JP2008107966A - Computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To securely and efficiently provide user execution environment for processing a service request of a user. <P>SOLUTION: In this computer system, dynamic/static computer resource information and information about an execution environment snapshot image storing a state that a plurality of cooperative operating programs and a guest OS are started are stored and consolidated in a storage device. The guest OS having an application program for processing service according to the user request is loaded onto a computer from the storage device, and is dynamically allocated onto a host OS, and an environment for executing the application program on the guest OS is provided to the user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a computer system, and in particular, a computer system that efficiently allocates virtual computer resources while keeping a service use environment secure according to a user's request, and facilitates management of a user's execution environment. The present invention relates to a computer control method.

  In recent years, a service in which an application program is installed in a clustering system in which a plurality of distributed homogeneous computers are managed by cluster management middleware and the application program can be used by many users has been put into practical use. In addition, grid middleware manages multiple distributed homogeneous or heterogeneous computers by virtualizing computer resources, and users can use various application programs securely as services without being aware of computer resources. A system called an operating system is drawing attention.

In this system environment, a plurality of user execution environments are constructed on one OS (Operating System) mounted on the computer. That is, processes and data of different users are managed on the same OS. Therefore, for example, when multiple corporate users with different capital use services on the same clustering system or grid computing system, they can refer to each other's processes and know part of the processing contents in the application program from other corporate users. As a result, there arises a problem that sufficient security cannot be ensured.
In addition, since a plurality of applications having different preconditions of OS conditions cannot be processed by one computer, services that can be processed by one computer are limited, and the use of computer resources becomes inefficient.

As one method for solving this problem, a method using virtualization software such as VMWare (R), Virtual PC (R), and Xen (R) has been recently proposed. The virtualization software is a software technique for constructing a virtualization system including a plurality of guest OSs on the host OS, using the OS on the computer as the host OS. With this technology, since one user execution environment can be constructed on one guest OS, it is possible to install a plurality of user execution environments that ensure security on one computer, and on one computer. Thus, a plurality of applications having different prerequisite OS conditions can be operated.
Note that Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-18820 (Patent Document 1) is known as a technology related to a virtual machine environment that refers to a communication mechanism between a guest OS and a host OS.

JP 2006-18820 A

  According to the above prior art, since a plurality of guest OSs coexist on one host OS, even when an application program is not executed, each guest OS uses hardware resources such as a processor, a memory, and an I / O interface. Occupies a certain amount. Therefore, even if there is a request for executing an application program of a certain user, there arises a problem that computer resources cannot be efficiently allocated to the guest OS including the user execution environment for processing the application program.

  Therefore, various application programs are installed in the clustering system and grid computing system, so that multiple remote users can use these application programs securely and are efficient for the user execution environment that processes the application programs. A system for allocating computer resources is required.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a virtual computer system and a computer control method that can securely and efficiently realize a user execution environment for processing user service requests.

The computer system according to the present invention preferably includes at least one computer accessed from a user's terminal via a network, and provides a virtual computer resource in response to a user request. A plurality of virtualized execution environment snapshot images including a computer on which a guest OS that can be executed on a host OS according to a request and an application program that implements a service according to a guest OS and a user request A storage device to be stored, and a control unit that performs control for loading a guest OS on the host OS by selecting an execution environment snapshot image stored in the storage device in response to a user request, loading the computer into the computer, and And the computer uses the application on the loaded guest OS Configured as a computer system and providing an execution environment for executing Shon user.
In a preferred example, after processing the user request, the computer resources occupied by the execution environment snapshot image on the host OS are released.
Preferably, the execution environment snapshot image previously loaded in the computer has means for switching to another execution environment snapshot image, and the switching means is adapted from a plurality of computers according to a user request. When the resource is released, the execution environment snapshot image corresponding to the user request is selected from the storage device and deployed on the host OS of the computer.
Preferably, the storage device stores an execution environment snapshot image including a guest OS that has already been activated, and the computer loads the guest OS that has already been activated to execute an application on the guest OS. Execute.

