Wake-on-LAN and instantiate-on-LAN in a cloud computing system

#The present disclosure relates generally to cloud computing, specifically relative to the ability to dynamically adjust computational and storage capacity on demand. The compute capacity can be increased or decreased by adjusting the number of processing units (cores) allocated to a given instance of a processing module (server or node) or by adjusting the overall quantity of processing modules in a system. Cloud computing systems such as OpenStack abstract the management layer of a cloud and allow clients to implement hypervisor agnostic processing modules.

#One core technology underlying cloud computing is virtualization. Virtualization enables a single physical machine to run multiple operating systems or operating environments at once. This allows the consolidation of workloads when there is less load, but also the ability to subdivide physical machines, creating additional virtual resources on demand. These additional virtual resources can be configured to have a high degree of uniformity, making the addition of newly-created virtual resources easier to integrate into an existing system.

#Another existing technology is called “Wake on Lan” or “WoL.” WoL allows a networked computer to go into a lower power state when it is not being used, while also allowing external management software to wake up the computer by sending an Ethernet frame with a specific structure, called a “Magic Packet.” The Ethernet controller then alerts the system and the power management circuitry wakes it up.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an information processing system.

#FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a cluster of information processing systems as described in FIG. 1.

#FIG. 3a is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method for waking a virtual machine using a wake-up message.

#In one embodiment, a system and method for dynamically instantiating a virtual machine (VM) in a cloud computing environment in response to a message is described. Although the message will be described in terms of a Wake-on-LAN message, various other types of messages are contemplated, including wake on PHY activity, wake on a unicast message, wake on a multicast message, wake on a broadcast message, wake on ARP, and wake on ICMP (such as wake on ping). In other embodiments, there may be one or more fully active operating systems listening on an associated physical machine that have a full network stack and processing capability; in those cases, the wake/instantiate message can be at a higher level in the stack, such as an HTTP request, XMLRPC request, SOAP, CORBA, AMQP or ZeroMQ message, or any other protocol known in the art. The description of a message as a Wake-on-LAN (or “WoL”) packet or a “magic packet” is simply one embodiment used for clarity and ease of description.

#Various types of messages are contemplated. In one embodiment, a message is a “wakeup-only message,” and no further processing is needed. In a second embodiment, a message is an “indicator message,” contains or is sent in a manner that indicates some kind non-overt semantic message. A third embodiment is a “content message,” and contains content to be received or processed. It is anticipated that all three types of messages will be used.

#Wake-on-LAN is implemented using a specially formatted data-link layer packet (the “magic packet”) containing the MAC address of a destination computer. The listening computer waits for a magic packet addressed to it and then initiates system wake-up.