VIRTUAL APPLIANCE INTEGRATION WITH CLOUD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

• US 20150128133A1
• Filed: 11/07/2013
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Pohlmann, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,513,938 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines

Abstract

Various embodiments here in provide systems, methods, and software for virtual appliance integration with cloud management software. Some embodiments include a landscape virtualization management application through which software systems in the form of virtual appliances may generated and deployed. Further, metadata included in a data structure of a virtual appliance enable integration with existing cloud management software to allow viewing and searching for available virtual appliances and selecting, deployment, and management thereof.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

reading metadata of a virtual appliance data structure, the virtual appliance data structure including executable files, configuration data, software system content, and other data of a software system stored on a data storage device and deployable to a virtual machine, the metadata including data descriptive of the software system included in the virtual appliance data structure, parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure is deployable, and additional configuration data for the software system when deployed;

based on the parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure is deployable, identifying, in a dataset representative of virtual machines present in a virtual computing landscape, virtual machines on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure can be deployed; and

transmitting data presentable in a view of the identified virtual machines on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure can be deployed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the configuration data and additional configuration data includes data of user accounts to be established when deploying the software system on a virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving, from at least one virtual appliance repository, data representative of virtual appliances available for deployment within the virtual computing landscape, the available virtual appliances being virtual appliance data structures stored in the at least one virtual appliance repository;

transmitting data presentable in a view of available virtual appliances;

receiving data representative of a selected virtual appliance; and

wherein reading the metadata of the virtual appliance data structure is of the virtual appliance data structure of the selected virtual appliance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata further includes data identifying a database management system included within the virtual appliance data structure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying virtual machines on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure can be deployed includes retrieving, from an external entity, data representative of a virtual machine hosted by the external entity.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving data representative of a virtual machine on which to software system of the virtual appliance data structure is to be deployed;

connecting to a storage subsystem of the virtual computing landscape, creating a structure on the storage subsystem within which to store the virtual appliance data structure, the structure created according to the metadata, and copying, to the structure, the virtual appliance data structure from a virtual appliance repository where the virtual appliance data structure is stored; and

executing an attach utility to instantiate the virtual appliance on the virtual machine according to the virtual machine metadata and starting the virtual appliance once instantiated.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed at least in part by virtual landscape management application executable by at least one processor of at least one computing device.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, with instructions stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processor cause at least one computer to:

receive a command to build a virtual appliance data structure with regard to a software system installed and configured on a computing device;

create a virtual appliance data structure;

copy the software system, including executable files, configuration data, software system content, and other data into the virtual appliance data structure;

generate a metadata file descriptive of the software system copied to the virtual appliance data structure, parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system copied to the virtual appliance data structure is deployable, and additional configuration data for the software system when deployed;

add the metadata file to the virtual appliance data structure; and

store the virtual appliance data structure on a data storage device.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein at least one of the configuration data and the additional configuration data include user configuration data defining user accounts and software system access privileges thereof.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein copying the software system to the virtual appliance data structure includes copying executable files, configuration data, software system content, and other data of the software system and other software systems and data deployed on the computing device other than data, executable files, and other data present on the computing device only for purposes of executing and maintaining the virtual machine.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein copying executable files, configuration data, software system content, and other data of the other software systems and data deployed on the computing device includes copying a database management system and data stored therein.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system copied to the virtual appliance data structure is deployable includes data representative of minimum computing system requirements in the form of at least one of a minimum amount of storage, a minimum amount of memory, a minimum of processor speed, and a maximum number of users.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system copied to the virtual appliance data structure is deployable includes data representative of at least one type of virtual machine on which the software system is deployable.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein:

storing the virtual appliance data structure on the data storage device includes storing the virtual appliance data structure to a virtual appliance repository; and

the instructions are further executable to cause the at least one computer to;

retrieve, from the virtual appliance repository, data representative of virtual appliances available for deployment within a virtual computing landscape, the available virtual appliances being virtual appliance data structures stored in the virtual appliance repository and including the virtual appliance data structure;

transmit data presentable in a view of available virtual appliances;

receive data indicating a selection of the virtual appliance data structure;

read metadata of the virtual appliance data structure, the virtual appliance data structure;

based on the parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure is deployable, identify, in a dataset representative of virtual machines present in the virtual computing landscape, virtual machines on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure can be deployed; and

transmit data presentable in a view of the identified virtual machines on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure can be deployed.

15. A system comprising:

at least one processor, at least one memory device, and at least one network interface;

a virtual appliance repository module stored in the at least one memory device and executable at least in part by the at least one processor to receive, store, and provide virtual appliances; and

a virtual appliance management module stored in the at least one memory device and executable by the at least one processor to;

receive, via the at least one network interface device, a command to build a virtual appliance data structure with regard to a software system installed and configured on a computing device;

create a virtual appliance data structure;

copy the software system, including executable files, configuration data, software system content, and other data into the virtual appliance data structure;

generate a metadata file descriptive of the software system copied to the virtual appliance data structure, parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system copied to the virtual appliance data structure is deployable, and additional configuration data for the software system when deployed;

add the metadata file to the virtual appliance data structure; and

store the virtual appliance data structure in the virtual appliance repository.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one of the configuration data and the additional configuration data include user configuration data defining user accounts and software system access privileges thereof.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein copying the software system to the virtual appliance data structure includes copying executable files, configuration data, software system content, and other data of the software system and other software systems and data deployed on the computing device other than data, executable files, and other data present on the computing device only for purposes of executing and maintaining the virtual machine.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein copying executable files, configuration data, software system content, and other data of the other software systems and data deployed on the computing device includes copying a database management system and data stored therein.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system copied to the virtual appliance data structure is deployable includes data representative of minimum computing system requirements in the form of at least one of a minimum amount of storage, a minimum amount of memory, a minimum of processor speed, and a maximum number of users.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein:

storing the virtual appliance data structure on the data storage device includes storing the virtual appliance data structure to a virtual appliance repository; and

the instructions are further executable to cause the at least one computer to;

retrieve, from the virtual appliance repository, data representative of virtual appliances available for deployment within a virtual computing landscape, the available virtual appliances being virtual appliance data structures stored in the virtual appliance repository and including the virtual appliance data structure;

transmit data presentable in a view of available virtual appliances;

receive data indicating a selection of the virtual appliance data structure;

read metadata of the virtual appliance data structure, the virtual appliance data structure;

based on the parameters for a virtual machine on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure is deployable, identify, in a dataset representative of virtual machines present in the virtual computing landscape, virtual machines on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure can be deployed; and

transmit data presentable in a view of the identified virtual machines on which the software system of the virtual appliance data structure can be deployed.