Inherited Product Activation for Virtual Machines

• US 20120110571A1
• Filed: 10/29/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Smith, Aaron J., Balascio, Tyron M., Bhave, Ajay, Kao, Chih-pin, Bahhuber, Emeron, Horal, Mikael P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed in which inherited activation opens a secure communication path from the host operating system (OS) to the guest (virtual machine) OS. The license state of the software on the host is passed through this channel, and software installed in the guest uses this information to inform its own product activation process. The virtualized (guest) software may then activate without any outside communication when the license requirements for the host are met.

Claims

1. A method for activating a software product in a virtualized computing environment, the method comprising:

activating a first instance of the software product on a first parent partition in the virtualized computing environment, wherein said activating is based on information derived at least in part on a configuration of said first parent partition;

capturing said information; and

using said information to activate a second instance of said software product.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said second instance is activated on a child partition.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending said information to said child partition, wherein the information is trusted by said child partition.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising establishing a secure communication channel between the first parent partition and the child partition, wherein said sending comprises sending the information via the secure communication channel.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving, from the child partition, a request to activate the second instance, wherein said sending is in response to receiving the request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said second instance is a virtualized instance.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising migrating said child partition to a second parent partition in which said software product is activated, wherein said second instance remains activated in said child partition after said migrating.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising deactivating said second instance when said child partition is migrated to a second parent partition in which said software product is not activated.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said second instance is activated up to a predetermined expiration time after which the second instance is deactivated.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said predetermined expiration time is included in said information, further comprising using additional information to allow the second instance to remain activated beyond the predetermined expiration time.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising using said information to activate multiple instances of said software product.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising tracking a number of activated instances of said software product and limiting the number of activated instances.

13. A system for activating a software product in a virtualized computing environment, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory bearing processor-executable instructions that, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

activating a first instance of the software product on a host virtual machine;

generating information indicating that the software product is activated on the host virtual machine; and

using said information to activate a second instance of said software product.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said second instance is activated on a guest virtual machine.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising sending said information to said guest virtual machine, wherein the information is trusted by said guest virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising establishing a secure communication channel between the host virtual machine and the guest virtual machine, wherein said sending comprises sending the information via the secure communication channel.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said second instance is activated up to a predetermined expiration time after which the second instance is deactivated.

18. A computer readable storage medium storing thereon computer executable instructions for activating a software product in a virtualized computing environment, the medium comprising instructions for:

activating a first software product on a first parent partition in the virtualized computing environment, wherein said activating is based on information derived at least in part on a configuration of said first parent partition;

capturing said information; and

using said information to activate a second software product in a child partition of the first parent partition.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the first software product and the second software product are the same product.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising further comprising:

establishing a secure communication channel between the first parent partition and the child partition; and

sending the information to said child partition via the secure communication channel.