  The computer control method according to the present invention includes a host OS and a guest OS that can be executed on the host OS, and is a computer control method that can provide virtual computer resources in response to a user request. A plurality of virtualized execution environment snapshot images including an activated guest OS and an application program that implements a service in response to a user request in advance stored in a storage device; and in response to a user request The user selects the execution environment snapshot image stored in the storage device, loads it into the computer, loads the guest OS on the host OS, and executes the application environment on the loaded guest OS. And a computer control method characterized by comprising: Composed of Te.

  According to the present invention, an execution environment snapshot image including an application program for processing a service and a guest OS is dynamically allocated on the host OS, and the execution environment snapshot image is dynamically switched for each user request. it can. This makes it possible to provide a user execution environment for processing user service requests in a secure and efficient manner.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a computer system including a plurality of homogeneous or heterogeneous computers distributed on a network, and a plurality of users using a plurality of types of services via the network.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a computer system according to an embodiment. The computer system is configured by connecting one management server 310, three computers 410 to 430, and a network shared storage apparatus 500 through networks 210 to 230.

  The management server 310 is a server that manages the entire computer system, and is connected to the plurality of user execution terminals 110 to 120 via the network 210 and is connected to the computers 410 to 430 via the network 210. In particular, the computers 410 to 430 are controlled in response to a service request from the user terminal, and a virtual computer system is provided to the user terminal. The management server 310 includes a control program unit 311 and an information management program unit 312.

  Here, the control program unit 311 has a function of preparing and providing an optimal execution environment for the guest OS in response to a service request from the user. That is, an execution environment snapshot image including an application program and a guest OS that process a user request in cooperation with the information management program unit 310 and a corresponding execution environment snapshot image in response to requests from a plurality of remote users. A computer that is most suitable for operation is detected and the computer is reserved. Then, after the processing of the computer becomes available, the execution environment snapshot image is loaded from the storage device 500 using the virtualization software of the host OS of the computer, the execution environment is synchronized, and the user request is transmitted to the application on the execution environment. Process by program. When the process ends, a series of processes such as notifying the user of the execution result and releasing the computing resources occupied by the execution environment snapshot image are dynamically controlled. In addition, the control program unit 311 has a function of allowing a user or a computer system administrator to copy, delete, or change an execution environment snapshot image in which the guest OS is activated.

  The information management program 312 has a function of managing the status of jobs executed by the computers 410 to 430. In other words, information on execution environment snapshot images different in user units and service units stored in the storage apparatus 500 shared among the computers 410 to 430 and static information that clarifies where and what computers exist. Centrally manages computer resource information and dynamic computer resource information for confirming how the computer resource is currently used and reserved. Here, static computer resource information refers to information on the number of CPUs used, calculation speed, and memory capacity. Dynamic computer resource information refers to job execution time and the like.

  Next, the three computers 410 to 430 are a homogeneous computer group having the same hardware specification or a heterogeneous computer group having various hardware specifications. The computer 410 includes a host OS unit 411, a monitor program unit 412 that monitors a job execution status, a virtualization software unit 413 such as a VMware that executes a loaded guest OS, and an application that processes a user request. A snapshot image mounting unit 414 for mounting an execution environment snapshot image including a program and a guest OS is included. The computers 420 and 430 have the same configuration, and include host OS units 421 and 431, monitor program units 422 and 432, virtualization software units 423 and 433, and snapshot image mounting units 424 and 434, respectively.

  Here, the host OS unit 411 of the computer 410 is, for example, Windows (registered trademark), and the guest OS (the guest OS unit in the snapshot images 510 and 520) mounted on the computer 410 is Linux or another OS. Or In addition, the host OS units 421 and 431 of the computers 420 and 430 are Linux, and the guest OS installed therein is Windows (registered trademark) or another OS. Of course, the type of guest OS loaded from the common type storage apparatus 500 may change as appropriate according to a user request.

  The network shared storage apparatus 500 is a storage apparatus having a file system that can be simultaneously referenced from the computers 410 to 430 via the network 230. The hardware of the shared storage device itself may be either a single type or a distributed type. The network shared storage apparatus 500 stores user execution environment snapshot images 510 and 520.

