METHODS AND APPARATUS TO SCALE APPLICATION DEPLOYMENTS IN CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS USING VIRTUAL MACHINE POOLS

• US 20150378765A1
• Filed: 08/07/2014
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: SINGH, Servesh, SINGH, Kiran, MANKALA, Shyam
• Granted Patent: US 9,424,065 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5011 Pool
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• 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 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed to scale application deployments in cloud computing environments using virtual machine pools. An example method disclosed herein includes displaying a user-selectable control to specify whether the application is to be scaled in accordance with a scaling policy, based on selection of the user-selectable control, storing, in a blueprint of the application, an indication of whether the application is to be scaled in accordance with the scaling policy, based on the indication in the blueprint, preparing a virtual machine pool in the computing environment, the virtual machine pool including a virtual machine provisioned for use in a scaling operation, in response to a request to scale the application deployed in a deployment environment, determining whether configuration information satisfies a scaling requirement, and based on the determination, performing the scaling operation in accordance with the request to scale by transferring the virtual machine to the deployment environment.

Claims

1. A method to scale an application deployed in a computing environment, the method comprising:

displaying a user-selectable control in a user interface, the user-selectable control to specify whether the application is to be scaled in accordance with a scaling policy;

based on selection of the user-selectable control storing, in a blueprint of the application, an indication of whether the application is to be scaled in accordance with the scaling policy;

based on the indication in the blueprint, preparing a virtual machine pool in the computing environment, the virtual machine pool including a Virtual machine provisioned for use in a scaling operation;

in response to a request to scale the application deployed in a deployment environment, determining whether configuration information of the virtual machine pool satisfies a scaling requirement included in the request; and

based on the determination, performing the scaling operation in accordance with the request to scale by transferring the virtual machine to deployment environment.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the virtual machine pool is a collection of virtual machines to be used for scaling operations and configured in accordance with the scaling policy.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the scaling policy specifies a number of virtual machines to include in the virtual machine pool.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein preparing the virtual machine pool comprises:

generating the virtual machine pool;

instantiating the virtual machine in the virtual machine pool;

configuring the virtual machine in accordance with the scaling policy; and

transitioning the virtual machine to a suspended state.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising generating the virtual machine pool in response to preparing the blueprint.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising generating the virtual machine pool in response to deploying the application in the deployment environment.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes a number of virtual machines included in the virtual machine pool.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is a first virtual machine, the method further comprising:

determining whether the scaling policy permits expanding the virtual machine pool when the configuration information fails to satisfy the scaling requirement;

instantiating a second virtual machine in the virtual machine pool when the scaling policy permits expanding the virtual machine pool;

updating the configuration information of the virtual machine pool; and

determining whether the updated configuration information satisfies the scaling requirement.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein performing the scaling operation comprises, in response to determining that the configuration information satisfies the scaling requirement:

fetching the virtual machine from the virtual machine pool to the deployment environment; and

powering-ON the virtual machine.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein performing the scaling operation comprises, in response to determining that the configuration information fails to satisfy the scaling requirement:

provisioning a second virtual machine in the deployment environment;

customizing the second virtual machine;

loading a bootstrap script on the second virtual machine; and

powering-ON the second virtual machine.

11. An apparatus to scale an application deployed in a computing environment, the apparatus comprising:

a memory comprising machine readable instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to at least;

display a use-selectable control in a user interface, the user-selectable control to specify whether the application is to be scaled in accordance with a scaling policy;

based on selection of the user-selectable control, store, in a blueprint of the application, an indication of whether the application is to be scaled in accordance with the scaling policy;

based on the indication in the blueprint, prepare a virtual machine pool in the computing environment, the virtual machine pool to include a virtual machine provisioned for use in a scaling operation;

in response to a request to scale the application deployed in a deployment environment, determine whether configuration information of the virtual machine pool satisfies a scaling requirement included in the request; and

based on the determination, perform the scaling operation in accordance with the request to scale by transferring the virtual machine to the deployment environment.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the virtual machine pool is a collection of virtual machines to be used for scaling operations and to be configured in accordance with the scaling policy.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the scaling policy is to specify a number of virtual machines to include in the virtual machine pool.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to prepare the virtual machine pool by:

generating the virtual machine pool;

instantiating the virtual machine in the virtual machine pool;

configuring the virtual machine in accordance with the scaling policy; and

transitioning the virtual machine to a suspended state.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to generate the virtual machine pool in response to preparing the blueprint.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to generate the virtual machine pool in response to deploying the application in the deployment environment.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the configuration information is to include a number of virtual machines included in the virtual machine pool.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the virtual machine is a first virtual machine, and the instructions further cause the processor to:

determine whether the scaling policy is to permit expanding the virtual machine pool based on a determination that the configuration information fails to satisfy the scaling requirement;

instantiate a second virtual machine in the virtual machine pool when the scaling policy is to permit expanding the virtual machine pool;

update the configuration information of the virtual machine pool; and

determine whether the updated configuration information satisfies the scaling requirement.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the scaling operation by, in response to a determination that the configuration information satisfies the scaling requirement:

fetching the virtual machine from the virtual machine pool to the deployment environment; and

powering-ON the virtual machine.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the scaling operation by, in response to a determination that the configuration information fails to satisfy the scaling requirement:

provisioning a second virtual machine in the deployment environment;

customizing the second virtual machine;

loading a bootstrap script on the second virtual machine; and

powering-ON the second virtual machine.

21. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

display a user-selectable control in a user interface, the user-selectable control to specify whether an application deployed in a deployment environment is to be scaled in accordance with a scaling policy, the deployment environment to be included in a computing environment;

based on selection of the user-selectable control, store, in a blueprint of the application, an indication of whether the application is to be scaled in accordance with the scaling policy;

based on the indication in the blueprint, prepare a virtual machine pool in the computing environment, the virtual machine pool to include a virtual machine provisioned for use in a scaling operation;

in response to a request to scale the application deployed in a deployment environment, determine whether configuration information of the virtual machine pool satisfies a scaling requirement included in the request; and

based on the determination, perform the scaling operation in accordance with the request to scale by transferring the virtual machine to the deployment environment.

22. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the virtual machine pool is a collection of virtual machines to be used for scaling operations and to be configured in accordance with the scaling policy.

23. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the scaling policy is to specify a number of virtual machines to include in the virtual machine pool.

24. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to prepare the virtual machine pool by:

generating the virtual machine pool;

instantiating the virtual machine in the virtual machine pool;

configuring the virtual machine in accordance with the scaling policy; and

transitioning the virtual machine to a suspended state.

25. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to generate the virtual machine pool in response to preparing the blueprint.

26. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to generate the virtual machine pool in response to deploying the application in the deployment environment.

27. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the configuration information is to include a number of virtual machines included in the virtual machine pool.

28. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the virtual machine is a first virtual machine, and the instructions further cause the processor to:

determine whether the scaling policy is to permit expanding the virtual machine pool based on a determination that the configuration information fails to satisfy the scaling requirement;

instantiate a second virtual machine in the virtual machine pool when be scaling policy is to permit expanding the virtual machine pool;

update the configuration information of the virtual machine pool; and

determine whether the updated configuration information satisfies the scaling requirement.

29. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the scaling operation by, in response to a determination that the configuration information satisfies the scaling requirement:

fetching the virtual machine from the virtual machine pool to the deployment environment; and

powering-ON the virtual machine.

30. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the scaling operation by, in response to a determination that the configuration information fails to satisfy the scaling requirement:

provisioning a second virtual machine in the deployment environment;

customizing the second virtual machine;

loading a bootstrap script on the second virtual machine; and

powering-ON the second virtual machine.