Comprehensive, Relevant, and Dynamic Data Searching in a Virtualization Environment

• US 20110213765A1
• Filed: 05/20/2010
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: CUI, Liang, XU, Hailing, HE, Ying
• Granted Patent: US 9,135,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/711
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A method includes indexing data and/or metadata in online virtual machines (VMs), offline VMs, virtual applications, and/or snapshots thereof on one or more host server(s) in a virtualization environment through a search architecture in the virtualization environment. The online VMs are VMs that are powered on, and the offline VMs are VMs that are powered off. The method also includes maintaining a database of the indexed data and/or metadata in the online VMs, the offline VMs, the virtual applications, and/or the snapshots thereof to enable a comprehensive search result to a search query through the search architecture. The database is associated with the search architecture.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

indexing at least one of data and metadata in at least one of online virtual machines (VMs), offline VMs, virtual applications, and snapshots thereof on at least one host server in a virtualization environment through a search architecture in the virtualization environment, the online VMs being VMs that are powered on, and the offline VMs being VMs that are powered off; and

maintaining a database of the indexed at least one of the data and the metadata in the at least one of the online VMs, the offline VMs, the virtual applications, and the snapshots thereof to enable a comprehensive search result to a search query through the search architecture, the database being associated with the search architecture.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein indexing the at least one of the data and the metadata and snapshots thereof includes at least one of:

collecting index data associated with the online VMs and the snapshots thereof;

utilizing virtual disk image files associated with the offline VMs and the snapshots thereof to generate index data associated with the offline VMs and the snapshots thereof;

updating index data associated with a state change of the online VMs and the offline VMs; and

consolidating the index data associated with the online VMs, the offline VMs, the snapshots thereof, and state changes thereof

through the search architecture.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

utilizing a third-party search engine to generate the search result; and

leveraging the third-party search engine to perform the indexing.

4. The method of claim 1, transmitting the search query through at least one of a virtual environment client and a user interface provided therein.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising enforcing a security policy to enable authentication and authorization services through the search architecture.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising deploying the search architecture as a VM image in a cloud operating system environment.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with the at least one host server and VMs therein through the search architecture to obtain an inventory property thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing information about an operating system associated with a VM on the at least one host server in the search result.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtualization environment includes an internal cloud located in an enterprise datacenter and an external cloud located at an external service provider, the internal cloud and the external cloud being configured to communicate with one another through the search architecture to generate the search result.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data in the at least one of the online VMs, the offline VMs, the virtual applications, and the snapshots thereof includes at least one of a file, a service, a program, an information associated with a VM, a virtual application specific information, and a catalog.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the state change of the online VMs and the offline VMs includes at least one of a powering on of an offline VM, a powering off of an online VM, a migration of a VM from a host server in the virtualization environment to another host server in the virtualization environment, a file change in one of the online VM and the offline VM, a service change in the virtualization environment, and a program change in one of the online VM and the offline VM.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein utilizing the third-party search engine to generate the search result includes utilizing a set of search related Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) associated with the third-party search engine.

13. The method of claim 4, further comprising presenting the search result in at least one of the virtualization environment client and a web browser.

14. The method of claim 4, further comprising at least one of powering on an offline VM and powering off an online VM through an interface provided through the search result.

15. The method of claim 6, comprising implementing the search architecture as an extension to the cloud operating system.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising grouping VMs in at least one of the internal cloud and the external cloud based on at least one of a geographical region and a network topology.

17. A method comprising:

indexing at least one of data and metadata in at least one of online VMs, offline VMs, virtual applications, and snapshots thereof on at least one host server in a virtualization environment through a search architecture in the virtualization environment, the online VMs being VMs that are powered on, and the offline VMs being VMs that are powered off; and

updating the indexed at least one of the data and the metadata in the at least one of the online VMs, the offline VMs, the virtual applications, and the snapshots thereof based on a state change therein through the search architecture in the virtualization environment to enable a relevant and a dynamic search result to a search query through the search architecture.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the data in the at least one of the online VMs, the offline VMs, the virtual applications, and the snapshots thereof includes at least one of a file, a service, a program, an information associated with a VM, a virtual application specific information, and a catalog.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the state change includes at least one of a powering on of an offline VM, a powering off of an online VM, a migration of a VM from a host server in the virtualization environment to another host server in the virtualization environment, a file change in one of the online VM and the offline VM, a service change in the virtualization environment, and a program change in one of the online VM and the offline VM.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising utilizing a set of search related APIs associated with a third-party search engine to generate the search result.

21. A virtualization environment comprising:

at least one host server comprising at least one of an online VM, an offline VM, a virtual application, and snapshots thereof; and

a search architecture configured to enable indexing of at least one of data and metadata in the at least one of the online VM, the offline VM, the virtual application, and snapshots thereof, the online VM being a VM that is powered on, the offline VM being a VM that is powered off, and the search architecture comprising a database of the indexed at least one of the data and the metadata in the at least one of the online VM, the offline VM, the virtual application, and the snapshots thereof configured to enable a comprehensive search result to a search query through the search architecture.

22. The virtualization environment of claim 21, wherein the data in the at least one of the online VM, the offline VM, the virtual application, and the snapshots thereof includes at least one of a file, a service, a program, an information associated with one of the online VM and the offline VM, a virtual application specific information, and a catalog.