Obtaining virtual machine images from virtualization environments

• US 10,002,013 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2017
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lissack, Avichai M., Deb, Bashuman
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhao, Bing
• Application Number:
  US15/399,585
• Publication Number:
  US 20170116010A1
• Time in Patent Office: 530 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/76 Adapting program code to run in a different environment; Porting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors

Abstract

Techniques are described for facilitating sharing and reuse of executable software images between multiple execution environments. In at least some situations, the executable software images are virtual machine images (e.g., images that are bootable or otherwise loadable by a virtual machine in a particular virtualization environment, and that each include operating system software and/or software for one or more application programs, optionally along with one or more hard disks or other representations of stored data). The described techniques may include use of an image conversion tool that is configured to support interactions with multiple distinct types of source execution environments to extract executable software images from those environments, and to modify extracted software images for execution in one or more distinct types of destination execution environments, optionally as directed by one or more users via a GUI provided by the image conversion tool.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more hardware processors of one or more computing systems; and

one or more memories with stored instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more hardware processors, cause the system to perform operations for a computer virtualization environment that executes virtual machine images for multiple users and that supports multiple application programming interfaces (APIs) for use in interacting with multiple additional source virtualization environments to import virtual machine images into the computer virtualization environment, including at least;

receiving instructions from a user of the multiple users to import a virtual machine image into the computer virtualization environment from a separate second virtualization environment that is one of the multiple additional source virtualization environments;

determining one of the multiple APIs to use in interacting with the second virtualization environment;

interacting, over one or more computer networks and using the determined one API, with the second virtualization environment to obtain a copy of the virtual machine image that is executable by the second virtualization environment, including receiving, from at least one computing system that performs operations for the second virtualization environment, at least one file that is in a format specific to the second virtualization environment and that includes at least some of the virtual machine image;

modifying the obtained copy of the virtual machine image to be executable in the computer virtualization environment, including modifying contents of the obtained copy; and

initiating execution of the modified copy of the virtual machine image in the computer virtualization environment.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the at least one file includes retrieving one or more data files that are stored by the second virtualization environment and are used by the second virtualization environment as part of the virtual machine image.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the at least one file occurs while the virtual machine image is being executed by the second virtualization environment.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the stored instructions are part of a conversion tool that is executed at least in part in the computer virtualization environment and further cause the system to provide a graphical user interface to the user that includes information about multiple remote virtualization environments supported by the conversion tool, and wherein the receiving of the instructions from the user is performed via interactions of the user with the provided graphical user interface.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the stored instructions are part of a conversion tool that is executed at least in part in the computer virtualization environment and further cause the system to provide a graphical user interface to the user that includes information about multiple remote virtual machine images executable by one or more other virtualization environments, and wherein the receiving of the instructions from the user is performed via interactions of the user with the provided graphical user interface.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the initiating of the execution of the modified copy of the virtual machine image in the computer virtualization environment includes provisioning one of multiple virtual machines provided by the computer virtualization environment on the one or more computing systems, and executing the modified copy of the virtual machine image in the provisioned one virtual machine.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the computer virtualization environment and the second virtualization environment are different types of virtualization environments provided by different companies, and wherein the stored instructions further cause the system to store the modified copy of the virtual machine image in the computer virtualization environment for later execution by the user.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the modified virtual machine image is a bootable image that includes operating system software and at least one application program, and wherein the one or more computing systems include a first computing system local to the computer virtualization environment that is configured to execute a first module of an image conversion tool and include a second computing system local to the second virtualization environment that is configured to execute a second module of the image conversion tool.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing systems supporting a computer virtualization environment that executes virtual machine images for multiple users and that supports multiple application programming interfaces (APIs) for use in interacting with multiple remote virtualization environments to import virtual machine images into the computer virtualization environment, instructions from a user of the multiple users to import a virtual machine image into the computer virtualization environment from a second virtualization environment that is one of the multiple remote virtualization environments;

retrieving, by the one or more computing systems, information indicating one of the multiple APIs supported by the second virtualization environment;

interacting, by the one or more computing systems over one or more computer networks and using at least the indicated one API, with a second computing system, that performs operations for the second virtualization environment, to obtain a copy of the virtual machine image that is executable by the second virtualization environment, including receiving from the second computing system at least one file that is in a format specific to the second virtualization environment and that includes at least some of the virtual machine image;

modifying, by the one or more computing systems, the obtained copy of the virtual machine image to be executable in the computer virtualization environment, including modifying contents of the obtained copy; and

initiating, by the one or more computing systems, execution of the modified copy of the virtual machine image in the computer virtualization environment.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 wherein the one or more computing systems execute, as part of the computer virtualization environment, an image conversion tool that performs the interacting and the modifying, and wherein the method further comprises:

