BUILDING VIRTUAL MACHINE DISK IMAGES FOR DIFFERENT CLOUD CONFIGURATIONS FROM A SINGLE GENERIC VIRTUAL MACHINE DISK IMAGE

• US 20130227089A1
• Filed: 02/23/2012
• Published: 08/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: McLeod, Ian Scott, Lalancette, Christopher, Dunning, John, Loranz, Steven M., Trieloff, Carl
• Granted Patent: US 10,445,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A computer system receives a request to instantiate a virtual machine (VM) in a first target cloud and a second target cloud. The target clouds operate with different configuration parameters. The system modifies a generic VM disk image that is not formatted for the first or second target cloud to create a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud. The first target cloud cloud-formatted VM disk image is based on the first target cloud configuration parameters, and the second target cloud cloud-formatted VM disk image is based on the second target cloud configuration parameters. The system instantiates a VM in the first target cloud using the first target cloud cloud-formatted VM disk image and a VM in the second target cloud using the second target cloud cloud-formatted VM disk image.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request to instantiate a virtual machine (VM) in a first target cloud and a second target cloud, wherein at least one configuration parameters for the first target cloud is different from configuration parameters of the second target cloud;

modifying, by a server computer system, a generic VM disk image that is not formatted for the first target cloud or the second target cloud to create a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud, wherein the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud is based on the configuration parameters of the first target cloud, and the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud is based on the configuration parameters of the second target cloud; and

instantiating a VM in the first target cloud using the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and instantiating a VM in the second target cloud using the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first target cloud and the second target cloud correspond to different cloud providers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the generic VM disk image comprises:

locating a generic VM disk image in a repository based on an operating system specified in the request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a generic VM disk image comprises a minimal installation of an operating system that corresponds to an operating system in the request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is a single command to build a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and the second target cloud.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and the cloud-formatted for the second target cloud;

receiving change data indicating a change made to at least one of the VM in the first target cloud or the VM in the second target cloud;

creating at least one of an updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud or an updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud based on the change data; and

providing at least one of the updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud to the cloud provider of the first target cloud and the updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud to the cloud provider of the second target cloud.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the generic VM disk image comprises at least one of:

associating a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol client with the generic VM disk image, associating a static Internet Protocol address with the generic VM disk image, associating cloud specific management files with the generic VM disk image, defining a partitioning layout, enabling a service, disabling a service, enabling a network protocol, disabling a network protocol, associating an authentication certificate with the generic VM disk image, or associating a hypervisor kernel with the generic VM disk image.

8. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device coupled to the memory to

receive a request to instantiate a virtual machine (VM) in a first target cloud and a second target cloud, wherein at least one configuration parameters for the first target cloud is different from configuration parameters of the second target cloud;

modify a generic VM disk image that is not formatted for the first target cloud or the second target cloud to create a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud, wherein the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud is based on the configuration parameters of the first target cloud, and the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud is based on the configuration parameters of the second target cloud; and

instantiate a VM in the first target cloud using the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and instantiate a VM in the second target cloud using the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first target cloud and the second target cloud correspond to different cloud providers.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein to modify the generic VM disk image comprises:

locating a generic VM disk image in a repository based on an operating system specified in the request.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein a generic VM disk image comprises a minimal installation of an operating system that corresponds to an operating system in the request.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the request is a single command to build a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and the second target cloud.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the memory stores the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and the cloud-formatted for the second target cloud and the processing device is further to:

receive change data indicating a change made to at least one of the VM in the first target cloud or the VM in the second target cloud;

create at least one of an updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud or an updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud based on the change data; and

provide at least one of the updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud to the cloud provider of the first target cloud and the updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud to the cloud provider of the second target cloud.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein to modify the generic VM disk image comprises at least one of:

associating a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol client with the generic VM disk image, associating a static Internet Protocol address with the generic VM disk image, associating cloud specific management files with the generic VM disk image, defining a partitioning layout, enabling a service, disabling a service, enabling a network protocol, disabling a network protocol, associating an authentication certificate with the generic VM disk image, or associating a hypervisor kernel with the generic VM disk image.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a set of operations comprising:

receiving a request to instantiate a virtual machine (VM) in a first target cloud and a second target cloud, wherein at least one configuration parameters for the first target cloud is different from configuration parameters of the second target cloud;

modifying, by the computer system, a generic VM disk image that is not formatted for the first target cloud or the second target cloud to create a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud, wherein the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud is based on the configuration parameters of the first target cloud, and the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud is based on the configuration parameters of the second target cloud; and

instantiating a VM in the first target cloud using the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and instantiating a VM in the second target cloud using the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the first target cloud and the second target cloud correspond to different cloud providers.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein modifying the generic VM disk image comprises:

locating a generic VM disk image in a repository based on an operating system specified in the request.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the request is a single command to build a cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and the second target cloud.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:

storing the cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud and the cloud-formatted for the second target cloud;

receiving change data indicating a change made to at least one of the VM in the first target cloud or the VM in the second target cloud;

creating at least one of an updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud or an updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud based on the change data; and

providing at least one of the updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the first target cloud to the cloud provider of the first target cloud and the updated cloud-formatted VM disk image for the second target cloud to the cloud provider of the second target cloud.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein modifying the generic VM disk image comprises at least one of:

associating a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol client with the generic VM disk image, associating a static Internet Protocol address with the generic VM disk image, associating cloud specific management files with the generic VM disk image, defining a partitioning layout, enabling a service, disabling a service, enabling a network protocol, disabling a network protocol, associating an authentication certificate with the generic VM disk image, or associating a hypervisor kernel with the generic VM disk image.