GENERATION OF OPEN VIRTUALIZATION FRAMEWORK PACKAGE FOR SOLUTION INSTALLATIONS AND UPGRADES

• US 20110107330A1
• Filed: 07/12/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Subramanian, Prasad, Freundlich, Glen George
• Granted Patent: US 9,244,716 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 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements

Abstract

Methods, devices, and systems for creating a virtual machine are provided. In particular, a mechanism is provided which allows the automated creation of a virtual machine based on attributes of an existing physical machine. This allows for an efficient and user-friendly way of transitioning a physical machine or set of machines to a virtual machine architecture.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a template creator, information describing an existing solution having one or more physical machines with attributes associated therewith, the attributes of each physical machine describing one or more of processing capabilities, memory capabilities, and communication capabilities of the physical machine;

scanning the information describing the existing solution with an automated template writer to determine virtual machine attributes representing the physical machine attributes;

creating, by the template writer, one or more virtual machine images having the virtual machine attributes;

determining, by the template writer, that the creation of the one or more virtual machine images is complete; and

based on the template writer determining that the creation of the one or more virtual machine images is complete, the template writer invoking an OVF-creator to analyze the one or more virtual machine images and generate an OVF file containing instructions, in machine code, on how to create the virtual machine images.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

referencing, by the template writer, virtual machine creation rules which define rules for creating the one or more virtual machine images to have the virtual machine attributes.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the virtual machine creation rules define how the one or more virtual machine images are to be initially and independently created and wherein the virtual machine creation rules further define operational criteria that is used to alter the attributes of independently created virtual machine images after such virtual machine images have been created independently.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the operational criteria include business rules describing operational objectives.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving, by the OVF-creator, virtual machine data which includes virtual machine attribute information for each of the one or more virtual machine images created by the template writer; and

utilizing, by the OVF-creator, the virtual machine data to generate the OVF file.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

creating, by the OVF-creator, a template that includes the OVF file and one or more virtual machine images corresponding to the one or more virtual machine images created by the template writer.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

formatting the template into a suitable format for sending to a customer; and

sending the formatted template to the customer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein formatting the template comprises one or more of writing the template onto a portable computer-readable medium and formatting data packets containing at least some of the template for transmission across a communication network.

9. A computer readable medium encoded with processor executable instructions operable to, when executed, perform the method of claim 1.

10. An apparatus for creating a virtual machine, comprising:

an OVF-creator; and

a template writer configured to receive information describing an existing solution having one or more physical machines with attributes associated therewith, the attributes of each physical machine describing one or more of processing capabilities, memory capabilities, and communication capabilities of the physical machine, the template writer further configured to scan the information describing the existing solution to determine virtual machine attributes representing the physical machine attributes, create one or more virtual machine images having the virtual machine attributes, determine that the creation of the one or more virtual machine images is complete, and based on making such a determination, invoke the OVF-creator to analyze the one or more virtual machine images and generate an OVF file containing instructions, in machine code, on how to create the virtual machine images.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the template writer comprises virtual machine creation rules which define rules for creating the one or more virtual machine images to have the virtual machine attributes.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the virtual machine creation rules define how the one or more virtual machine images are to be initially and independently created and wherein the virtual machine creation rules further define operational criteria that is used to alter the attributes of independently created virtual machine images after such virtual machine images have been created independently.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the operational criteria include business rules describing operational objectives.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the OVF-creator is further configured to retrieve virtual machine data which includes virtual machine attribute information for each of the one or more virtual machine images created by the template writer and utilize the virtual machine data to generate the OVF file.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the virtual machine data is retrieved via a hypervisor and wherein the OVF-creator is further configured to create a template that includes the OVF file and one or more virtual machine images corresponding to the one or more virtual machine images created by the template writer.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the OVF-creator is further configured to format the template into a suitable format for sending to a customer and send the formatted template to the customer.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein formatting the template comprises one or more of writing the template onto a portable computer-readable medium and formatting data packets containing at least some of the template for transmission across a communication network.

18. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored onto a computer readable medium which, when executed by a processor of a computer, cause the processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

receiving information describing an existing solution having one or more physical machines with attributes associated therewith, the attributes of each physical machine describing one or more of processing capabilities, memory capabilities, and communication capabilities of the physical machine;

scanning the information describing the existing solution to determine virtual machine attributes representing the physical machine attributes;

creating one or more virtual machine images having the virtual machine attributes; and

generating an OVF file containing instructions, in machine code, on how to create the virtual machine images.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

referencing virtual machine creation rules which define rules for creating the one or more virtual machine images to have the virtual machine attributes.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the virtual machine creation rules define how the one or more virtual machine images are to be initially and independently created, wherein the virtual machine creation rules further define operational criteria that is used to alter the attributes of independently created virtual machine images after such virtual machine images have been created independently, and wherein the operational criteria include business rules describing operational objectives.