  The execution environment snapshot images 510 and 520 are execution environments having an application program and a guest OS that can process service requests A and B from users A and B. In the illustrated example, the execution environment snapshot image 510 is stored for the user A, but two different execution environment snapshot images 520 are stored for one user B. That is, the execution environment snapshot image 510 includes a user #A guest OS unit 511 and a user #A application program unit 512. The user #B execution environment snapshot image 520 is an execution environment that can be processed by the user #B service requests B-1 and B-2, and includes guest OS units 5211 and 5212 and application program units 5221 and 5222, respectively.

Next, the control operation of the computer system will be described.
In the following example, for the service request A issued from the user #A execution terminal 110 and the service request B issued from the user #B execution terminal 120, the management server 310 performs optimal virtualization execution of the guest OS. The case where an environment is provided will be described. Here, in order to process service request A, one set of application program # A-1 unit 512 is executed, and in order to process service request B, application program # B-1 unit 5221 and application program It is assumed that # B-2 unit 5222 is executed in conjunction with each other.

  The execution environment # A-1 snapshot image 510 including the application program # A-1 section 512 can be mounted on the snapshot image mounting section 414 of the computer 410, and the application program # B-1 section 5221 is installed. The execution environment # B-1 snapshot image 520 including the execution environment # B-2 snapshot image 520 including the application program # B-2 unit 5222 can be mounted on the snapshot image mounting unit 424 of the computer 420. Can be mounted on the snapshot image mounting unit 434 of the computer 430.

When a service request A is issued from the execution terminal 110, first, the control program unit 311 of the management server 310 receives the service request A via the network 210 and accesses the information management program unit 312.
The information management program unit 312 includes the static information of the execution environment # A-1 snapshot image 510 capable of processing the service request A, the static information of the computer 410 on which the 510 can be installed, and the monitor program units 412 and 422. Dynamic status information for each computer use provided to the information management program 312 is provided to the control program 311.

  The control program 311 selects the computer 410 as the optimum computer for processing the service request A based on the information provided from the information management program unit 312 and reserves the computer. The control program 311 centrally manages the queue reserved for the computer system. For managing the reservation of a computer, for example, a reservation queue is sequentially registered in a table, and when the processing of a certain computer is completed, the next service request is assigned to the computer and executed.

For example, when the reservation order is the order in which the service request A is processed, the execution environment # A-1 snapshot image 510-1 is loaded into the snapshot image mounting unit 414 of the computer 410 via the virtualization software unit 413. Is done. At this time, the monitor program 412 reports to the information management program unit 312 that the snapshot image is being loaded.
When the loading is completed, the guest OS # A-1 unit 511 and the application program # A-1 unit 512 included in the execution environment # A-1 snapshot image 510 of the snapshot image mounting unit 414 of the computer 410 become active. The guest OS # A-1 unit 511 activated by the mounting unit 414 of the computer 410 accesses a general-purpose server on the network 220 to prepare an execution environment for processing the service request A, and synchronizes time, IP Set the address and host name dynamically.

  After the execution environment of the guest OS # A-1 unit 511 of the snapshot image mounting unit 414 is prepared, the control program unit 311 translates the service request A into a format that can be executed by the application program # A-1, and the computer 410 The service request A is processed by the application program # A-1 unit 511 of the snapshot image mounting unit 414. At this time, the monitor program 412 reports to the information management program unit 312 that the snapshot image is in a service request processing status.

  When the processing of service request A ends normally or abnormally, execution environment # A-1 snapshot image 510 reports the processing result for service request A to control program 311. The control program unit 311 instructs the virtualization software 413 to release the computer resources occupied by the execution environment #A snapshot image 510 of the snapshot image mounting unit 414.

The virtualization software 413 does not perform the termination process of the guest OS # A-1 unit 511 and forcibly occupies the execution environment #A snapshot image 510 to realize high-speed execution environment snapshot image switching. Release the computer resources that are present. When the release of computer resources is completed, the monitor program 412 reports to the information management program unit 312 that the service request can be accepted.
Upon receiving the processing result for the service request A, the control program 311 returns the result to the user #A execution terminal 110 and ends the series of processing for the service request A.

