JP7661864B2 - Virtual server management method and virtual server management system used therein - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for managing virtual servers running on multiple physical servers connected to each other via a network, and in particular to a virtual server management method that can quickly evaluate the health after restarting a virtual server that was running on a physical server that stopped operating due to some abnormality, and a virtual server management system used therein.

It is known that "server virtualization," which runs multiple virtual servers on a single physical server, is an effective way to reduce computer operating costs and make effective use of hardware resources. A physical server (also called a physical machine) is a dedicated computer equipped with physical hardware resources such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory, and storage, while a virtual server (also called a virtual machine or VM (Virtual Machine)) is virtual server software that uses the hardware resources of a physical server. Applications that perform various processes such as document creation and spreadsheets use these resources via an OS (Operating System), but traditionally, only one OS could be used per computer, so if different OSs were used, multiple computers had to be prepared. However, in recent years, server virtualization has made it possible to use the above-mentioned resources across multiple OSs.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams for explaining server virtualization methods, and each diagrammatically shows a host OS type and a hypervisor type configuration.
As shown in FIG. 8A, the host OS type is a method in which virtualization software 53 runs on a host OS 52 installed directly on hardware (physical server 51). Memory and a CPU are assigned to the virtualization software 53, as are other applications 56a to 56f, and virtual servers 54a to 54c are created in the virtualization software 53. The applications 56a to 56f are configured to run on guest OSs 55 of the virtual servers 54a to 54c. This method allows a virtual environment to be easily constructed by simply installing the virtualization software 53 on a PC (personal computer) or server that is already in use, but has the disadvantage that overhead (excessive resource consumption) is large because the guest OS 55 accesses hardware resources via the host OS 52.
8B, the hypervisor type is a method in which virtual servers 54a to 54c run on dedicated software called a hypervisor 57 that is installed directly on the hardware (physical server 51). In this method, the hypervisor 57 takes the place of the host OS 52, and the guest OS 55 does not access hardware resources via the host OS 52, so that the overhead is less than that of the host OS type.

8(a) or 8(b) stops operating due to some abnormality, the virtual servers 54a to 54c that were operating on that physical server 51 are restarted on other, normally operating physical servers 51. In this case, the administrator of each of the restarted virtual servers 54a to 54c must check that the necessary services are enabled and evaluate the health of the virtual servers.
Conventionally, the administrator of the virtual server environment would access a server for managing the virtual environment, extract logs and other operation history, create a "list of restarted virtual servers 54a to 54c," and send this to the administrator of each virtual server to request the above-mentioned confirmation work. However, this series of work is time-consuming, and there is a time lag between when the physical server 51 stops operating and when the administrator of each virtual server evaluates the health of the restarted virtual servers 54a to 54c.

Regarding technology for managing multiple virtual servers running on a physical server, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses an invention entitled "Virtual Machine Management Program, Management Server Apparatus, and Virtual Machine Management Method" which relates to an invention relating to a program that causes a computer device that executes control processes by coordinating any of the multiple virtual machines deployed on a physical machine to manage the multiple virtual machines, as well as a management server apparatus for virtual machines and a virtual machine management method.
The virtual machine management method disclosed in Patent Document 1 is characterized by including the steps of: creating a dependency list table that manages the identification information of other dependent virtual machines on a virtual machine identification information basis based on the detection results of dependencies between virtual machines deployed on a physical machine; when an instruction to select a virtual machine to be suspended from among multiple virtual machines being deployed is detected, reading the identification information of all virtual machines that have a dependency relationship with that virtual machine from the dependency list table and creating a target management table that manages the identification information; and reading the identification information of all virtual machines that have a dependency relationship with the selected virtual machine to be suspended from the target management table and visually presenting the identification information.
According to this method for managing virtual machines, even if a temporary stop is detected for one of a plurality of cooperating virtual machines, all virtual machines that have dependencies on the virtual machine are visually displayed as targets for temporary stop, so that the user can recognize all of the cooperating virtual machines. Therefore, the user can ensure consistency between the cooperating virtual machines when resuming.

