Methods, media and systems for maintaining execution of a software process

• US 20070245334A1
• Filed: 10/20/2006
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Original Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Inventors: Laadan, Oren, Nieh, Jason, Potter, Shaya
• Application Number:
  US11/584,451
• Publication Number:
  US 20070245334A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/482 Application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods, media and systems for maintaining execution of a software process are provided. In some embodiments, methods for maintaining execution of a software process are provided, comprising: suspending one or more processes running in a virtualized operating system environment on a first digital processing device; saving information relating to the one or more processes; restarting the one or more processes on a second digital processing device; and updating an operating system of the first digital processing device.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining execution of a software process, comprising:

suspending one or more processes running in a first virtualized operating system environment on a first digital processing device;

saving information relating to the one or more processes;

restarting the one or more processes in a second virtualized operating system environment; and

updating an operating system of the first digital processing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether a software patch for updating the operating system is available.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising rebooting the first digital processing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring the first digital processing device for faults in the first digital processing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a plurality of operating system resources that are needed by the one or more processes; and

restricting, for the one or more processes, use of the operating system to the plurality of operating system resources.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising refusing access to the plurality of operating system resources by other processes running on the first digital processing device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein saving information relating to the one or more processes comprises saving an intermediate representation of a state of the one or more processes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second virtualized operating system environment operates in a second digital processing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second virtualized operating system environment operates in the first digital processing device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first virtualized operating system environment operates within a first virtual machine in the first digital processing device, and the second virtualized operating system environment operates within a second virtual machine in the first digital processing device.

11. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for maintaining execution of a software process, comprising:

suspending one or more processes running in a first virtualized operating system environment on a first digital processing device;

saving information relating to the one or more processes;

restarting the one or more processes in a second virtualized operating system environment; and

updating an operating system of the first digital processing device.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, the method further comprising determining whether a software patch for updating the operating system is available.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, the method further comprising rebooting the first digital processing device.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, the method further comprising monitoring the first digital processing device for faults in the first digital processing device.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, the method further comprising:

determining a plurality of operating system resources that are needed by the one or more processes; and

restricting, for the one or more processes, use of the operating system to the plurality of operating system resources.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, the method further comprising refusing access to the plurality of operating system resources by other processes running on the first digital processing device.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein saving information relating to the one or more processes comprises saving an intermediate representation of a state of the one or more processes.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the second virtualized operating system environment operates in a second digital processing device.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the second virtualized operating system environment operates in the first digital processing device.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the first virtualized operating system environment operates within a first virtual machine in the first digital processing device, and the second virtualized operating system environment operates within a second virtual machine in the first digital processing device.

21. A system for maintaining execution of a software process, comprising:

a migration component configured to migrate one or more processes in a first virtualized operating system environment on a first digital processing device by suspending the one or more processes, saving information relating to the one or more processes, and restarting the one or more processes in a second virtualized operating system environment, and

a monitoring component configured to determine whether an operating system of the first digital processing device needs to be updated, instruct the migration component to migrate the one or more processes upon determining that the operating system of the first digital processing device needs to be updated, and updating an operating system of the first digital processing device.