Method and system for dynamic provisioning using server dormant mode for virtual server dormancy
AssigneeEMC Corporation
InventorsShu-Shang Sam Wei, Shreyas Satyanand Kaushik, Zhenpeng Li, Ying Teng, Alex Rankov
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Abstract
A method for dynamic provisioning of server deployments using a dormant mode for content servers. Client devices may conduct transactions with servers when the servers are in an active mode. However, in the dormant mode, the servers do not accept new transactions. Thus, by utilizing the dormant mode on one or more servers, a server deployment scheme can be effectively scaled down by reducing the number of active servers. In order to scale up the deployment, one or more active servers are added to the deployment.
Claims20
A method for dynamic provisioning of servers, the method comprising:
- providing a dormant mode and an active mode for each of a plurality of servers of a file system, wherein no new connections are established with a server of the plurality of servers when the server is placed into the dormant mode;
- obtaining a current point-in-time snapshot of the file system taken by the plurality of servers at a discrete point in time;
- placing each of the plurality of servers into the dormant mode to undergo a service pack upgrade, wherein when the plurality of servers are placed in the dormant mode, content of the file system is provided to existing connections of the plurality of servers as read-only from the current point-in-time snapshot;
- creating a writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot;
- performing the service pack upgrade by updating the writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot;
- and
- returning the plurality of servers to the active mode based on the updated writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot and deleting the current point-in-time snapshot when the service pack upgrade is successfully applied.
A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein to be executed by one or more processors, the computer-readable program code including instructions to:
- provide a dormant mode and an active mode for each of a plurality of servers of a file system, wherein no new connections are established with a server of the plurality of servers when the server is placed into the dormant mode;
- obtain a current point-in-time snapshot of the file system taken by the plurality of servers at a discrete point in time;
- place each of the plurality of servers into the dormant mode to undergo a service pack upgrade, wherein when the plurality of servers are placed in the dormant mode, content of the file system is provided to existing connections of the plurality of servers as read-only from the current point-in-time snapshot;
- create a writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot;
- perform the service pack upgrade by updating the writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot;
- and
- return the plurality of servers to the active mode based on the updated writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot and delete the current point-in-time snapshot when the service pack upgrade is successfully applied.
A system for dynamic provisioning of servers, the system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a processor-based connection broker application which, when executed on a computer, will cause the one or more processors to:
- provide a dormant mode and an active mode for each of a plurality of servers of a file system, wherein no new connections are established with a server of the plurality server when it is placed into the dormant mode;
- obtain a current point-in-time snapshot of the file system taken by the plurality of servers at a discrete point in time;
- place each of the plurality of servers into the dormant mode to undergo a service pack upgrade, wherein when the plurality of servers are placed in the dormant mode, content of the file system is provided to existing connections of the plurality of servers as read-only from the current point-in-time snapshot;
- create a writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot;
- perform the service pack upgrade by updating the writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot;
- and
- return the plurality of servers to the active mode based on the updated writeable copy of the current point-in-time snapshot and delete the current point-in-time snapshot when the service pack upgrade is successfully applied.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.