ON-DEMAND SUBSCRIBED CONTENT LIBRARY

• US 20170220661A1
• Filed: 02/01/2016
• Published: 08/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cao, Yanping, Rao, Pratima, Hamida, Mahdi Ben, Sun, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 10,742,713 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A cluster management system and method for synchronizing content libraries within a distributed computer system allows an on-demand synchronization option of a content library subscribed to a publishing content library, which includes at least a consumable software item and metadata of the consumable software item, to be enabled. As a result of the on-demand synchronization option of the subscribed content library being enabled, the metadata of the consumable software item is downloaded from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library without downloading the consumable software item. The consumable software item is downloaded from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library in response to user selection of the consumable software item at the subscribed content library.

Claims

1. A method for synchronizing content libraries within a distributed computer system, the method comprising:

subscribing a content library in the distributed computer system to a publishing content library in the distributed computer system so that the content library is set as a subscribed content library to the publishing content library, the publishing content library including at least a consumable software item and metadata of the consumable software item;

enabling an on-demand synchronization option of the subscribed content library;

as a result of the on-demand synchronization option of the subscribed content library being enabled, downloading the metadata of the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library without downloading the consumable software item; and

in response to user selection of the consumable software item at the subscribed content library, downloading the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library so that the consumable software item can be used from the subscribed content library.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a re-synchronization process on the subscribed content library to only synchronize the metadata in the subscribed content library with the metadata in the publishing content library.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deleting the consumable software item in the subscribed content library that was downloaded from the publishing content library; and

in response to another user selection of the consumable software item at the subscribed content library, downloading the consumable software item again from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumable software item is a virtual machine template.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumable software item is a virtual application template.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumable software item is stored in the publishing content library as Open Virtualization Format (OVF) file format.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the downloading of the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library includes downloading the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library over a connection based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the metadata of the consumable software item is stored in the publishing content library and the subscribed content library as one or more JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) files.

9. A computer-readable storage medium containing program instructions for synchronizing content libraries within a distributed computer system, wherein execution of the program instructions by one or more processors of a computer system causes the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:

subscribing a content library in the distributed computer system to a publishing content library in the distributed computer system so that the content library is set as a subscribed content library to the publishing content library, the publishing content library including at least a consumable software item and metadata of the consumable software item;

enabling an on-demand synchronization option of the subscribed content library;

as a result of the on-demand synchronization option of the subscribed content library being enabled, downloading the metadata of the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library without downloading the consumable software item; and

in response to user selection of the consumable software item at the subscribed content library, downloading the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library so that the consumable software item can be used from the subscribed content library.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the steps further comprises performing a re-synchronization process on the subscribed content library to only synchronize the metadata in the subscribed content library with the metadata in the publishing content library.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the steps further comprises:

deleting the consumable software item in the subscribed content library that was downloaded from the publishing content library; and

in response to another user selection of the consumable software item at the subscribed content library, downloading the consumable software item again from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the consumable software item is one of a virtual machine template and a virtual application template.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the consumable software item is stored in the publishing content library as Open Virtualization Format (OVF) file format.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the downloading of the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library includes downloading the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library over a connection based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the metadata of the consumable software item is stored in the publishing content library and the subscribed content library as one or more JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) files.

16. A management server supported by hardware in a distributed computer system comprising:

memory;

a processor, when program instructions in the memory are executed, is configured to;

subscribe a content library in the distributed computer system to a publishing content library in the distributed computer system so that the content library is set as a subscribed content library to the publishing content library, the publishing content library including at least a consumable software item and metadata of the consumable software item;

enable an on-demand synchronization option of the subscribed content library;

as a result of the on-demand synchronization option of the subscribed content library being enabled, download the metadata of the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library without downloading the consumable software item; and

in response to user selection of the consumable software item at the subscribed content library, download the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library so that the consumable software item can be used from the subscribed content library.

17. The management server of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to perform a re-synchronization process on the subscribed content library to only synchronize the metadata in the subscribed content library with the metadata in the publishing content library.

18. The management server of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

delete the consumable software item in the subscribed content library that was downloaded from the publishing content library; and

in response to another user selection of the consumable software item at the subscribed content library, download the consumable software item again from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library.

19. The management server of claim 16, wherein the consumable software item is one of a virtual machine template and a virtual application template.

20. The management server of claim 16, wherein the consumable software item is stored in the publishing content library as Open Virtualization Format (OVF) file format.

21. The management server of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to download the consumable software item from the publishing content library to the subscribed content library over a connection based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

22. The management server of claim 21, wherein the metadata of the consumable software item is stored in the publishing content library and the subscribed content library as one or more JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) files.