USER INTERFACE FOR MANAGING A VIRTUALIZED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20120216135A1
• Filed: 02/22/2011
• Published: 08/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: WONG, Karen Natalie, MURRELL, Kathryn, SHUKLA, Manaswi
• Granted Patent: US 9,990,215 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45508 Runtime interpretation or emulation, e g. emulator loops, bytecode interpretation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors

Abstract

A virtualized computing environment is managed with a user interface that includes a graphical interface portion as well as a command-line portion. As a user interacts with the graphical interface portion, a command-line entry corresponding to the interaction is automatically generated and populates the command-line portion. Similarly, as the user types in a command-line entry, a corresponding action is graphically depicted in the graphical interface portion. By providing a blend of a graphical interface and a command-line interface, embodiments of the invention provide improved usability of the virtual infrastructure client and allow users to more quickly become familiar with the use of the application.

Claims

1. A method for managing computing resources in a virtualized computing environment, comprising:

receiving user input via a graphical interface of a virtual infrastructure management application;

determining a textual command corresponding to the user input received via the graphical interface; and

displaying the textual command in a command line interface of the virtual infrastructure management application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical interface comprises a hierarchical tree view of the virtualized computing environment that includes one or more host computers and/or one or more virtual machines executing on each of the one or more host computers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical interface comprises a list view of the virtualized computing environment that includes one or more host computers and/or one or more virtual machines executing on each of the one or more host computers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input comprises a user selection of one or more objects included in the graphical interface with a mouse click.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input comprises dragging an object included in the graphical interface into the command line interface, and displaying the textual command includes displaying text corresponding to said object in the command line interface.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the graphical interface of the virtual infrastructure management application, user input associated with executing a script, wherein the script includes one or more commands;

prompting a user to define one or more parameters associated with the script; and

causing the script to be executed.

7. A method for managing computing resources in a virtualized computing environment, comprising:

receiving user input via a command line interface of a virtual infrastructure management application;

determining a graphical representation corresponding to the user input received via the command line interface; and

displaying the graphical representation in a graphical interface portion of the virtual infrastructure management application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the graphical interface portion comprises a hierarchical tree view of the virtualized computing environment that includes one or more host computers and/or one or more virtual machines executing on each of the one or more host computers.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the graphical interface portion comprises a list view of the virtualized computing environment that includes one or more host computers and/or one or more virtual machines executing on each of the one or more host computers.

10. The method of claim 9, the user input received via the command line interface comprises a command to add a column to the list view of the virtualized computing environment.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the user input received via the command line interface comprises keystrokes associated with a command

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

parsing the user input received via the command line interface;

determining that the user input satisfies a logic function previously executed by the virtual infrastructure management application; and

displaying a suggestion to the user in the command line interface.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed in a computing device, causes the computing device to carry out the steps of:

receiving user input via a graphical interface of a virtual infrastructure management application;

determining a textual command corresponding to the user input received via the graphical interface; and

displaying the textual command in a command line interface of the virtual infrastructure management application.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the graphical interface comprises a hierarchical tree view of the virtualized computing environment that includes one or more host computers and/or one or more virtual machines executing on each of the one or more host computers.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the graphical interface comprises a list view of the virtualized computing environment that includes one or more host computers and/or one or more virtual machines executing on each of the one or more host computers.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the user input comprises a user selection of one or more objects included in the graphical interface with a mouse click.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the user input comprises dragging an object included in the graphical interface into the command line interface, and displaying the textual command includes displaying text corresponding to said object in the command line interface.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, via the graphical interface of the virtual infrastructure management application, user input associated with executing a script, wherein the script includes one or more commands;

prompting a user to define one or more parameters associated with the script; and

causing the script to be executed.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed in a computing device, causes the computing device to carry out the steps of:

receiving user input via a command line interface of a virtual infrastructure management application;

determining a graphical representation corresponding to the user input received via the command line interface; and

displaying the graphical representation in a graphical interface portion of the virtual infrastructure management application.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the graphical interface portion comprises a hierarchical tree view of the virtualized computing environment that includes one or more host computers and/or one or more virtual machines executing on each of the one or more host computers.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the graphical interface portion comprises a list view of the virtualized computing environment that includes one or more host computers and/or one or more virtual machines executing on each of the one or more host computers.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, the user input received via the command line interface comprises a command to add a column to the list view of the virtualized computing environment.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the user input received via the command line interface comprises keystrokes associated with a command.

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

parsing the user input received via the command line interface;

determining that the user input satisfies a logic function previously executed by the virtual infrastructure management application; and

displaying a suggestion to the user in the command line interface.