Patent ID: 8826272

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for reliably migrating a virtual machine (VM), the method comprising: receiving overhead and reliability factors for hosts in a hosting fabric; determining a plurality of viable migration paths for migrating a source VM from a source host to a target host in the hosting fabric, wherein the migration is accomplished through a series of migration phases, wherein a phase involves migration of the source VM from one host to another host in a migration path; determining total overhead costs associated with one or more migration paths; and selecting a migration path from among said plurality of viable migration paths according to the overhead costs and reliability factors, such that reliability goals defined for the migration of the source VM are best satisfied considering the overhead associated with the selected migration path, wherein the reliability of the migration over the selected migration path is monitored and controlled by dynamically allocating and de-allocating a plurality of replicas of the source VM on one or more hosts in the migration fabric, wherein the plurality of replicas of the source VM run concurrently with the source VM to satisfy the reliability goals defined for the migration of the source VM over multiple hops in the selected migration path, until the source VM is successfully migrated to the target host, and wherein number of replicas of the source VM running concurrently during the migration is increased when a migration goal requires more stable migration environment, and wherein the number of replicas of the source VM running concurrently during the migration is decreased when the migration goal requires less stable migration environment.