FORM 2
The Patent Act 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patent Rules  2005

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(SEE SECTION 10 AND RULE 13)

“A method and system for migration of multi-tier virtual application across different clouds hypervisor platforms”

APPLICANTS:
Name : HCL Technologies Limited

Nationality : Indian

Address : HCL Technologies Ltd.  50-53 Greams Road  Chennai – 600006  Tamil Nadu  India.

The following specification particularly describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:-

FIELD OF INVENTION
[001] This invention relates to multi-tier application migration across different cloud computing hypervisor platforms.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
[002] With advances in hardware virtualization and computing along with availability of high capacity networks  cloud computing is emerging as the future of computing technology. Cloud computing provides access to third party software and services on web and generally has a pay as per usage basis system. End users access the cloud applications using appropriate application programming interfaces.
[003] There are several vendors providing cloud platforms. Even though cloud computing provides end users with a lot of advantages  the lack of interoperability between different cloud vendors restricts end users from using services of other cloud vendors. Each vendor  currently in the fray  have their own formats and data model for the application deployment and management in cloud  leading to vendor locking and prohibits user from using cloud services of other vendors. Also due to lack of standardization in cloud computing  each vendor cloud operates and stores applications and data in different manner. The technology used in each vendor cloud platform is also different. Users find it difficult to process/migrate/share applications between two clouds. Although migration tools are available for migrating virtual machines from one hypervisor or cloud to a destination hypervisor or cloud  complex multi-tier applications may not migrate completely as completely different formats may be used in the destination hypervisor or cloud and applications may be running on multiple virtual machine with different properties and configurations.

OBJECT OF INVENTION
[004] The principal object of the invention is to provide migration of multi-tier virtual application from source cloud platform  along with the Application configuration and properties into a format suitable for a destination vendor cloud platform.
[005] Another object of the invention is to verify the migrated application after completion of conversion and migration.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION
[006] Accordingly  the invention provides a method for migrating at least one application from a source cloud to a target cloud using a migration server  the method comprising of creating a source application package by the source cloud  wherein the source application package comprises of all virtual machines and configurations associated with the migrating application; exporting the source application package by the source cloud to the migration server; converting the source package application into a target application package compatible with target cloud by the migration server; sending the target application package to the target cloud by the migration server; and launching and verifying the migrated application by the migration server.
[007] Also  disclosed herein is a migration server for migrating at least one application from a source cloud to a target cloud  the migration server comprising of a virtual machine migration tool for migrating virtual machines; a mapping table for finding equivalence of Application Properties and Configurations format elements between source and target clouds; and conversion tool for constructing the source applications package into a target application package compatible with target cloud.
[008] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood  however  that the following descriptions  while indicating preferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof  are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the embodiments herein without departing from the spirit thereof  and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[009] This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings  throughout which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the various figures. The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following description with reference to the drawings  in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 illustrates a broad block diagram showing the system used for application migration between clouds  according to the embodiments as disclosed herein;
[0011] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram showing the components of a cloud platforms  according to embodiments disclosed herein;
[0012] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram showing all the blocks of the system used for application migration between clouds  according to the embodiments as disclosed herein;
[001] FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing the method of migrating an application from a source cloud platform of one vendor to a destination cloud platform of another vendor  according to the embodiments as disclosed herein; and
[002] FIG. 5 illustrates a computing environment implementing the application  according to embodiments disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION
[0013] The embodiments herein  the various features  and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly  the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates a broad block diagram showing the system used for application migration between clouds  according to the embodiments as disclosed herein. The users 106 of the source cloud 104 identify applications to migrate to the target cloud. The virtual machines and configuration associated are packaged together and sent to the migration server 101. With the help of VM `Migration tool 102  the Migration server 101 converts the virtual machines associated with the application. Migration Server 101 extracts the application configurations. Database 103 is used for storing the extracted application configurations. The migration server 101 is connected to the source cloud 104 and target cloud 105. A mapping table in the migration server 101 is used for matching the corresponding properties in the target cloud 105..The application exported from the source cloud 104 gets migrated to a format compatible with target cloud 105 and a target application package is created  which is then opened in the target cloud 105. The application is opened and verified.
[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram showing the components of a typical two-tier application in the cloud  according to embodiments disclosed herein. The application 201 comprises of a Web VM 204  and a DB VM 203 along with application configurations 202. Users can access the application using Web VM 204  and the DB VM 203 contains all the application data stored by user.
[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram showing all the blocks of the system used for application migration between clouds  according to the embodiments as disclosed herein. The application to be migrated is selected from the source cloud. The virtual machine associated with the application and all application level configurations are gathered together. The entire application is exported to a logical container and the exported application is transferred to the migration server as a package called source cloud application packages 304. In the migration server  the virtual machines  virtual machine application properties and application configurations 302 are extracted from source cloud application package. The next step in the method is migrating of the virtual machines. A VM Migration tool 307 is used for migrating the virtual machines to the target cloud. Configuration convertor 301 is used to convert and migrate the application configuration compatible to target cloud. The migrated 305 virtual machines along with the migrated application configurations 303 are used to construct corresponding migrated application package in the target cloud platform. The migrated application package is used for launching 405 the application in the target cloud 105.
[003] FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing the method of migrating an application from a source cloud of one vendor to a destination cloud of another vendor  according to the embodiments as disclosed herein. The method beings by identifying (401) the application to be migrated. The virtual machine associated with the application and all application level configurations are gathered together. The entire application is exported (402) to a logical container. The exported application is transferred to the migration server as a package. In the migration server  the virtual machines and  application properties are extracted from the exported application. The next step in the method is migrating (403) of the virtual machines and its configuration. A VM Migration tool is used for migrating (404) the virtual machines to the target cloud. After virtual machines migration  migration of application level properties is done. From the application package  application level properties are extracted. Once the properties are extracted  corresponding properties in the target cloud are identified and transferred to the target cloud application. The migrated virtual machines and the migrated application properties are then used for constructing (405) the application in the target cloud. Finally  the application is launched (406) in the target cloud and verified. The various actions in method 400 may be performed in the order presented  in a different order or simultaneously. Further  in some embodiments  some actions listed in FIG. 4 may be omitted
[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates a computing environment implementing the application  according to embodiments disclosed herein. As depicted the computing environment comprises at least one processing unit that is equipped with a control unit and an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)  a memory  a storage unit  plurality of networking devices  and a plurality Input output (I/O) devices. The processing unit is responsible for processing the instructions of the algorithm. The processing unit receives commands from the control unit in order to perform its processing. Further  any logical and arithmetic operations involved in the execution of the instructions are computed with the help of the ALU.
[0018] The overall computing environment can be composed of multiple homogeneous and/or heterogeneous cores  multiple CPUs of different kinds  special media and other accelerators. The processing unit is responsible for processing the instructions of the algorithm. The processing unit receives commands from the control unit in order to perform its processing. Further  any logical and arithmetic operations involved in the execution of the instructions are computed with the help of the ALU. Further  the plurality of process units may be located on a single chip or over multiple chips.
[0019] The algorithm comprising of instructions and codes required for the implementation are stored in either the memory unit or the storage or both. At the time of execution  the instructions may be fetched from the corresponding memory and/or storage  and executed by the processing unit.
[0020] In case of any hardware implementations  various networking devices or external I/O devices may be connected to the computing environment to support the implementation through the networking unit and the I/O device unit.
[0021] The embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented through at least one software program running on at least one hardware device and performing network management functions to control the elements. The elements shown in Figs 1 include modules  which can be at least one of a hardware device  or a combination of hardware device  and software module.
[0022] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can  by applying current knowledge  readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept  and  therefore  such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore  while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments  those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.