  Further, the control operation for the user #B service request B is substantially the same. In order to process the user #B service request B, the application program # B-1 unit 5221 and the application program # B-2 unit 5222 are executed in conjunction with each other. In this case, for example, the computers 420 and 430 are executed. Must be operated in parallel. The management server 310 causes the computers 420 and 430 to load and execute the execution environment # B-1 snapshot image 520 and the execution environment # B-2 snapshot image 520, respectively. The reservation of the computers 20 and 430, the operation of loading the execution environment snapshot image 520 to the reserved computer, the management of the status of the job executed by the computer, and the like are the processing for the user #B service request A described above. It is the same.

  In this way, different guest OS execution environments can be provided using a plurality of computers 410 to 430 in response to a plurality of service requests from a plurality of execution terminals. That is, virtualized execution on a host OS that meets a user's service request from a shared storage device that stores a plurality of virtualized execution environment snapshot images having a guest OS and an application program that implements the service By loading the environment snapshot image to the selected computer and operating it, the user's execution environment can be realized by keeping the user's service usage environment secure and efficiently managing the computer resources.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to omit the time required for starting the guest OS by loading the guest OS that has already been started. In addition, when the computer resources occupied by the execution environment snapshot image are released, the guest OS and application program states at the completion of the requested service processing are not reflected in the corresponding execution environment snapshot image, thereby terminating the guest OS. This time can be reduced, and the execution environment snapshot image switching time can be increased.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to an above-described Example, It can implement in various deformation | transformation. For example, in the computer system of FIG. 1, a plurality of computers 410 to 430 are used, but the gist of the present invention does not change even with a single computer. In the case of a system using a single computer, there is a possibility that the reservation queue for user requests may increase, but virtualized execution environment snapshot images that respectively match a plurality of user requests are obtained in order from the shared storage device. It can be loaded into a computer to realize its execution environment.

  In addition, according to another example of the present invention, with respect to centralized management of execution environment snapshot image information, execution environment snapshot images serving as a plurality of types of masters are managed, and a plurality of different users become masters. By duplicating the execution environment snapshot image, the user can easily create a new execution environment.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the computer system by one Example.

Explanation of symbols

110, 120: Execution terminal 111, 121: Service request 210, 220, 230: Network 310: Management server 311: Control program unit 312: Information management program unit 410, 420, 430: Computer 411, 421, 431: Host OS unit 412, 422, 432: Monitor program unit 413, 423, 433: Virtualization software unit 414, 424, 434: Snapshot image mounting unit 500: Network shared storage device 414, 424, 434: Snapshot image mounting unit 510, 520: Execution environment snapshot image 511, 5211, 5212: Guest OS part 512, 5221, 5222: Application program part.

Claims (5)

In a computer system including at least one computer accessed from a user terminal via a network and providing virtual computer resources in response to a user request,
A host OS and a computer capable of mounting a guest OS executable on the host OS in response to a user request;
A storage system for storing a plurality of virtualized execution environment snapshot images including a guest OS and an application program that implements a service according to a user request;
Control means for selecting an execution environment snapshot image stored in the storage device in accordance with a user request, loading it into the computer, and performing control for mounting the guest OS on the host OS. And
The computer system provides a user with an execution environment for executing the application on the loaded guest OS. 2. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein after processing the user request, the computer resources occupied by the execution environment snapshot image on the host OS are released. Means for switching an execution environment snapshot image previously loaded on the computer to another execution environment snapshot image, and the switching means uses a resource of a computer adapted from a plurality of computers in response to a user request. 2. When a resource is released, an execution environment snapshot image corresponding to a user request is selected from the storage device and deployed on the host OS of the computer. Computer system. The storage device stores an execution environment snapshot image including a guest OS that has already been activated, and the computer loads the guest OS that has already been activated and executes an application on the guest OS. Item 4. The computer system according to any one of Items 1 to 3. In a computer control method that includes a host OS and a guest OS that can be executed on the host OS and can provide virtual computer resources in response to a user request,
A plurality of virtualized execution environment snapshot images including a guest OS that has already been activated and an application program that implements a service in response to a user request are stored and prepared in advance in a storage device;
In response to a user request, a certain execution environment snapshot image stored in the storage device is selected and loaded into the computer, and the guest OS is mounted on the host OS;
And providing a user with an execution environment for executing the application on the loaded guest OS.

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