Furthermore, Patent Document 2, entitled "Information Processing Device, Information Processing System, Information Processing Method, and Program," discloses an invention relating to a technique for collecting operation information of multiple virtual machines running on a physical machine.
The information processing method disclosed in Patent Document 2 is characterized in that a computer acquires a history of first operation information indicating resource usage received from a first virtual machine and second operation information indicating resource usage received from a second virtual machine, determines a correlation of resource usage between the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine based on this history, and controls the reception frequency of the second operation information to be lower than the reception frequency of the first operation information when the correlation satisfies a predetermined condition, and estimates resource usage in the second virtual machine based on the first operation information received from the first virtual machine and the above correlation.
According to such an information processing method, operation information is collected less frequently from some of the virtual machines, thereby reducing the amount of communication compared to when operation information is collected more frequently from all of the virtual machines.

JP 2009-245317 A JP 2021-101278 A

The invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, which is the above-mentioned conventional technology, is configured such that the virtual machines deployed on the physical machines are listed and managed for each physical machine by a virtual machine list table, but it is unclear when this virtual machine list table is created. For example, if the latest virtual machine list table is not created immediately after any physical machine is stopped, it is not possible to identify the virtual machine that was running on the stopped physical machine based on the virtual machine list table. In addition, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 cannot identify the time when the physical server was stopped, let alone the physical server that was stopped. Therefore, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem that when a physical server is stopped, it is not possible to easily evaluate the health of the virtual server that was running on the physical server after the physical server is restarted.
In addition, although the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2 can determine the correlation between virtual machines, it is not configured to acquire information on which physical machine a virtual machine is running on, and therefore cannot identify a virtual machine whose health should be evaluated when a physical machine stops operating. Therefore, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a problem in that it cannot evaluate the health of a virtual server when the physical server stops operating and the virtual server that was running on the physical server is restarted.

The present invention was made to address such conventional circumstances, and aims to provide a virtual server management method and a virtual server management system used therein that, when multiple physical servers are connected to each other via a network, can quickly evaluate the health of a virtual server that is running on a stopped physical server and that has been restarted on another physical server.

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention is a virtual server management system for managing virtual servers running on a plurality of physical servers connected to each other via a network, comprising: an internal storage device in which an administrator information database and a virtual server information database are constructed; and a management server connected to the network, the management server comprising: physical server monitoring means for acquiring alive information of the physical servers; virtual server operation list creation means for creating a virtual server operation list including information on the physical servers on which the virtual servers are running; message sending means for sending a message to an administrator predetermined for each virtual server, the message requesting an evaluation of the health of the virtual server; and control means for controlling the operation of the message sending means; The physical server stores a server list including information about the administrator, and the virtual server information database stores a virtual server operation list associated with its creation date and time, and the physical server monitoring means sends the physical server's alive/dead information together with the acquisition date and time to the control means, and when the control means confirms that the physical server has stopped operating based on the alive/dead information, it identifies a virtual server whose health needs to be evaluated based on the alive/dead information and the acquisition date and time, as well as the virtual server operation list and creation date and time read from the virtual server information database, and instructs the message sending means to send a message to the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server, and the message sending means sends a message to the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server in accordance with the instructions of the control means.
In the first aspect of the present invention, when the presence of a stopped physical server is confirmed, the control means identifies a virtual server that was operating on the stopped physical server as a virtual server requiring a health evaluation based on a virtual server operation list corresponding to a creation date and time that is closest to the acquisition date and time of the alive/dead information of the physical server.

A second invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, the management server includes a server list creation means for creating a server list based on information relating to the administrator of the virtual server acquired via the network.
In the second invention, in addition to the effect of the first invention, since information on the administrator of the virtual server is obtained via the network, the server list can be created efficiently.

A third invention is characterized in that, in the first or second invention, an administrator terminal used by an administrator is connected to the network, and the message sending means sends a message as an e-mail to the administrator terminal of the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server.
The third invention has the effect of reliably making a request to an administrator for evaluation of the health of a virtual server in a short time, in addition to the effect of the first or second invention.

The fourth invention is characterized in that, in any of the first to third inventions, an administrator telephone used by an administrator is connected to the network via a telephone network, and the message sending means sends voice data of the message to the administrator telephone of the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server.
The fourth invention has the effect of, in addition to the effect of any one of the first to third inventions, that a request for evaluation of the health of a virtual server is made even when the administrator is in a situation where he or she cannot receive e-mail.

