VM Migration in eEVOS
eEVOS offers advanced VM migration capabilities that ensure minimal downtime and seamless operation, whether you are migrating virtual machines (VMs) between nodes in a cluster, moving storage to different disks, or even transitioning to an entirely different eEVOS installation. This flexibility allows for streamlined operations and simplifies infrastructure management. Below, we’ll cover the three main types of live VM migration supported by eEVOS.
1. Live Migration Between Nodes
Live Migration between nodes allows you to move a running VM from one physical host (node) to another within a cluster. This is particularly useful when you need to balance the workload across multiple servers, perform maintenance, or upgrade hardware without interrupting services.
How it Works:
The VM is transferred while it’s still running, without downtime. All active sessions, data, and processes continue as the VM moves to the new node.
Live migration utilizes the shared Cluster Drive, ensuring seamless data access during migration. The VM’s memory state is transferred to the destination node, while storage remains consistent across both nodes.
Key Benefits:
- No downtime: Services remain online during migration.
- Load balancing: Helps distribute workloads across the nodes for better performance.
- Maintenance flexibility: Migrate VMs off a node to perform maintenance or upgrades without affecting service availability.
2. Live Storage Migration Between Different Disks
Live Storage Migration allows you to move a VM’s virtual disks between different storage devices or disks without shutting down the VM. This is useful for optimizing storage usage, moving data between faster or larger storage arrays, or when retiring old storage systems.
How it Works:
The storage migration takes place in the background while the VM continues to operate normally.
eEVOS manages the redirection of I/O operations from the old disk to the new one as the data is copied.
Once the process is complete, the VM will fully utilize the new storage without any user intervention required.
Key Benefits:
- Zero downtime: The VM stays online and accessible throughout the migration.
- Storage optimization: Freely move VMs between different types of storage (e.g., SSD, HDD) for better performance or capacity planning.
- Storage maintenance: Easily migrate storage to maintain or upgrade disk systems.
3. Live Migration to Different eEVOS Installations
eEVOS allows you to migrate VMs from one eEVOS installation to another, enabling you to move workloads across entirely different environments. This capability is essential for upgrading infrastructure, moving to a new data center, or even migrating between geographical locations.
How it Works:
The VM’s configuration and data are transferred to the new eEVOS installation.
Since eEVOS handles live migration at the storage layer, the VM remains running and operational during the transition.
Even though the destination eEVOS system may be on different hardware, the migration is seamless, maintaining all VM settings and states.
Key Benefits:
Hardware independence: Migrate VMs across eEVOS installations on different physical hardware.
Simplified disaster recovery: Enables efficient disaster recovery strategies, moving VMs off-site as needed.
Scalability: Easily scale your infrastructure by adding new eEVOS installations and migrating workloads as your business grows.
Conclusion
eEVOS simplifies VM migration with powerful live migration features. Whether you need to migrate VMs between nodes in a cluster, move storage between disks, or transfer workloads to a different installation, eEVOS provides the flexibility to keep your infrastructure running smoothly with minimal to no downtime. These capabilities make eEVOS a versatile and efficient choice for managing virtualized environments.