Migration Of Applications From Physical Machines to Virtual Machines

• US 20090228629A1
• Filed: 03/07/2008
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Bozak, Erol, Gebhart, Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 9,086,901 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for migrating applications from a physical machine to virtualization technology, such as virtual machines. In one aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method. The method may include receiving, from an agent, information representative of at least one of an application or an operating system at a processor. An image may be created based on the received information. The image may provide a virtual machine including an application. The created image may be provided to a storage device. A virtualization manager may access the storage device and load the created image to implement a virtual machine including the application. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium containing instructions to configure a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, from an agent, information representative of at least one of an application or an operating system at a processor;

creating, based on the received information, an image providing a virtual machine including the at least one of the application and the operating system; and

providing the created image to a storage device accessible by a virtualization manager for implementing the created image as a virtual machine including the at least one of the application and the operating system.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

installing the agent in at least one of the operating system or the processor.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving further comprises:

receiving information representative of one or more of the following;

an operating system name, an operating system version, an operating system patch level, a user account, a network configuration, and a hardware characteristic.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

installing the created image on a spare processor to further configure the created image.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 further comprising:

installing the created image on the spare processor to further configure the created image before providing the created image to the storage device.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5 further comprising:

providing application data to the spare processor.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

implementing the created image as the virtual machine, the implemented created image retrieved from the storage device.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from an agent, information representative of at least one of an application or an operating system at a processor;

creating, based on the received information, an image providing a virtual machine including the at least one of the application and the operating system; and

providing the created image to a storage device accessible by a virtualization manager for implementing the created image as a virtual machine including the at least one of the application and the operating system.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:

installing the agent in at least one of the operating system or the processor.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein receiving further comprises:

receiving information representative of one or more of the following;

an operating system name, an operating system version, an operating system patch level, a user account, a network configuration, and a hardware characteristic.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:

installing the created image on a spare processor to further configure the created image.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 further comprising:

installing the created image on the spare processor to further configure the created image before providing the created image to the storage device.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 further comprising:

providing application data to the spare processor.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:

implementing the created image as the virtual machine, the implemented created image retrieved from the storage device.

15. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, wherein the processor and the memory are configured to perform a method comprising;

receiving, from an agent, information representative of at least one of an application or an operating system at a processor;

creating, based on the received information, an image providing a virtual machine including the at least one of the application and the operating system; and

providing the created image to a storage device accessible by a virtualization manager for implementing the created image as a virtual machine including the at least one of the application and the operating system.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

installing the agent in at least one of the operating system or the processor.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein receiving further comprises:

receiving information representative of one or more of the following;

an operating system name, an operating system version, an operating system patch level, a user account, a network configuration, and a hardware characteristic.

18. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

installing the created image on a spare processor to further configure the created image.

19. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

installing the created image on the spare processor to further configure the created image before providing the created image to the storage device.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

providing application data to the spare processor; and

implementing the created image as the virtual machine, the implemented created image retrieved from the storage device.