VIRTUAL MACHINE INSTALLATION IMAGE CACHING

• US 20140108722A1
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Lipchuk, Maor, Frenkel, Omer, Peer, Livnat
• Granted Patent: US 9,081,682 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/08 in hierarchically structured memory systems, e.g. virtual memory systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method including sending, from a virtual desktop server manager at a data center and over a network, at least one request to a virtual machine storage domain for virtual machine installation images. The virtual machine storage domain stores the virtual machine installation images separate from the data center. The method further includes receiving, from the virtual machine storage domain over the network, the virtual machine installation images. The method further includes caching the virtual machine installation images in a data storage domain within the data center. The method further includes receiving a request to present a list of the virtual machine installation images. The method further includes in response to receiving the request to present the list, presenting the list of the cached virtual machine installation images.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

sending, from a virtual desktop server manager at a data center and over a network, at least one request to a virtual machine storage domain for virtual machine installation images, wherein the virtual machine storage domain stores the virtual machine installation images separate from the data center;

receiving, from the virtual machine storage domain over the network, the virtual machine installation images;

caching the virtual machine installation images in a data storage domain within the data center;

receiving a request to present a list of the virtual machine installation images; and

in response to receiving the request to present the list, presenting the list of the cached virtual machine installation images.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to create an instance of a virtual machine from a selected one of the virtual machine installation images; and

in response to receiving the request to create the instance, creating the instance of the virtual machine using the selected one of the virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein caching comprises:

adding one or more new virtual machine installation images to the cached virtual machine installation images that are in the virtual machine storage domain but not already in the data storage domain;

replacing one or more existing virtual machine installation images in the cached virtual machine installation images with one or more modified virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain; and

removing one or more previous virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images that are no longer in the virtual machine storage domain.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images comprises periodically sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein sending the request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images comprises sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images on demand.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein sending the request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images comprises sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images upon activation of the virtual machine storage domain.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining that an existing request, receipt, and caching operation of the virtual machine installation images is in progress; and

in response to determining that the existing request, receipt, and caching operation is in progress, waiting to perform or canceling performance of a subsequent request, receipt, and caching operation of the virtual machine installation images.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine installation images comprise ISO (International Organization for Standardization) images that conform to standards for an ISO file system.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

sending, from a virtual desktop server manager at a data center and over a network, at least one request to a virtual machine storage domain for virtual machine installation images, wherein the virtual machine storage domain stores the virtual machine installation images separate from the data center;

receiving, from the virtual machine storage domain over the network, the virtual machine installation images;

caching the virtual machine installation images in a data storage domain within the data center;

receiving a request to present a list of the virtual machine installation images; and

in response to receiving the request to present the list, presenting the list of the cached virtual machine installation images.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

receiving a request to create an instance of a virtual machine from a selected one of the virtual machine installation images; and

in response to receiving the request to create the instance, creating the instance of the virtual machine using the selected one of the virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images.

11. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein caching comprises:

adding one or more new virtual machine installation images to the cached virtual machine installation images that are in the virtual machine storage domain but not already in the data storage domain;

replacing one or more existing virtual machine installation images in the cached virtual machine installation images with one or more modified virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain; and

removing one or more previous virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images that are no longer in the virtual machine storage domain.

12. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein sending the request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images comprises periodically sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images.

13. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein sending the request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images comprises sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images on demand.

14. The storage medium of claim 13, wherein sending the request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images comprises sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images upon activation of the virtual machine storage domain.

15. The storage medium of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

determining that an existing request, receipt, and caching operation of the virtual machine installation images is in progress; and

in response to determining that the existing request, receipt, and caching operation is in progress, waiting to perform or canceling performance of a subsequent request, receipt, and caching operation of the virtual machine installation images.

16. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the virtual machine installation images comprise ISO (International Organization for Standardization) images that conform to standards for an ISO file system.

17. A computer-implemented system comprising:

a virtual machine storage domain that stores virtual machine installation images;

a network;

a data center in communication with the virtual machine storage domain over the network, wherein the data center comprises;

a data storage domain;

a host comprising a virtual desktop server manager to send at least one request to the virtual machine storage domain for the virtual machine installation images, receive the virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain, cache the virtual machine installation images in the data storage domain, receive a request to present a list of the virtual machine installation images, and present the list of the cached virtual machine installation images.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the virtual desktop server manager is further to receive a request to create an instance of a virtual machine from a selected one of the virtual machine installation images, and create the instance of the virtual machine using the selected one of the virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the virtual desktop server manager caches by adding one or more new virtual machine installation images to the cached virtual machine installation images that are in the virtual machine storage domain but not already in the data storage domain, replacing one or more existing virtual machine installation images in the cached virtual machine installation images with one or more modified virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain, and removing one or more previous virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images that are no longer in the virtual machine storage domain.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the virtual desktop server manager sends the request for, receives, and caches the virtual machine installation images by periodically sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the virtual desktop server manager sends the request for, receives, and caches the virtual machine installation images by sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images on demand.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the virtual desktop server manager sends the request for, receives, and caches the virtual machine installation images by sending a request for, receiving, and caching the virtual machine installation images upon activation of the virtual machine storage domain.

23. The system of claim 22, the virtual desktop server manager is further to determine that an existing request, receipt, and cache operation of the virtual machine installation images is in progress, and in response to the determination that the existing request, receipt, and cache operation is in progress, wait to perform or cancel performance of a subsequent request, receipt, and cache operation of the virtual machine installation images.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the virtual machine installation images comprise ISO (International Organization for Standardization) images that conform to standards for an ISO file system.