SOFTWARE TOOL AND METHOD FOR UPDATING A VIRTUAL APPLIANCE

• US 20120260249A1
• Filed: 04/11/2011
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rojas, Hypatia, Schwichtenberg, Frank, Peraza, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,745,620 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A virtual appliance update mechanism detects when an update to a corresponding workload is made, and makes automatic corresponding changes to the virtual appliance to reflect the update to the workload. In one specific implementation, the virtual appliance update mechanism determines that configuration units corresponding to the update to the workload are present in a knowledge base of configuration units, and automatically updates the virtual appliance with the configuration units corresponding to the update. In this manner a virtual appliance may be automatically updated based on an update to a workload, thereby assuring the virtual appliance reflects the current state of the workload.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the at least one processor;

a virtual appliance residing in the memory, the virtual appliance comprising a plurality of configuration units that each includes functional information and virtualization information for a computer program;

a workload executed by the at least one processor corresponding to the virtual appliance; and

a virtual appliance update mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the virtual appliance update mechanism monitoring a change to the workload, determining a corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance, and automatically making the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units comprises replacing at least one of the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units comprises adding at least one configuration unit to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the virtual appliance update mechanism receives a request to update the workload, determines whether at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in a knowledge base, and if so, allows the requested update to the workload.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein if the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change does not exist in the knowledge base, the virtual appliance update mechanism prompts a requester of the update to provide the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change in the knowledge base.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the virtual appliance is an open virtualization appliance (OVA).

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the workload and the virtual appliance update mechanism are executed by a virtual appliance cloud manager.

8. A computer-implemented method executed by at least one processor for updating a virtual appliance, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the virtual appliance comprising a plurality of configuration units, each configuration unit including functional information and corresponding virtualization information for a computer program;

deploying the virtual appliance to generate a workload corresponding to the virtual appliance executed by the at least one processor;

monitoring an update to the workload;

determining a change to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance corresponding to the update to the workload; and

automatically making the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of providing a knowledge base comprising the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance and other configuration units not in the virtual appliance.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of automatically making the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units comprises the step of replacing at least one of the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of automatically making the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units comprises the step of adding at least one configuration unit to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to update the workload;

determining whether at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in a knowledge base; and

if the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in the knowledge base, allowing the requested update to the workload.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of:

if the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change does not exist in the knowledge base, prompting a requester of the update to provide the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change in the knowledge base.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the virtual appliance is an open virtualization appliance (OVA).

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the method is performed as part of a web-based service that includes performing the method to an online user in exchange for payment.

16. An article of manufacture comprising software stored on a computer readable storage medium, the software comprising:

a virtual appliance update mechanism that monitors a change to a workload executed by at least one processor, the workload corresponding to a virtual appliance comprising a plurality of configuration units that each includes functional information and virtualization information for a computer program, the virtual appliance update mechanism determining a corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance and automatically making the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units comprises replacing at least one of the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the corresponding change to the plurality of configuration units comprises adding at least one configuration unit to the plurality of configuration units in the virtual appliance.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the virtual appliance update mechanism receives a request to update the workload, determines whether at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in a knowledge base, and if so, allows the requested update to the workload.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein if the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change does not exist in the knowledge base, the virtual appliance update mechanism prompts a requester of the update to provide the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change in the knowledge base.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the virtual appliance is an open virtualization appliance (OVA).