STATEMENT OF CLAIMS
1. A method for migrating at least one application from a source cloud to a target cloud using a migration server  said method comprising of:
creating a source application package by said source cloud  wherein said source application package comprises of all virtual machines and configurations associated with said migrating application;
exporting the source application package by said source cloud to said migration server;
converting the source package application into a target application package compatible with target cloud by said migration server;
sending the target application package to the target cloud by said migration server; and
launching and verifying said migrated application by said migration server.
2. The method as in claim 1  wherein said migration server further comprises of a virtual machine migration tool for migrating virtual machines.
3. The method as in claim 1  wherein said migration server further comprises of a mapping table showing equivalence of Application Properties and Configurations format elements between source and target clouds.
4. The method as in claim 1  wherein said conversion of the source package application into a target application package compatible with target cloud is one using the migration server.
5. A migration server for migrating at least one application from a source cloud to a target cloud  said migration server comprising of:
a virtual machine migration tool for migrating virtual machines;
a mapping table for finding equivalence of Application Properties and Configurations format elements between source and target clouds; and
Conversion tool for constructing said source applications package into a target application package compatible with said target cloud.
6. The migration server of claim 5  wherein said server can be deployed independently of said source cloud and said target cloud.

Dated: 13th day of July 2012 Signature:
Dr Kalyan Chakravarthy
(Patent Agent)

ABSTRACT
A method and system for migration of multi-tier virtual application across different clouds hypervisor platforms. The principal object of the invention is to provide migration of multi-tier virtual application from one vendor to another vendor cloud platforms. Another object of the invention is to convert entire multi-tier virtual application of a source vendor cloud platforms  along with the virtual machines  configuration and properties into a format suitable for a destination vendor cloud platforms. Another object of the invention is to verify the migrated application after completion of conversion and migration.

FIG. 2