The fifth invention is characterized in that, in any of the first to fourth inventions, an external storage device is provided that is connected to a network, and an administrator information database and a virtual server information database are constructed in this external storage device instead of the internal storage device.
The fifth invention has the effect of facilitating changes to the capacity of a database, in addition to the effect of any one of the first to fourth inventions.

A sixth invention is a virtual server management method for managing virtual servers running on a plurality of physical servers connected to each other via a network, comprising the steps of: creating a server list including information about a predetermined administrator for each virtual server; acquiring information about the physical server on which the virtual server is running from the physical server; creating a virtual server operation list including the acquired information about the physical server on which the virtual server is running; storing the virtual server operation list in a virtual server information database in association with its creation date and time; acquiring physical server alive/dead information; identifying a virtual server requiring a health evaluation based on the physical server alive/dead information and the virtual server operation list and creation date and time read from the virtual server information database; and requesting a health evaluation from an administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server.
The sixth invention is an embodiment of the second invention, which is a product invention, as a method invention, and therefore has the same effect as the second invention.

A seventh invention is characterized in that in the sixth invention, the request for evaluation of the health of the identified virtual server is made by sending an e-mail to an administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server.
The seventh invention is an embodiment of the third invention, which is a product invention, as a method invention, and therefore has the same effect as the third invention.

The eighth invention is characterized in that in the sixth or seventh invention, a request for evaluation of the health of the identified virtual server is made by sending voice data of a message to a telephone number of an administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server.
The eighth invention is an embodiment of the fourth invention, which is a product invention, as a method invention, and therefore has the same effect as the fourth invention.

According to the first invention, since there is little time lag between when a physical server stops operating due to some abnormality and when an administrator evaluates the health of a restarted virtual server, it is possible to quickly evaluate the health of the virtual server.

The second invention has the effect of the first invention, and also has the effect of improving workability, since the server list is created efficiently.

According to the third invention, in addition to the effects of the first or second invention, the effect of being able to efficiently request an administrator to evaluate the health of a virtual server is achieved.

According to the fourth invention, even when the administrator is unable to receive e-mail, a request to evaluate the health of the virtual server is made, which further enhances the effect of the third invention, that is, the administrator can be efficiently requested to evaluate the health of the virtual server.

The fifth invention has the effect of efficiently constructing an administrator information database and a virtual server information database in addition to the effect of any one of the first to fourth inventions.

The sixth invention is an invention of a method, whereas the second invention is an invention of a product, and therefore has the same effect as the second invention.

The seventh invention is an invention of a method, whereas the third invention is an invention of a product, and therefore has the same effect as the third invention.

The eighth invention is an embodiment of the fourth invention, which is an invention of a product, and therefore has the same effects as the fourth invention.

1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a virtual server management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a management server appearing in FIG. 1 . 13A and 13B are image diagrams showing an example of a server list and a virtual server operation list, respectively. 13A and 13B are image diagrams showing an example of a response state of a physical server displayed on a display device of a management server. FIG. 13 is an image diagram showing an example of an email sent to an administrator of the virtual server. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for managing a virtual server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the function of the management server shown in FIG. 1; 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams showing the configurations of a host OS type and a hypervisor type, respectively.

In the following explanation, the number of physical servers and virtual servers is three and eight, respectively, but the number of physical servers and virtual servers in the virtual server management system of the present invention is not limited to these numbers and can be changed as appropriate. In other words, even if the number of physical servers and virtual servers is not three and eight, respectively, the actions and effects of the present invention described below can be achieved in the same way.

Figure 1 shows an example of the configuration of a virtual server management system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 shows the configuration of the management server in Figure 1. Note that, in order to avoid the diagram becoming too complicated, only one administrator terminal is shown in Figure 1, but in reality, multiple administrator terminals are connected to the network. The components already explained using Figures 8(a) and 8(b) are given the same reference numerals, and their explanations are omitted as appropriate. In addition, the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c, and the virtual servers 8a to 8i are the same as the physical server 51 and the virtual servers 54a to 54c shown in Figure 8(b), respectively, but since it is necessary to explain each physical server and each virtual server separately here, for convenience, they are given reference numerals different from those shown in Figure 8(b). Furthermore, detailed configurations of the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c are not shown. In addition, "DB" is used to mean database in Figure 2, and this is the same in other drawings.

