Systems and methods for management of virtual appliances in cloud-based network

• US 8,612,566 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2012
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferris, James Michael, Huff, David P.
• Primary Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US13/554,394
• Publication Number:
  US 20120284405A1
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: 709/222, 709/223, 709/224, 717/171, 718/1, 718/100
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• 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 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/826 Involving periods of time

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for instantiating and operating a virtual appliance monitor in a network cloud environment. A method includes receiving, by a virtual appliance monitor, appliance state information representing an execution state of a virtual appliance of a set of virtual appliances instantiated in the network cloud, wherein the virtual appliance monitor is instantiated separately from the set of virtual appliances and configured to monitor the set of virtual appliances. The method further includes performing a control action to alter the execution state of the virtual appliance in response to conditions detected in the appliance state information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

migrating an on-premise appliance monitor to a virtual appliance monitor in a network cloud, the migrating to instantiate the virtual appliance monitor in the network cloud;

receiving, by a virtual appliance monitor, appliance state information representing an execution state of a virtual appliance of a set of virtual appliances instantiated in the network cloud, wherein the virtual appliance monitor is instantiated separately from the set of virtual appliances and is to monitor the set of virtual appliances; and

performing, by the virtual appliance monitor, a control action to alter the execution state of the virtual appliance in response to conditions detected in the appliance state information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the appliance state information to an appliance data store external to the network cloud.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance state information comprises at least one of an appliance ID, version data for the virtual appliance, an execution state of the virtual appliance, or an I/O state of the virtual appliance.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating another control action comprising at least one of a termination instruction, a restart instruction, or a resource configuration instruction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each virtual appliance in the set of virtual appliances comprises at least one pre-configured application or a reduced operating system configured to support the at least one pre-configured application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the execution state of the virtual appliance comprises at least one of a version of the virtual appliance, a fault status of the virtual appliance, an infected status of the virtual appliance, or a privilege statue of the virtual appliance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of virtual appliances comprises a plurality of sets of virtual appliances, and wherein the network cloud comprises a plurality of clouds, the virtual appliance monitor monitoring the plurality of sets of virtual appliances in the plurality of clouds.

8. A system comprising:

a memory;

a network interface device communicably coupled to a set of virtual appliances instantiated in a network cloud;

a processor communicably coupled to the memory and the network interface device;

a cloud management server executable from the memory by the processor, the cloud management server to manage the network cloud; and

a virtual appliance monitor executable from the memory by the processor and communicably coupled to the network interface device and the cloud management server, the virtual appliance monitor migrated from an on-premise appliance monitor, the migrating to instantiate the virtual appliance monitor separately from the set of virtual appliances in the network cloud, wherein the virtual appliance monitor to;

monitor each virtual appliance of the set of virtual appliances;

receive appliance state information representing an execution state of a virtual appliance of the set of virtual appliances instantiated in the network cloud; and

perform a control action to alter the execution state of the virtual appliance in response to conditions detected in the appliance state information.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the virtual appliance monitor is further to store the appliance state information to an appliance data store external to the network cloud.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the appliance state information comprises at least one of an appliance ID of the virtual appliance, version data for the virtual appliance, an execution state of the virtual appliance, or an I/O state of the virtual appliance.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the control action comprises at least one of a termination instruction, a restart instruction, or a resource configuration instruction.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein each virtual appliance in the set of virtual appliances comprises at least one pre-configured application and a reduced operating system configured to support the at least one pre-configured application.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of virtual appliances comprises a plurality of sets of virtual appliances, and wherein the network cloud comprises a plurality of clouds, the virtual appliance monitor monitoring the plurality of sets of virtual appliances in the plurality of clouds.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the execution state of the virtual appliance comprises at least one of a version of the virtual appliance, a fault status of the virtual appliance, an infected status of the virtual appliance, or a privilege statue of the virtual appliance.