Software tool and method for updating a virtual appliance
First Claim
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1. An apparatus comprising:
- at least one processor;
a memory coupled to the at least one processor;
a virtual appliance residing in the memory, the virtual appliance comprising a plurality of configuration units that each includes functional information and virtualization information for a computer program, wherein the functional information specifies at least one software function and the virtualization information specifies metadata that describes how to package the at least one software function within the virtual appliance;
a workload executed by the at least one processor corresponding to the virtual appliance; and
a virtual appliance update mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the virtual appliance update mechanism receiving a request to update the workload, determining whether at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in a knowledge base, and if so, allowing the requested update to the workload, and when the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change does not exist in the knowledge base, prompting a requester of the update to provide the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change in the knowledge base.
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Abstract
A virtual appliance update mechanism detects when an update to a corresponding workload is made, and makes automatic corresponding changes to the virtual appliance to reflect the update to the workload. In one specific implementation, the virtual appliance update mechanism determines that configuration units corresponding to the update to the workload are present in a knowledge base of configuration units, and automatically updates the virtual appliance with the configuration units corresponding to the update. In this manner a virtual appliance may be automatically updated based on an update to a workload, thereby assuring the virtual appliance reflects the current state of the workload.
9 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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at least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor; a virtual appliance residing in the memory, the virtual appliance comprising a plurality of configuration units that each includes functional information and virtualization information for a computer program, wherein the functional information specifies at least one software function and the virtualization information specifies metadata that describes how to package the at least one software function within the virtual appliance; a workload executed by the at least one processor corresponding to the virtual appliance; and a virtual appliance update mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the virtual appliance update mechanism receiving a request to update the workload, determining whether at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in a knowledge base, and if so, allowing the requested update to the workload, and when the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change does not exist in the knowledge base, prompting a requester of the update to provide the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change in the knowledge base. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computer-implemented method executed by at least one processor for updating a virtual appliance, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing the virtual appliance comprising a plurality of configuration units, each configuration unit including functional information and corresponding virtualization information for a computer program, wherein the functional information specifies at least one software function and the virtualization information specifies metadata that describes how to package the at least one software function within the virtual appliance; deploying the virtual appliance to generate a workload corresponding to the virtual appliance executed by the at least one processor; receiving a request to update the workload; determining whether at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in a knowledge base; when the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in the knowledge base, allowing the requested update to the workload; and when the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change does not exist in the knowledge base, prompting a requester of the update to provide the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change in the knowledge base. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An article of manufacture comprising software stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the software comprising:
a virtual appliance update mechanism that monitors a change to a workload executed by at least one processor, the workload representing a run-time deployment of a virtual appliance comprising a plurality of configuration units that each includes functional information and virtualization information for a computer program, wherein the functional information specifies at least one software function and the virtualization information specifies metadata that describes how to package the at least one software function within the virtual appliance, the virtual appliance update mechanism receiving a request to update the workload, determining whether at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change exists in a knowledge base, and if so, allowing the requested update to the workload, and when the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change does not exist in the knowledge base, prompting a requester of the update to provide the at least one configuration unit corresponding to the change in the knowledge base. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
Specification