As shown in Fig. 1, in the virtual server management system 1 of the present invention, the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c, the center server 3, the management server 4, the telephone exchange 5, and the administrator terminal 6 used by the administrator of the virtual servers 8a to 8i are connected to each other via a network 7 consisting of a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network), and an external storage device 10 consisting of a storage such as a NAS (Network Attached Storage) is connected to the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c via a SAN (Storage Area Network) 9. In addition, the administrator's telephone 11 used by the administrator of the virtual servers 8a to 8i is connected to the telephone exchange 5 via a telephone network 12.
The center server 3 manages the virtual servers 8a to 8i running on the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b and the third physical server 2c as a group, and has the function of turning the power on/off and allocating hardware resources, as well as setting IP address allocation policies, etc., all at once.
The management server 4 is composed of a personal computer, a workstation, a mainframe, or the like, and monitors the operating status of the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c via the center server 3, and requests an evaluation of the health of the virtual servers 8a to 8i from a predetermined administrator for each of the virtual servers 8a to 8i as necessary. In addition, the external storage device 10 stores information on the CPUs, memories, communication devices, and data stored in the storage devices of the virtual servers 8a to 8i.

2, the management server 4 includes a communication device 4a for transmitting and receiving data to and from the network 7, a processing device 4b for communicating with the center server 3 and a predetermined administrator for each of the virtual servers 8a to 8i via the communication device 4a, an internal storage device 4c in which an administrator information database 14a in which a server list is stored and a virtual server information database 14b in which a virtual server operation list is stored in a state associated with the creation date and time of the list are constructed, and a display device 4d, such as a liquid crystal display, on which the results of processing by the processing device 4b are displayed. The communication device 4a, the processing device 4b, the internal storage device 4c, and the display device 4d are connected to each other via signal lines.
As described below, the server list contains information about the administrators of the virtual servers 8a to 8i, and the virtual server operation list contains information about the physical servers on which the virtual servers 8a to 8i are running, i.e., information indicating which of the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c the virtual servers 8a to 8i are running on.

The processing device 4b includes a server list creation means 13a that creates a server list based on information about the administrators of the virtual servers 8a to 8i acquired via the network 7, a physical server monitoring means 13b that acquires alive/dead information about the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c, a virtual server operation list creation means 13c that creates a virtual server operation list, a message sending means 13d that sends a message to the administrator terminal 6 and the administrator telephone 11 requesting an evaluation of the health of the virtual servers 8a to 8i, and a control means 13e that controls the operation of the message sending means 13d.

3A and 3B are image diagrams showing an example of a server list and a virtual server operation list, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 3(a), the server list stored in the administrator information database 14a lists the name of the virtual server, the name and emergency contact of its administrator, and the process that the virtual server is constantly performing in the columns titled “VM name,” “Administrator,” “Emergency contact,” and “Continuously running process,” respectively.
3B, the virtual server operation list stored in the virtual server information database 14b includes the name of the virtual server, the name of the physical server on which the virtual server is operating, the name of the guest OS, the name of the cluster, the power ON/OFF state, the number of virtual CPU cores, the memory capacity (GB), the disk capacity (GB), and the virtual NIC (Network Interface Card: in Gbps) in the fields of "VM name", "Physical server name", "OS", "Management server name", "Cluster name", "Power", "vCPU[core]", "Memory[GB]", "Disk[GB]", and "vNIC". The virtual NIC is connected to a virtual switch, which is connected to a physical NIC, which is further connected to an external physical switch, thereby performing network communication.

4(a) and 4(b) are image diagrams showing an example of the response state of a physical server displayed on the display device of the management server, and Fig. 5 is an image diagram showing an example of an email sent to the administrator of the virtual server.
The physical server monitoring means 13b of the processing device 4b issues a ping command to the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c, for example, every second. If any of the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c is in operation, the physical server monitoring means 13b obtains a communication response from the physical server (see FIG. 4(a)). On the other hand, if any of the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c is not in operation, i.e., is out of operation, the physical server monitoring means 13b cannot obtain a communication response from the physical server (see FIG. 4(b)). In this way, the physical server monitoring means 13b obtains information (alive or dead information) from the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c on whether they are in operation or not.
If any of the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c has stopped operating, the message sending means 13d creates a message requesting an evaluation of the health of the virtual servers 8a to 8i that were operating on that physical server, and sends the message to the relevant administrator.
As shown in Figure 5, the above message describes the physical server that has stopped operating due to a failure, the date and time when the failure occurred (e.g., 12:33:21 on September 2, 2021), and the virtual server whose health needs to be evaluated.

