of partitions within the virtualized environment by virtue of being configured to launch a partition of the plurality of partitions for at least one failed resource within a computer system, and
• facilitate failover of the at least one failed resource by launching a resource within a particular partition of the plurality of partitions,
• the particular partition comprises
• a backup instance of the at least one failed resource associated with the particular partition,
• the particular partition is configured with a set of properties associated with an operating environment of a primary server,
• the set of properties comprises
• one or more enablement properties for the particular partition within the virtualized environment,
• the one or more enablement properties differentiate whether resources of a system may be established outside the particular partition,
• the one or more enablement properties specify whether the virtualized environment is capable of supporting software partitions, and
• the resource within the particular partition reports the state of a service group instead of managing the partition.

A high-availability computer system comprising:

• a plurality of servers, wherein
• each of the plurality of servers is configured to provide a resource, and
• the each of the plurality of servers comprises
• a high availability control module;
• and
• a standby node, coupled to the plurality of servers, wherein
• the each of the plurality of servers is configured to
• instantiate a partition of a plurality of partitions within a virtualized environment for the each of the plurality of servers, and
• launch a backup instance of at least one of the resources in each partition of the plurality of partitions when the high availability control module detects a resource fault, wherein
• the resource fault represents at least one failed resource, and
• the at least one of the resources is associated with the each partition of the plurality of partitions,
• the each partition of the plurality of partitions comprises
• a backup instance of the at least one failed resource, wherein
• the at least one failed resource is associated with the each partition of the plurality of partitions,
• the each partition of the plurality of partitions is configured with a set of properties, wherein
• the set of properties is associated with an operating environment of an associated server of the plurality of servers,
• the set of properties comprises one or more enablement properties for the each particular partition of the plurality of partitions within the virtualized environment,
• the one or more enablement properties differentiate whether resources of a system may be established outside the each partition of the plurality of partitions, and
• the one or more enablement properties specify whether the virtualized environment is capable of supporting software partitions, and
• each backup instance of the at least one of the resources reports the state of a service group instead of managing the partition of the plurality of partitions.

A high-availability computer system comprising:

• N servers;
• and
• a single standby node, wherein
• the combination of the single standby node and the N servers form an N+N failover configuration,
• N is an integer of 2 or more,
• the single standby node supports a virtualized environment having N possible partitions,
• at least one of the resources is associated with each of the N possible partitions,
• each of the N possible partitions comprises
• a backup instance of at least one failed resource, wherein
• the at least one failed resource is associated with the each of the N possible partitions,
• each partition of the N possible partitions is configured with a set of properties, wherein
• the set of properties is associated with an operating environment of an associated server of the N servers, and
• the set of properties comprises one or more enablement properties for an associated partition within the virtualized environment,
• the one or more enablement properties differentiate whether resources of a system may be established outside the particular partition,
• the one or more enablement properties specify whether the virtualized environment is capable of supporting software partitions, and
• each backup instance of the at least one of the resource reports the state of a service group instead of managing the each of the N possible partitions.