METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR GENERATION OF AUTHORIZED VIRTUAL APPLIANCES

• US 20130276068A1
• Filed: 10/19/2010
• Published: 10/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Alwar, ArulMurugan
• Granted Patent: US 8,856,889 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

In one embodiment, a virtual appliance generation system receives from a client via a communications link a selection identifier associated with a capability of a virtual appliance module, accesses an authorization value associated with the capability of the virtual appliance module in response to the receiving, and stores an identifier of the capability of the virtual appliance module within a virtual appliance descriptor. The authorization value is also stored within the virtual appliance descriptor. A digest based on the virtual appliance descriptor is generated and a virtual appliance container including a portion of the virtual appliance module, the virtual appliance descriptor, and the digest is generated. The virtual appliance generation system then provides the virtual appliance container to the client.

Claims

1. A processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a processor to perform a process, the process comprising:

accessing an authorization value associated with a virtual appliance component based on an identifier of the virtual appliance component;

storing an identifier of the virtual appliance component within a virtual appliance descriptor;

storing the authorization value within the virtual appliance descriptor;

generating a digest based on the virtual appliance descriptor;

generating a virtual appliance container including a portion of a virtual appliance module, the virtual appliance component, the virtual appliance descriptor, and the digest; and

providing the virtual appliance container to the client.

2. The processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the virtual appliance module is a selected virtual appliance module and the virtual appliance component is a selected virtual appliance component, and wherein the process further comprises:

sending to the client a plurality of virtual appliance representations, each virtual appliance representation from the plurality of virtual appliance representations uniquely associated with a virtual appliance module from a plurality of virtual appliance modules, the plurality of virtual appliance modules including the selected virtual appliance module; and

sending to the client a plurality of virtual appliance component representations, each virtual appliance component representation from the plurality of virtual appliance component representations uniquely associated with a virtual appliance component, the plurality of virtual appliance component representations including the selected virtual appliance component representation.

3. The processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the process further comprises:

receiving the identifier of the virtual appliance component; and

determining that the virtual appliance module is compatible with the virtual appliance component.

4. The processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the process further comprises:

receiving a selection identifier of a capability of the virtual appliance module;

accessing an authorization value associated with the capability;

storing the identifier of the capability within the virtual appliance descriptor; and

storing the authorization value associated with the capability within the virtual appliance descriptor.

5. The processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the process further comprises:

generating a digital signature based on the digest, the virtual appliance container including the digital signature.

6. The processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the process further comprises:

providing the virtual appliance container to a client in response to a request from the client for the virtual appliance container based on the reference to the virtual appliance container.

7. A method to define a virtual appliance, comprising:

receiving from a client via a communications link a selection identifier associated with a capability of a virtual appliance module;

accessing an authorization value associated with the capability of the virtual appliance module in response to the receiving;

storing an identifier of the capability of the virtual appliance module within a virtual appliance descriptor;

storing the authorization value associated with the capability within the virtual appliance descriptor;

generating a digest based on the virtual appliance descriptor;

generating a virtual appliance container including a portion of the virtual appliance module, the virtual appliance descriptor, and the digest; and

providing the virtual appliance container to the client.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a selection identifier associated with the virtual appliance component;

determining that the virtual appliance module is compatible with the virtual appliance component;

accessing an authorization value associated with the virtual appliance component; and

storing the authorization value associated with the virtual appliance component within the virtual appliance descriptor, the virtual appliance container including the virtual appliance component.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the authorization value is a license key value; and

the virtual appliance module includes a license enforcement module.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the authorization value is a license key value;

the license key value is encrypted; and

the virtual appliance module includes a license enforcement module configured to decrypt the license key value.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a payment confirmation associated with the capability of the virtual appliance before the accessing the authorization value.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

sending to the client a reference to the virtual appliance container, the providing being in response to a request for the virtual appliance container from the client based on the reference.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual appliance module includes a license enforcement module, the method further comprising:

specifying a read-only transport medium to provide the authorization value to the license enforcement module.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating a digital signature based on the digest, the virtual appliance container including the digital signature.

15. A virtual appliance generation system, comprising:

a selection interface module to provide to a client a representation of each virtual appliance module from a plurality of virtual appliance modules and a representation of a capability of each virtual appliance module from the plurality of virtual appliance modules;

a virtual appliance library in communication with the virtual appliance customization module to store the plurality of virtual appliance modules;

an authorization module to receive a selection identifier of a virtual appliance module from the plurality of virtual appliance modules, a selection identifier of the capability of the virtual appliance module, and an entitlement confirmation associated with the capability of the virtual appliance module, the authorization module operable to define an authorization value associated with the capability of the virtual appliance module; and

an aggregation module to receive a portion of the virtual appliance module, an identifier of the capability of the virtual appliance module, and the authorization value,

the aggregation module operable to generate a digest based on the portion of the virtual appliance module, the authorization value, and the identifier of the capability of the virtual appliance module,

the aggregation module operable to generate a virtual appliance container including the portion of the virtual appliance module, the authorization value, the identifier of the capability of the virtual appliance module, and the digest.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a virtual appliance distribution module in communication with the aggregation module to receive a request for the virtual appliance container and to provide the virtual appliance container to the client in response to the request.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the selection interface module is operable to provide to the client a representation of each virtual appliance component from a plurality of virtual appliance components, each virtual appliance component from the plurality of virtual appliance components is compatible with at least one virtual appliance module from the plurality of virtual appliance modules.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a virtual appliance submission module in communication with the virtual appliance library to receive the plurality of virtual appliance modules and store the plurality of virtual appliance modules at the virtual appliance library.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the selection interface module is operable to provide to the client a representation of each virtual appliance component from a plurality of virtual appliance components;

the authorization module is operable to receive a selection identifier of a virtual appliance component from the plurality of virtual appliance components and an entitlement confirmation associated with the virtual appliance component, the authorization module is operable to define an authorization value associated with the virtual appliance component; and

the aggregation module is operable to receive the virtual appliance component and the authorization value associated with the virtual appliance component, the virtual appliance container including the virtual appliance component and the authorization value associated with the virtual appliance component.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the selection interface module is operable to provide to the client a representation of each virtual appliance component from a plurality of virtual appliance components,

the authorization module is operable to receive a selection identifier of a virtual appliance component from the plurality of virtual appliance components and an entitlement confirmation associated with the virtual appliance component, the authorization module is operable to define an authorization value associated with the virtual appliance component,

the aggregation module is operable to receive the virtual appliance component and the authorization value associated with the virtual appliance component, and

the virtual appliance container includes the virtual appliance component and the authorization value associated with the virtual appliance component,

the system further comprising;

a compatibility module operatively coupled to the selection interface module to determine that the virtual appliance module from the plurality of virtual appliance modules is compatible with the virtual appliance component from the plurality of virtual appliance components.