Next, a method for managing the virtual servers 8a to 8i using the virtual server management system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
Fig. 6 is a flow chart showing an example of a method for managing a virtual server according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 7 is a block diagram for explaining the functions of the management server shown in Fig. 1. Note that the same reference numerals are used to denote the components shown in Figs. 1 to 5, and explanations thereof will be omitted as appropriate.
In the management server 4 of the virtual server management system 1, the server list creation means 13a of the processing device 4b first accesses the external storage device 10 connected to the network 7 via the communication device 4a as shown by the arrow A in Fig. 7, and acquires information d1 stored therein about the administrators of the virtual servers 8a to 8i (step S1 shown in Fig. 6).After that, a server list is created and stored in the administrator information database 14a of the internal storage device 4c as shown by the arrow B (step S2 shown in Fig. 6).
Next, as shown by the arrow C in Fig. 7, the virtual server operation list creation means 13c of the processing device 4b accesses the center server 3 that manages the virtual servers 8a to 8i operating on the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c as a group via the communication device 4a, and acquires information d2 on the physical servers on which the virtual servers 8a to 8i are operating from the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c (step S3 shown in Fig. 6). After creating the virtual server operation list, the virtual server operation list is stored in the virtual server information database 14b of the internal storage device 4c in a state associated with the creation date and time d3, as shown by the arrow D (step S4 shown in Fig. 6). However, the processes of steps S3 and S4 are performed, for example, at 15-minute intervals.

As shown by the arrow E in Fig. 7, the physical server monitoring means 13b of the processing device 4b accesses the center server 3 via the communication device 4a and issues a ping command to the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c, for example, every second, thereby acquiring alive/dead information d4 of those physical servers (step S5 shown in Fig. 6). Then, this physical server alive/dead information d4 is transmitted from the physical server monitoring means 13b to the control means 13e together with the acquisition date and time d5, as shown by the arrow F.
After that, the control means 13e judges whether any of the first physical server 2a, the second physical server 2b, and the third physical server 2c has stopped operating based on the physical server alive/dead information d4 received from the physical server monitoring means 13b (step S6 shown in FIG. 6). If the existence of a stopped physical server is confirmed, the control means 13e reads out the virtual server operation list corresponding to the creation date and time d3 closest to the acquisition date and time d5 of the physical server alive/dead information d4 from the virtual server information database 14b as shown by the arrow G, thereby identifying the virtual server that was operating on the stopped physical server, and sets this as the virtual server whose health needs to be evaluated (step S7 shown in FIG. 6). Furthermore, the control means 13e reads out information d1 about the administrators of the virtual servers 8a to 8i from the administrator information database 14a as shown by the arrow H, thereby identifying the administrators of the virtual servers (step S8 shown in FIG. 6). Thereafter, the control means 13e transmits a command signal p to the message transmitting means 13d to create a message (see FIG. 5) requesting an evaluation of the health of the virtual server and transmit it to the relevant manager, as indicated by the arrow I. The message transmitting means 13d, which has received the command signal p, creates a message d6 with the above-mentioned content as indicated by the arrow J in accordance with the instructions of the control means 13e, and then accesses the telephone exchange 5 and the manager's terminal 6 connected to the network 7 via the communication device 4a, transmits an e-mail to the manager's terminal 6, and also converts the message d6 into voice and transmits it to the manager's telephone 11 (step S9 shown in FIG. 6).
For example, if the first physical server 2a stops operating, and among the virtual servers 8a to 8c that were operating on the first physical server 2a, the virtual servers 8a and 8b are transferred to the second physical server 2b, and the virtual server 8c is transferred to the third physical server 2c, the physical server monitoring means 13b sends to the control means 13e alive information d4 indicating that a communication response cannot be obtained from the first physical server 2a. In this case, the control means 13e determines that the first physical server 2a has stopped operating, and determines that the virtual servers 8a to 8c that were operating on the first physical server 2a are virtual servers that require a health evaluation based on the server list read from the administrator information database 14a and the virtual server operating list read from the virtual server information database 14b, and identifies the administrators of those virtual servers. Then, the message sending means 13d sends the above-mentioned message (see FIG. 5) as an e-mail to the administrators of the virtual servers 8a to 8c, and also sends a voiced message to the administrator's telephone 11.

