METHODS AND APPARATUS TO RECLAIM RESOURCES IN VIRTUAL COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20140165060A1
• Filed: 12/12/2013
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Muller, Leslie, Reutova, Valentina, Pespisa, Ken, Barron, Mike, Bayan, Murat, Torres, Frederic, Zolotusky, Dave, Chasse, Derek, Bhandari, Sudershan
• Granted Patent: US 9,529,613 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/152 Virtualized environment, e.g. logically partitioned system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5022 Mechanisms to release resources
• 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: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to reclaim resources in virtual computing environments are described. An example method includes determining, with a processor, if a characteristic of a virtual machine meets a threshold indicating that the virtual machine is inactive, in response to determining that the characteristic meets the threshold, determining, with the processor, if a notification period has expired, and if the notification period has expired, de-provisioning, with the processor, the virtual machine to return computing resources assigned to the virtual machine to a cloud.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, with a processor, if a characteristic of a virtual machine meets a threshold indicating that the virtual machine is inactive;

in response to determining that the characteristic meets the threshold, determining, with the processor, if a notification period has expired; and

if the notification period has expired, de-provisioning, with the processor, the virtual machine to return computing resources assigned to the virtual machine to a cloud.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting that a notification of inactivity to an administrator of the virtual machine, and

initiating the notification period.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the notification period indicates an amount of time to wait before de-provisioning the computing resources after transmitting the notification.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising archiving the virtual machine when the virtual machine is de-provisioned.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the threshold indicates a level of inactivity for the virtual machine.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the characteristic includes at least one of a last time that the virtual machine was powered on, a last time that the virtual machine was remotely accessed, or an amount of the computing resources consumed by the virtual machine.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining whether the virtual machine is tagged with an indication that the virtual machine is a replica of an active virtual machine and not de-provisioning the virtual machine if the virtual machine is tagged with the indication.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining whether the virtual machine is tagged with an indication that the virtual machine is a backup of an active virtual machine and not de-provisioning the virtual machine if the virtual machine is tagged with the indication.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a notifier to determine if a notification period has expired; and

a resource reclaimer to determine if a characteristic for a virtual machine meets a threshold indicating that the virtual machine is inactive, and, to, in response to determining that the characteristic meets the threshold and the notifier determining that the notification period has expired, to de-provision the virtual machine.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the resource reclaimer is to return computing resources assigned to the virtual machine to a cloud.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, further comprising a user interface to receive an instruction to perform resource reclamation;

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the notifier is to:

determine that a notification of inactivity has not been sent; and

in response to determining that the notification has not been sent;

transmit the notification to an administrator of the virtual machine, and

initiate the notification period.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the notification period indicates an amount of time to wait before de-provisioning the computing resources after transmitting a notification.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, further comprising an archiver to archive the virtual machine when the virtual machine is de-provisioned.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the threshold indicates a level of inactivity for the virtual machine.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the characteristic includes at least one of a last time that the virtual machine was powered on, a last time that the virtual machine was remotely accessed, or an amount of the computing resources consumed by the virtual machine.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the resource reclaimer is to determine if the virtual machine is tagged with an indication that the virtual machine is a replica of an active virtual machine, and to de-provision the virtual machine in response to determining that the virtual machine is not tagged with the indication.

18. A tangible compute readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

determine, with a processor, if a characteristic of a virtual machine meets a threshold indicating that the virtual machine is inactive;

in response to determining that the characteristic meets the threshold, determine, with the processor, if a notification period has expired; and

if the notification period has expired, de-provision, with the processor, the virtual machine to return computing resources assigned to the virtual machine to a cloud.

19. A tangible compute readable storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to:

transmit that a notification of inactivity to an administrator of the virtual machine, and

initiate the notification period.

20. A tangible compute readable storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the notification period indicates an amount of time to wait before de-provisioning the computing resources after transmitting the notification.

21. A tangible compute readable storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to archive the virtual machine when the virtual machine is de-provisioned.

22. A tangible compute readable storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the threshold indicates a level of inactivity for the virtual machine.

23. A tangible compute readable storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the characteristic includes at least one of a last time that the virtual machine was powered on, a last time that the virtual machine was remotely accessed, or an amount of the computing resources consumed by the virtual machine.

24. A tangible compute readable storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to determine whether the virtual machine is tagged with an indication that the virtual machine is a replica of an active virtual machine and not de-provisioning the virtual machine if the virtual machine is tagged with the indication.

25. A tangible compute readable storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to determine whether the virtual machine is tagged with an indication that the virtual machine is a backup of an active virtual machine and not de-provisioning the virtual machine if the virtual machine is tagged with the indication.