Diskless virtual machine cloning by separately cloning a virtual drive and configuration data of a source virtual machine for combination into a cloned virtual machine

• US 8,756,598 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Costea, George, Forgette, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, TAMMY EUNHYE
• Application Number:
  US12/750,909
• Time in Patent Office: 1,539 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed that provide for cloning VMs, where different parts of the same VM are cloned separately. A temporary repository directory in a datastore of a storage controller is populated with a copy of one or more source virtual drive image files, which were generated from a source virtual machine (SVM) that is being cloned. A diskless virtual machine (DVM) is created in a destination container using configurations from the SVM. The copy of the one or more source virtual drive image files is cloned a desired number of times corresponding to a desired number of virtual machine clones. The DVM is cloned a desired number of times corresponding to a desired number of virtual machine clones. The DVM clones are combined with the source virtual drive image file clones in the destination container.

Claims

1. A method for separately cloning a virtual drive of a source virtual machine and configuration data of the source virtual machine for combination into a cloned virtual machine, comprising:

populating a datastore of a storage controller with a copy of a source virtual drive image file, of a source virtual machine that is to be cloned, to create a copied source virtual drive image file;

generating a diskless virtual machine in a destination container based upon configuration data of the source virtual machine;

invoking the storage controller to clone the copied source virtual drive image file to create a cloned source virtual drive image file in the datastore;

invoking a second storage controller to clone the diskless virtual machine to create a cloned diskless virtual machine in the destination container, the second storage controller cloning the diskless virtual machine concurrently with the storage controller cloning the copied source virtual drive image file; and

combining the cloned source virtual drive image file, from the datastore, with the cloned diskless virtual machine in the destination container to create a cloned virtual machine, the combining comprising mapping the cloned source virtual drive image file to the cloned diskless virtual machine.

2. The method of claim 1, the source virtual machine comprising at least one of:

a virtual machine;

a virtual machine template;

or

a snapshot of a virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 1, the configuration data comprising data related to at least one of:

processor configuration;

memory configuration;

user specified options;

unique identifier;

type of source virtual machine;

or

an indicator of a datastore comprising the source virtual machine.

4. The method of claim 1, the invoking the storage controller to clone the copied source virtual drive image file comprising:

offloading the cloning of the copied source virtual drive image file from the second storage controller to the storage controller; and

instructing the second storage controller to facilitate storage operations to a second datastore accessible through the second storage controller during cloning of the copied source virtual drive image file by the storage controller;

invoking the storage controller to clone the copied source virtual drive image file.

5. The method of claim 1, the cloning of the copied source virtual drive image file tuned in a first manner and the cloning of the diskless virtual machine tuned in a second manner such that the cloned source virtual drive image file and the cloned diskless virtual machine are created within a threshold completion time with respect to one another.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying the storage controller based upon resource availability of the storage controller.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

invoking a hypervisor to configure the cloned source virtual drive image file as a new virtual hard drive for the cloned virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1, the copied source virtual drive image file comprising at least one of:

a data storage adapter or a virtual hard drive.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

configuring the cloned virtual machine to utilize the cloned source virtual drive image file as a new virtual drive.

10. The method of claim 1, the mapping comprising:

presenting the cloned source virtual drive image file to a hypervisor for the destination container; and

invoking the hypervisor to map the cloned source virtual drive image file to the cloned diskless virtual machine.

11. The method of claim 1, the combining comprising:

moving the cloned source virtual drive image file from the datastore to the destination container.

12. The method of claim 1, the combining comprising:

retrieving an attribute of the cloned source virtual drive image file;

creating a new virtual drive in the cloned virtual machine using the attribute, the new virtual drive comprising a sparse file;

renaming the cloned source virtual drive image file to a descriptor file of the new virtual drive; and

moving the renamed cloned source virtual drive image file to a directory of the cloned virtual machine.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising:

customizing the cloned virtual machine.

14. The method of claim 13, the customizing the cloned virtual machine comprising:

powering on the cloned virtual machine;

applying a customized guest operating system to the cloned virtual machine; and

importing metadata from the cloned virtual machine to a third-party tool.

15. A system for separately cloning a virtual drive of a source virtual machine and configuration data of the source virtual machine for combination into a cloned virtual machine, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory comprising instructions that when executed by at least some of the one or more processors implement at least some of the following;

a virtual storage drive cloning component, on a storage controller, configured to;

populate a datastore of the storage controller with a copy of a source virtual drive image file, of a source virtual machine that is to be cloned, to create a copied source virtual drive image file; and

clone the copied source virtual drive image file to create a cloned source virtual drive image file in the datastore;

a diskless virtual machine cloning component, on a second storage controller, configured to;

generate a diskless virtual machine in a destination container based upon configuration data of the source virtual machine; and

clone the diskless virtual machine to create a cloned diskless virtual machine in the destination container, the diskless virtual machine cloning component configured to clone the diskless virtual machine concurrently with the virtual storage drive cloning component cloning the copied source virtual drive image file; and

a combining component configured to;

combine the cloned source virtual drive image file, from the datastore, with the cloned diskless virtual machine in the destination container to create a cloned virtual machine, the combining comprising mapping the cloned source virtual drive image file to the cloned diskless virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 15, the combining component configured to:

present the cloned source virtual drive image file to a hypervisor for the destination container; and

invoke the hypervisor to map the cloned source virtual drive image file to the cloned diskless virtual machine.

17. The system of claim 15, the second storage controller configured to facilitate storage operations to a second datastore accessible through the second storage controller during the cloning of the copied source virtual drive image file by the virtual storage drive cloning component.

18. The system of claim 15, the combining component configured to:

power on the cloned virtual machine;

apply a customized guest operating system to the cloned virtual machine; and

import metadata from the cloned virtual machine to a third-party tool.

19. The system of claim 15, the combining component configured to:

retrieve an attribute of the cloned source virtual drive image file;

create a new virtual drive in the cloned virtual machine using the attribute, the new virtual drive comprising a sparse file;

rename the cloned source virtual drive image file to a descriptor file of the new virtual drive; and

move the renamed cloned source virtual drive image file to a directory of the cloned virtual machine.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions that when executed perform a method for creating a cloned virtual machine, comprising:

populating a datastore of a storage controller with a copy of a source virtual drive image file, of a source virtual machine that is to be cloned, to create a copied source virtual drive image file;

generating a diskless virtual machine in a destination container based upon configuration data of the source virtual machine;

invoking the storage controller to clone the copied source virtual drive image file to create a cloned source virtual drive image file in the datastore;

invoking a second storage controller to clone the diskless virtual machine to create a cloned diskless virtual machine in the destination container, the second storage controller cloning the diskless virtual machine concurrently with the storage controller cloning the copied source virtual drive image file; and

combining the cloned source virtual drive image file, from the datastore, with the cloned diskless virtual machine in the destination container to create a cloned virtual machine, the combining comprising mapping the cloned source virtual drive image file to the cloned diskless virtual machine.