The virtual server management method of the present invention and the virtual server management system used therein can be used to manage virtual servers running on multiple physical servers connected to each other via a network.

1...Virtual server management system 2a...First physical server 2b...Second physical server 2c...Third physical server 3...Center server 4...Management server 4a...Communication device 4b...Processing device 4c...Internal storage device 4d...Display device 5...Telephone exchange 6...Administrator terminal 7...Network 8a-8i...Virtual server 9...SAN 10...External storage device 11...Administrator telephone 12...Telephone network 13a...Server list creation means 13b...Physical server monitoring means 13c...Virtual server operation list creation means 13d...Message transmission means 13e...Control means 14a...Administrator information database 14b...Virtual server information database 51...Physical server 52...Host OS 53...Virtualization software 54a-54c...Virtual server 55...Guest OS 56a-56f...Application 57...Hypervisor

Claims (8)

A virtual server management system that manages virtual servers running on a plurality of physical servers connected to each other via a network,
an internal storage device in which an administrator information database and a virtual server information database are constructed;
a management server connected to the network,
The management server includes:
a physical server monitoring means for acquiring alive information of the physical server;
a virtual server operation list creation means for creating a virtual server operation list including information about the physical server on which the virtual server is operating;
a message sending means for sending a message to a manager predetermined for each of the virtual servers, the message requesting an evaluation of the health of the virtual server;
A control means for controlling the operation of the message transmitting means,
The administrator information database stores a server list including information about the administrator;
The virtual server information database stores the virtual server operation list in a state associated with the creation date and time of the virtual server operation list,
the physical server monitoring means sends the alive information of the physical server together with the acquisition date and time to the control means;
when the control means confirms that the physical server has stopped operating based on the alive/dead information, the control means identifies the virtual server requiring evaluation of the health based on the alive/dead information, the acquisition date and time, and the virtual server operation list and the creation date and time read from the virtual server information database, and instructs the message sending means to send the message to the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server;
The virtual server management system according to claim 1, wherein the message sending means sends the message to the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server in accordance with an instruction from the control means. The virtual server management system according to claim 1, characterized in that the management server is provided with a server list creation means for creating the server list based on information about the administrator of the virtual server acquired via the network. an administrator terminal used by the administrator is connected to the network;
3. The virtual server management system according to claim 1, wherein the message sending means sends the message as an email to the administrator terminal of the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server. an administrator telephone used by the administrator is connected to the network via a telephone network;
4. The virtual server management system according to claim 1, wherein the message sending means sends voice data of the message to the administrator telephone of the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server. an external storage device connected to the network,
5. The virtual server management system according to claim 1, wherein the administrator information database and the virtual server information database are constructed in an external storage device instead of the internal storage device. A virtual server management method for managing virtual servers running on a plurality of physical servers connected to each other via a network, using the virtual server management system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising :
creating a server list including information about a predetermined administrator for each of the virtual servers;
acquiring information about the physical server on which the virtual server is running from the physical server;
creating a virtual server operation list including information about the physical server on which the acquired virtual server is operating;
storing the virtual server operation list in a virtual server information database in association with the creation date and time of the virtual server operation list;
acquiring alive information of the physical server;
Identifying the virtual server requiring a health evaluation based on the alive/dead information of the physical server, the virtual server operation list read from the virtual server information database, and the creation date and time;
and a step of requesting the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server to evaluate the health of the virtual server , wherein all of the steps are performed by the virtual server management system . The method for managing virtual servers according to claim 6, characterized in that the request for evaluating the health of the identified virtual server is made by sending an email to the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server. The method for managing virtual servers according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the request for evaluating the health of the identified virtual server is made by sending voice data of a message to the telephone of the administrator corresponding to the identified virtual server.

Images