interacting, by the executing image conversion tool, with a third virtualization environment of the multiple remote virtualization environments to obtain a second virtual machine image for the user that is executable by the third virtualization environment, the interacting being performed using a second API that is distinct from the indicated one API used with the second virtualization environment;

modifying, by the executing image conversion tool, the obtained second virtual machine image to be executable in the computer virtualization environment; and

supplying, by the executing image conversion tool, the modified second virtual machine image for execution in the computer virtualization environment.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising presenting, by the executing image conversion tool, a graphical user interface to the user, including indications of multiple virtual machine images in the second virtualization environment, wherein the received instructions are based on one or more selections performed by the user via the presented graphical user interface, and wherein the interacting with the second computing system to obtain the copy of the virtual machine image is performed in response to the received instructions from the user.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the multiple remote virtualization environments are of a plurality of distinct types and are provided by a plurality of companies, the plurality of distinct types including multiple of VMWare Server, VMWare Workstation, XenServer, Hyper-V Server, VirtualBox, Kernel-based Virtual Machine, and OpenVZ.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more computing systems, configuration information from the user related to execution of the virtual machine image in the computer virtualization environment;

selecting, by the one or more computing systems, one or more computing nodes from a plurality of computing nodes provided by the computer virtualization environment, and configuring the selected computing nodes based on the configuration information; and

performing, by the one or more computing systems, the execution of the modified copy of the virtual machine image in the computer virtualization environment on the configured selected computing nodes.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 wherein the at least one file includes one or more data files that represent at least one hard disk of the virtual machine image and that are in the format specific to the second virtualization environment, and wherein the modifying of the obtained copy of the virtual machine image includes changing the format of the one or more data files to a second format that is specific to the computer virtualization environment and is distinct from the format specific to the second virtualization environment.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 wherein the modifying of the obtained copy of the virtual machine image includes adding software to the obtained copy of the virtual machine image to enable the obtained copy of the virtual machine image to be executable in the computer virtualization environment, the added software including at least one of a group including one or more software libraries, one or more software drivers, or one or more software application programs.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that cause one or more computing systems to perform operations including:

providing, by the one or more computing systems, a computer virtualization environment that is for use in executing virtual machine programs for multiple users and that includes a conversion tool for use on behalf of the multiple users, wherein the conversion tool supports multiple application programming interfaces (APIs) for use in interacting with multiple other virtualization environments to import virtual machine programs from the multiple other virtualization environments into the computer virtualization environment on behalf of the multiple users;

receiving, under control of the conversion tool, instructions from one of the multiple users to import an indicated virtual machine program into the computer virtualization environment from a second virtualization environment that is one of the multiple other virtualization environments;

interacting, under control of the conversion tool and using one of the multiple APIs that is selected for the second virtualization environment, with the second virtualization environment to obtain a copy of the indicated virtual machine program that is executable by the second virtualization environment, including receiving, from at least one computing system that performs operations for the second virtualization environment, at least one file that is in a format specific to the second virtualization environment and that includes at least some of the indicated virtual machine program;

modifying, under control of the conversion tool, the obtained copy of the indicated virtual machine program to be executable in the computer virtualization environment, including modifying contents of the obtained copy; and

initiating execution of the modified copy of the indicated virtual machine program in the computer virtualization environment.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the stored contents include software instructions that, when executed, further cause the one or more computing systems to:

interact, under control of the conversion tool, and using a second API from the multiple APIs that is distinct from the one API used with the second virtualization environment and that is selected for a third virtualization environment of the multiple other virtualization environments, with the third virtualization environment to obtain for a second user a second virtual machine program that is executable by the third virtualization environment;

modify, under control of the conversion tool, the obtained second virtual machine program to be executable in the computer virtualization environment; and

supply, under control of the conversion tool, the modified second virtual machine program for execution in the computer virtualization environment.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the stored contents further cause the one or more computing systems to present, under control of the conversion tool, a graphical user interface to the one user, including indicating the multiple other virtual environments, wherein the received instructions are based on one or more selections performed by the one user via the presented graphical user interface that select the second virtualization environment from the indicated multiple other virtual environments and that select the indicated virtual machine program from multiple virtual machine programs in the second virtualization environment, and wherein the interacting with the second virtualization environment to obtain the copy of the indicated virtual machine program is performed in response to the received instructions from the one user.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the indicated virtual machine program is a virtual machine image that includes an operating system and one or more application programs and data for use by the one or more application programs, and wherein the stored contents further cause the one or more computing systems to:

receive, by the one or more computing systems, configuration information from the one user related to execution of the indicated virtual machine program in the computer virtualization environment;

select, by the one or more computing systems, one or more computing nodes for use by the one user from a plurality of computing nodes that are provided by the computer virtualization environment for use by the multiple users, and configure the selected computing nodes based on the configuration information; and

perform, by the one or more computing systems, the execution of the modified copy of the indicated virtual machine program in the computer virtualization environment on the configured selected computing nodes.