METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SHARDED RESOURCE BROKERING

• US 20140115028A1
• Filed: 10/23/2012
• Published: 04/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, Frank S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,469,593 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1004 Server selection for load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54

Abstract

This disclosure describes a virtual desktop brokering system that brokers a virtual desktop session. During operation, a broker receives a request to establish the session. Next, the broker broadcasts, to a set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available machine for the session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available machines. The broker receives, from at least one agent concentrator, a list of available machines. Subsequently, the broker chooses an available machine from the list for the session, and the broker sends a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen machine to initiate the session.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computing device to broker a virtual desktop session, comprising:

receiving a request to establish the session;

broadcasting, to a set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available machine for the session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available machines;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator, a list of available machines;

choosing an available machine from the list for the session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen machine to initiate the session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein choosing the machine further comprises:

receiving additional lists of available machines from one or more agent concentrators;

merging all received lists to generate an aggregated list of available machines; and

choosing the available machine from the aggregated list.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of agent concentrators is a first set, further comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available machine for the second session;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator of the second set of agent concentrators, a new list of available machines;

choosing a different machine from the new list for the second session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen different machine to initiate the second session.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second virtual desktop session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available machine for the second virtual desktop session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available machines;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator in the second set of agent concentrators, a second list of available machines;

choosing a second available machine from the second list for the second virtual desktop session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the second chosen machine to initiate the second virtual desktop session.

5. A method performed by a computing device for managing data indicating availability of virtual machines, comprising:

receiving a request for information regarding available machines from a broker, wherein the broker receives a request from a client to start a virtual desktop session on an available machine;

searching through stored machine state information to determine one or more available machines; and

sending a list of available machines to the broker.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing, in memory, machine state information reported by agents.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving another request for information regarding available machines from a second broker;

searching through the stored machine state information to determine additional available machines; and

sending a different list of available machines to the second broker.

8. A method performed by an agent executing on a computing device, comprising:

receiving information about a set of agent concentrators, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available machines;

selecting an agent concentrator based on the received information; and

sending, to the selected agent concentrator, information regarding the availability of a machine managed by the agent.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving information about the set of agent concentrators further comprises receiving information that is pushed from a source of agent concentrator information.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein selecting an agent concentrator further comprises randomly selecting from a list of available agent concentrators.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

maintaining two lists of agent concentrators; and

connecting to one agent concentrator from each of the two lists of agent concentrators to report machine status and/or receive booking instructions.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method to broker a virtual desktop session, the method comprising:

receiving a request to establish the session;

broadcasting, to a set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available machine for the session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available machines;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator, a list of available machines;

choosing an available machine from the list for the session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen machine to initiate the session.

13. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein choosing the machine further comprises:

receiving additional lists of available machines from one or more agent concentrators;

merging all received lists to generate an aggregated list of available machines; and

choosing the available machine from the aggregated list.

14. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the set of agent concentrators is a first set, and wherein the storage medium stores additional instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform additional steps comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available machine for the second session;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator of the second set of agent concentrators, a new list of available machines;

choosing a different machine from the new list for the second session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the chosen different machine to initiate the second session.

15. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the storage medium stores additional instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform additional steps comprising:

receiving a second request to establish a second virtual desktop session;

broadcasting, to a second set of agent concentrators, a request to find an available machine for the second virtual desktop session, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available machines;

receiving, from at least one agent concentrator in the second set of agent concentrators, a second list of available machines;

choosing a second available machine from the second list for the second virtual desktop session; and

sending a request to the agent concentrator associated with the second chosen machine to initiate the second virtual desktop session.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for managing data indicating availability of virtual machines, the method comprising:

receiving a request for information regarding available machines from a broker, wherein the broker receives a request from a client to start a virtual desktop session on an available machine;

searching through stored machine state information to determine one or more available machines; and

sending a list of available machines to the broker.

17. The storage medium of claim 16, further comprising storing, in memory, machine state information reported by agents.

18. The storage medium of claim 16, wherein the storage medium stores additional instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform additional steps comprising:

receiving another request for information regarding available machines from a second broker;

searching through the stored machine state information to determine additional available machines; and

sending a different list of available machines to the second broker.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving information about a set of agent concentrators, wherein each agent concentrator maintains state information of a respective group of available machines;

selecting an agent concentrator based on the received information; and

sending, to the selected agent concentrator, information regarding the availability of a machine managed by an agent.

20. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the storage medium stores additional instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform additional steps comprising:

maintaining two lists of agent concentrators; and

connecting to one agent concentrator from each of the two lists of agent concentrators to report machine status and/or receive booking instructions.