SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING A CUSTOMIZED INSTALLATION ON DEMAND

• US 20060277542A1
• Filed: 07/18/2006
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Wipfel, Robert A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,468,518 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

A customized VM image, for example of Linux software, is created by allowing a user to select packages that the user is interested in installing. During the process, the user is informed if two of the packages that were selected will not be interoperable at run-time. The user is then given an opportunity to resolve the conflict. The user is also informed if selected packages depend on other packages that were not selected in order to run properly, and given the opportunity to include those needed packages in the VM image. Once the selected packages have been validated that they will interoperate and all dependencies are satisfied, the system can build and install the VM image. The VM image can also include applications, and not just packages used in assembling an operating system image.

Claims

1. A system for building a customized virtual machine (VM) image, comprising:

a set of available software packages;

a selector to select a subset of the set of available software packages, the selected subset including at least a first package and a second package and omitting a non-included package;

an image builder to build a VM image including the selected subset of the set of available software packages; and

a validator to validate that the first package and the second package do not conflict at run-time.

2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an update to the package; and

a VM image updater to replace the first package with the updated package in the VM image.

3. A system according to claim 2, further comprising an update installer to install the updated VM image.

4. A system according to claim 1, comprising a version identifier to identify a version of the VM image.

5. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a backup copy of the VM image.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the set of available software packages includes a set of Linux software packages.

7. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a production server to run the VM image; and

a host operating system to host the VM image.

8. A system according to claim 7, further comprising an installer to install the VM image to run on the host operating system.

9. A method for creating a virtual machine (VM) image, comprising:

selecting a subset of packages from an available set of packages;

building a VM image with the selected subset of packages; and

verifying the subset of packages is operable as a VM image.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein verifying the subset of packages is operable includes:

identifying a conflict between a first package in the subset of packages and a second package in the subset of packages;

removing the first package from the VM image;

selecting a third package that does not conflict with the second package at run-time; and

adding the third package to the VM image.

11. A method according to claim 10, further comprising recommending the first package to be removed from the VM image.

12. A method according to claim 9, wherein verifying the subset of packages is operable further comprises:

identifying a first package in the selected subset of packages that depends on a third package in the set of packages; and

adding the third package to the VM image.

13. A method according to claim 9, wherein validating the subset of packages includes:

deploying the VM image on a development computer; and

testing the VM image on the development computer.

14. A method according to claim 9, further comprising deploying the VM image on a production computer including a hosting operating system to run the VM image.

15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising updating the VM image.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein updating the VM image includes:

creating a second subset of packages by replacing an updated package in the selected subset of packages with the updated selected package;

building an updated VM image with the second subset of packages;

verifying the updated VM image is operable;

deploying the updated VM image to the production computer.

17. A method according to claim 14, further comprising deploying the VM image on a second production computer.

18. A method according to claim 9, further comprising storing the VM image in a VM storage.

19. A method according to claim 18, further comprising:

changing a configuration of the VM image; and

deploying the stored VM image to recover from the changed configuration.

20. A method according to claim 9, wherein selecting a subset of packages includes selecting an operating system.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein selecting a subset of packages includes selecting at least one application running on the selected operating system.

22. A method according to claim 9, wherein selecting a subset of packages from an available set of packages includes selecting a subset of Linux packages.

23. An article, comprising:

a storage medium, said storage medium having stored thereon instructions, that, when executed by a machine, result in;

accessing a set of available packages;

selecting a subset of the set of available packages, the subset including least a first package and a second package and omitting a non-included package;

assembling the subset of available packages into a VM image; and

verifying that the first package in the VM image and the second package in the VM image do not conflict at run-time.

24. An article according to claim 23, wherein verifying that a first package in the VM image and a second package in the VM image do not conflict at run-time includes:

identifying that there is a conflict between the first package and the second package;

removing the first package from the VM image;

selecting a third package that does not conflict with the second package at run-time; and

adding the third package to the VM image.

25. An article according to claim 23, wherein the storage medium has further instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the machine result in:

identifying that the first package in the VM image depends on a third package in the set of packages; and

adding the third package to the VM image.

26. An article according to claim 23, wherein the storage medium has further instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the machine result in notifying the user when an update to a package in the VM image is available.

27. An article according to claim 26, wherein the storage medium has further instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the machine result in installing the update.

28. An article according to claim 23, wherein accessing a set of available software packages includes accessing a set of Linux software packages.