Method and system for sharded resource brokering

• US 10,469,593 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2012
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, Frank S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Henderson, Esther B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Naoreen, Nazia
• Application Number:
  US13/658,399
• Publication Number:
  US 20140115028A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,569 Days
• Field of Search: 709202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1004 Server selection for load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54

Abstract

This disclosure describes a virtual desktop brokering system that brokers a virtual desktop session. During operation, a broker receives a request to establish the session. Next, the broker broadcasts, to a set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available machine for the session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available machines. The broker receives, from at least one agent concentrator, a list of available machines. Subsequently, the broker chooses an available machine from the list for the session, and the broker sends a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen machine to initiate the session.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computing device to broker a virtual desktop session, comprising:

receiving, at a broker, a request to establish the session from a client device associated with a user;

determining a first set of agent concentrators of a plurality of sets of agent concentrators;

broadcasting, from the broker to each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the session, wherein each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators maintains state information of a respective group of available virtual machines dynamically assigned to the agent concentrator,

wherein each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators determines available virtual machines based on obtained state information for a plurality of virtual machines that are dynamically coupled to the agent concentrator, the state information being obtained from each of a plurality of agents, wherein each agent of the plurality of agents is a software agent residing on a respective virtual machine and configured to communicate the virtual machine'"'"'s state information to a particular agent concentrator, and

wherein each virtual machine is assigned to a particular agent concentrator of each of a plurality of sets of agent concentrators according to a selection by the corresponding agent of the virtual machine from the set of available agent concentrators;

receiving, at the broker and from at least one agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators, a list of available virtual machines;

choosing, by the broker, an available virtual machine from the list of virtual machines for the requested session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen virtual machine to initiate the session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein choosing the virtual machine further comprises:

receiving additional lists of available virtual machines from one or more agent concentrators;

merging all received lists to generate an aggregated list of available virtual machines; and

choosing the available virtual machine from the aggregated list.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the second session;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator of the second set of agent concentrators, a new list of available virtual machines;

choosing a different virtual machine from the new list for the second session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen different virtual machine to initiate the second session.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second virtual desktop session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the second virtual desktop session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available virtual machines;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator in the second set of agent concentrators, a second list of available virtual machines;

choosing a second available virtual machine from the second list for the second virtual desktop session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the second chosen virtual machine to initiate the second virtual desktop session.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the broker does not maintain state information for the virtual machines.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method to broker a virtual desktop session, the method comprising:

receiving, at a broker, a request to establish the session from a client device associated with a user;

determining a first set of agent concentrators of a plurality of sets of agent concentrators;

broadcasting, from the broker to each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the session, wherein each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators maintains state information of a respective group of available virtual machines dynamically assigned to the agent concentrator,

wherein each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators determines available virtual machines based on obtained state information for a plurality of virtual machines that are dynamically coupled to the agent concentrator, the state information being obtained from each of a plurality of agents, wherein each agent of the plurality of agents is a software agent residing on a respective virtual machine and configured to communicate the virtual machine'"'"'s state information to a particular agent concentrator, and

wherein each virtual machine is assigned to a particular agent concentrator of each of a plurality of sets of agent concentrators according to a selection by the corresponding agent of the virtual machine from the set of available agent concentrators;

receiving, at the broker and from at least one agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators, a list of available virtual machines;

choosing, by the broker, an available virtual machine from the list of virtual machines for the requested session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen virtual machine to initiate the session.

7. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein choosing the virtual machine further comprises:

receiving additional lists of available virtual machines from one or more agent concentrators;

merging all received lists to generate an aggregated list of available virtual machines; and

choosing the available virtual machine from the aggregated list.

8. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the storage medium stores additional instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform additional steps comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the second session;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator of the second set of agent concentrators, a new list of available virtual machines;

choosing a different virtual machine from the new list for the second session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen different virtual machine to initiate the second session.

9. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the storage medium stores additional instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform additional steps comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second virtual desktop session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the second virtual desktop session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available virtual machines;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator in the second set of agent concentrators, a second list of available virtual machines;

choosing a second available virtual machine from the second list for the second virtual desktop session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the second chosen virtual machine to initiate the second virtual desktop session.

10. A computer system for brokering a virtual desktop session, the computer system comprising a processor and a storage device storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, at a broker, a request to establish the session from a client device associated with a user;

determining a first set of agent concentrators of a plurality of sets of agent concentrators;

broadcasting, from the broker to each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the session, wherein each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators maintains state information of a respective group of available virtual machines dynamically assigned to the agent concentrator,

wherein each agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators determines available virtual machines based on obtained state information for a plurality of virtual machines that are dynamically coupled to the agent concentrator, the state information being obtained from each of a plurality of agents, wherein each agent of the plurality of agents is a software agent residing on a respective virtual machine and configured to communicate the virtual machine'"'"'s state information to a particular agent concentrator, and

wherein each virtual machine is assigned to a particular agent concentrator of each of a plurality of sets of agent concentrators according to a selection by the corresponding agent of the virtual machine from the set of available agent concentrators;

receiving, at the broker and from at least one agent concentrator of the first set of agent concentrators, a list of available virtual machines;

choosing, by the broker, an available virtual machine from the list of virtual machines for the requested session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen virtual machine to initiate the session.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein choosing the virtual machine further comprises:

receiving additional lists of available virtual machines from one or more agent concentrators;

merging all received lists to generate an aggregated list of available virtual machines; and

choosing the available virtual machine from the aggregated list.

12. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the storage medium stores additional instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform additional steps comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators comprising a second plurality of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the second session;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator of the second set of agent concentrators, a new list of available virtual machines;

choosing a different virtual machine from the new list for the second session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen different virtual machine to initiate the second session.

13. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the storage device stores additional instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform additional steps comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second virtual desktop session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available virtual machine for the second virtual desktop session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available virtual machines;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator in the second set of agent concentrators, a second list of available virtual machines;

choosing a second available virtual machine from the second list for the second virtual desktop session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the second chosen virtual machine to initiate the second virtual desktop session.