Method, apparatus and system for transparent unification of virtual machines

• US 20060136912A1
• Filed: 12/17/2004
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Knauerhase, Robert C., Robinson, Scott H., Tewari, Vijay
• Granted Patent: US 7,735,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45566 Nested virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A method, apparatus and system for transparently unifying virtual machines (“VMs”) is disclosed. An embodiment of the present invention enables a user to interact with various applications on a VM host while unaware of the VM structure on the VM host. The user may be presented with a unified desktop interface representing a composite and/or unified view of the VM host. Via this unified desktop interface, the user may perform all necessary commands and/or receive output. Invisible to the user, the unified desktop interface represents a unification console. The unification console may be an independent component (e.g., an enhanced VM) and/or a subset of a virtual machine manager (“VMM”) component on the VM host. In either situation, the unification console may, alone and/or in conjunction with the VMM, route and/or redirect and/or transform and/or filter the user'"'"'s commands to the appropriate applications and redirect and/or copy and/or transform and/or filter the output from the applications to be displayed in the unified desktop interface

Claims

1. A method for transparently unifying virtual machines (“

VMs”

) on a host, comprising;

accepting input into a unified desktop interface representing an interface for a unification console, the unified desktop interface including a composite view of the VMs on the host;

identifying an application corresponding to the input;

identifying a VM in which the application resides;

sending the input to the application;

and causing output from the application to be redirected to the unification console.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein sending the input to the application further comprises one of filtering and transforming the input.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein causing the output from the application to be redirected to the unification console further comprises one of filtering and transforming the output.

4. The method according to claim 3 further comprising presenting the output from the application on the unified desktop interface.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether the application is executing in the VM in which the application resides; and

if not, causing the application to begin executing.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the unification console identifies at least one of the application and the VM in conjunction with a virtual machine manager (“

VMM”

).

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the unified user interface presents a composite view of applications residing within the VMs on the host.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein causing the output from the application to be redirected to the unification console further comprises redirecting the output from the application from the VM in which the application resides to the unification console.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein redirecting the output from the application from the VM in which the application resides to the unification console further comprises one of filtering and transforming the output before the output is redirected.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein redirecting the output from the application further comprises copying the output from the application from the VM in which the application resides and providing the copy of the output to the unification console.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein copying the output from the application further comprises one of filtering and transforming the output before the output is provided to the unification console.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the unification console is executing in a VM.

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the unification console is included in a virtual machine manager.

14. The method according to claim 1 wherein the unification console is included in a host operating system on the host.

15. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

enabling a descriptor module to be configured, the descriptor module including configuration information for the host;

launching the VMs in the host according to the configuration information in the descriptor module;

launching the unification console, the unification console capable of interacting with all the VMs according to the configuration information in the descriptor module; and

starting up the unified desktop interface.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein enabling the descriptor module to be configured further comprises at least one of accepting input from the user to configure the descriptor module, enabling the host to configure the descriptor module, enabling the unification console to configure the descriptor module and enabling the unified desktop interface to configure the descriptor module.

17. An article comprising a machine-accessible medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

accept input into a unified desktop interface representing an interface for a unification console, the unified desktop interface including a composite view of the virtual machines (“

VMs”

) on a host;

identify an application corresponding to the input;

identify a VM in which the application resides;

send the input to the application; and

cause output from the application to be redirected to the unification console.

18. The article according to claim 17 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to send the input to the application further comprise instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform one of filtering and transforming the input.

19. The article according to claim 17 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to cause the output from the application to be redirected to the unification console further comprises instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform one of filtering and transforming the output.

20. The article according to claim 19 further comprising instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to present the output from the application on the unified desktop interface.

21. The article according to claim 17 further comprising instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine:

determine whether the application is executing in the VM in which the application resides; and

if not, cause the application to begin executing.

22. The article according to claim 17 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the unification console to identify at least one of the application and the VM in conjunction with a virtual machine manager (“

VMM”

).

23. The article according to claim 17 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the unified user interface to present a composite view of applications residing within the VMs on the host.

24. The article according to claim 17 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to redirect the output to the unification console further comprises instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to redirect the output from the application from the VM in which the application resides to the unification console.

25. The article according to claim 24 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to redirect the output further comprises instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform one of filtering and transforming the output before the output is redirected.

26. The article according to claim 24 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to redirect the output from further comprises instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to copy the output from the application from the VM in which the application resides and provide the copy of the output to the unification console.

27. The article according to claim 26 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to copy the output further comprises instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform one of filtering and transforming the output before the output is provided to the unification console.

28. The article according to claim 17 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the unification console to execute in a VM.

29. The article according to claim 17 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the unification console to be included in a virtual machine manager.

30. The article according to claim 17 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the unification console to be included in a host operating system on the host.

31. The article according to claim 17 further comprising instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to:

enable a descriptor module to be configured, the descriptor module including configuration information for the host;

launch the VMs in the host according to the configuration information in the descriptor module;

launch the unification console, the unification console capable of interacting with all the VMs according to the configuration information in the descriptor module; and

start up the unified desktop interface.

32. The article according to claim 31 wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to enable the descriptor module to be configured further comprises instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform at least one of accepting input from the user to configure the descriptor module, enabling the host to configure the descriptor module, enabling the unification console to configure the descriptor module and enabling the unified desktop interface to configure the descriptor module.