Triggering application attachment based on state changes of virtual machines

• US 10,019,277 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2015
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ulatoski, Jeffrey, Lawson, Steven, Conover, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Hiren
• Application Number:
  US14/731,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20160357585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,132 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4451 User profiles; Roaming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Described herein are systems, methods, and software to provide virtualized computing sessions with attachable volumes to requesting users. In one implementation, a virtual computing service identifies a service login for an end user to initiate a virtual computing session. In response to the service login, the virtual computing service identifies a virtual machine to allocate to the virtual computing service, and initiates a user login process to log the end user into the virtual machine. The virtual computing service further initiates, prior to completing the user login process, a volume attach process to attach at least one storage volume to the virtual machine based on credentials associated with the service login.

Claims

1. A method of operating a virtual computing service that provides virtual computing sessions to end users using a plurality of virtual machines, the method comprising:

in response to a service login to the virtual computing service associated with an end user request to initiate a virtual computing session, identifying a virtual machine to allocate to the virtual computing session from the plurality of virtual machines;

initiating a change of state in the virtual machine to make the virtual machine available for the virtual computing session;

receiving a notification from a hypervisor associated with the virtual machine indicative of the change in state to the virtual machine;

initiating a user logon process after the service login to the virtual computing service, wherein the user logon process comprises providing credentials associated with the end user from the virtual computing service to the virtual machine; and

in response to the notification, prior to completing the user logon process to the virtual machine, initiating a volume attach process to attach at least one application storage volume to the virtual machine based on credentials associated with the service login.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the change in state to the virtual machine comprises a change in power state for the virtual machine from a powered off state to a powered on state.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the change in state to the virtual machine comprises a change in suspend state for the virtual machine from a suspended state to an active state.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the volume attach process comprises mounting the at least one application storage volume to the virtual machine, and overlaying contents of the at least one application storage volume in the virtual machine to make the at least one application executable.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the contents comprise files and registry keys for the at least one application.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in response to the notification, initiating a supplementary volume attach process to attach at least one user data storage volume to the virtual machine based on the credentials associated with the service login.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one application storage volume comprises at least one read-only application storage volume.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a virtual computing service, direct the virtual computing service to perform a method that provides virtual computing sessions to end users using a plurality of virtual machines, the method comprising:

in response to a service login to the virtual computing service associated with an end user request to initiate a virtual computing session, identifying a virtual machine to allocate to the virtual computing session from the plurality of virtual machines;

initiating a state change process for the virtual machine to make the virtual machine available for the virtual computing session;

receiving a notification from a hypervisor associated with the virtual machine indicative of a change in state to the virtual machine; and

initiating a user logon process after the service login to the virtual computing service, wherein the user logon process comprises providing credentials associated with the end user from the virtual computing service to the virtual machine; and

in response to the notification, prior to completing the user logon process to the virtual machine, initiating a volume attach process to attach at least one application storage volume to the virtual machine based on credentials associated with the service login.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the change in state to the virtual machine comprises a change in power state to the virtual machine from a powered off state to a powered on state.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the change in state to the virtual machine comprises a change in suspend state to the virtual machine from a suspended state to an active state.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the volume attach process comprises mounting the at least one application storage volume to the virtual machine, and overlaying contents of the at least one application storage volume in the virtual machine to make the at least one application executable.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the contents comprise files and registry keys for the at least one application.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises, in response to the notification, initiating a supplementary attach process to attach at least one user data storage volume to the virtual machine based on the credentials associated with the service login.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the at least one application storage volume comprises at least one read-only storage volume.

15. An apparatus comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media;

a processing system operatively coupled with the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media; and

processing instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media to operate a virtual computing service to provide virtual computing sessions to end users using a plurality of virtual machines that, when executed by the processing system, direct the processing system to;

in response to a service login to the virtual computing service associated with an end user request to initiate a virtual computing session, identify credentials associated with the end user request for the virtual computing session;

identify a virtual machine to allocate to the virtual computing session from the plurality of virtual machines;

initiate a change of state in the virtual machine to make the virtual machine available for the virtual computing session;

receive a notification from a hypervisor associated with the virtual machine indicative of the change in state to the virtual machine;

initiate a user logon process after the service login to the virtual computing service, wherein the user logon process comprises providing the credentials associated with the end user from the virtual computing service to the virtual machine; and

in response to the notification, prior to completing the user logon process to the virtual machine, initiate a volume attach process to attach at least one storage volume to the virtual machine based on the credentials.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the change in state to the virtual machine comprises a change in power state for the virtual machine from a powered off state to a powered on state.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the change in state to the virtual machine comprises a change in suspend state for the virtual machine from a suspended state to an active state.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one storage volume comprises at least one application storage volume storing at least one application, and at least one user data storage volume.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the volume attach process comprises mounting the at least one application storage volume and that at least one user data storage volume and overlaying contents of the at least one application storage volume and the at least one user data storage volume in the virtual machine.