SYSTEM AND METHOD TO RECONFIGURE A VIRTUAL MACHINE IMAGE SUITABLE FOR CLOUD DEPLOYMENT

• US 20110078680A1
• Filed: 08/09/2010
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Vidstedt, Mikael, Lagergren, Marcus
• Granted Patent: US 8,776,053 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

A system and method that can be used to reconfigure a virtual server image that is suitable for cloud deployment. In accordance with an embodiment, the system and method comprises providing a virtual server image, which can be executed on the one or a plurality of hypervisors, and which provides a virtual machine environment for a software application, wherein the virtual server image contains a bootable part of the virtual machine, a non-bootable part of the virtual machine, a software application code for the software application, and a software application data for the software application; and receiving a virtual server image patch, and using information in the virtual server image patch to reconfigure the contents of the virtual server image from its original content to a reconfigured content, to create a reconfigured virtual server image. In a particular embodiment, the virtual server image can be compatible with any hypervisor for server virtualization, and the application virtual machine can be a Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

Claims

1. A system for reconfiguring a virtual server image suitable for cloud deployment, comprising:

a computer including a processor and one or a plurality of hypervisors provided thereon;

a virtual server image, which can be executed on the one or a plurality of hypervisors, and which provides a virtual machine environment for a software application, wherein the virtual server image contains

a bootable part of the virtual machine,

a non-bootable part of the virtual machine,

a software application code for the software application, and

a software application data for the software application; and

a virtual server image updater, which executes on the computer, and which can receive a virtual server image patch and use information in the virtual server image patch to reconfigure the contents of the virtual server image from its original content to a reconfigured content, to create a reconfigured virtual server image.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein during reconfiguration the virtual server image updater also creates an inverse patch which includes information that can be later used by the virtual server image updater to reverse the reconfigured content of the reconfigured virtual server image, and restore the original content of the virtual server image.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual server image includes a bootstrap configuration, and an image file system that contains the bootable part of the virtual machine, the non-bootable part of the virtual machine, the software application code for the software application, and the software application data for the software application.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the bootstrap configuration is stored in the virtual server image separately from the image file system.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the bootstrap configuration is stored in the virtual server image as part of the image file system.

6. The system of claim 1, including a first computer having a first hypervisor, and a second computer having a second hypervisor, wherein the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor are of different type requiring a different bootstrap configuration, and wherein the virtual server image updater is used to reconfigure the contents of the virtual server image from its original content, where it includes a bootstrap configuration required by the first hypervisor, to its reconfigured content where it includes a bootstrap configuration required by the second hypervisor.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of computers executing as part of a cloud, and wherein each of the plurality of computers includes a hypervisor, and a virtual server image provided thereon.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of computers includes a plurality of hypervisors, and wherein each of the plurality of hypervisors includes a virtual server image provided thereon.

9. A method for reconfiguring a virtual server image suitable for cloud deployment, comprising the steps of:

providing, at a computer including a processor, and one or a plurality of hypervisors thereon, a virtual server image, which can be executed on the one or a plurality of hypervisors, and which provides a virtual machine environment for a software application, wherein the virtual server image contains

a bootable part of the virtual machine,

a non-bootable part of the virtual machine,

a software application code for the software application, and

a software application data for the software application; and

receiving, at a virtual server image updater, a virtual server image patch, and using information in the virtual server image patch to reconfigure the contents of the virtual server image from its original content to a reconfigured content, to create a reconfigured virtual server image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein during reconfiguration the virtual server image updater also creates an inverse patch which includes information that can be later used by the virtual server image updater to reverse the reconfigured content of the reconfigured virtual server image, and restore the original content of the virtual server image.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the virtual server image includes a bootstrap configuration, and an image file system that contains the bootable part of the virtual machine, the non-bootable part of the virtual machine, the software application code for the software application, and the software application data for the software application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the bootstrap configuration is stored in the virtual server image separately from the image file system.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the bootstrap configuration is stored in the virtual server image as part of the image file system.

14. The method of claim 9, including a first computer having a first hypervisor, and a second computer having a second hypervisor, wherein the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor are of different type requiring a different bootstrap configuration, and wherein the virtual server image updater is used to reconfigure the contents of the virtual server image from its original content, where it includes a bootstrap configuration required by the first hypervisor, to its reconfigured content where it includes a bootstrap configuration required by the second hypervisor.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising a plurality of computers executing as part of a cloud, and wherein each of the plurality of computers includes a hypervisor, and a virtual server image provided thereon.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of computers includes a plurality of hypervisors, and wherein each of the plurality of hypervisors includes a virtual server image provided thereon.

17. A computer readable medium including instructions stored thereon which when read and executed by the computer cause the computer to perform the steps comprising:

providing, at a computer including a processor, and one or a plurality of hypervisors thereon, a virtual server image, which can be executed on the one or a plurality of hypervisors, and which provides a virtual machine environment for a software application, wherein the virtual server image contains a bootable part of the virtual machine,

a non-bootable part of the virtual machine,

a software application code for the software application, and

a software application data for the software application; and

receiving, at a virtual server image updater, a virtual server image patch, and using information in the virtual server image patch to reconfigure the contents of the virtual server image from its original content to a reconfigured content, to create a reconfigured virtual server image.