Managed boot in a cloud system

• US 8,874,888 B1
• Filed: 01/05/2012
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Beda, Joseph S. III, Mehat, Sanjeet Singh, Thornton, Andrew, Anderson, Evan K., Earhart, Robert H. III, McWherter, David T., Berreth, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Bae, Ji H
• Application Number:
  US13/344,450
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1, 713/2, 713/100, 709/222, 718/1
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4416 Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Techniques and systems for managed boot are described. A described technique includes creating, at a server system, a boot image based on one or more user-specified parameters associated with virtual machine booting, providing a first virtual drive that includes the boot image, booting a virtual machine using the boot image on the first virtual drive, and providing a second virtual drive to the virtual machine, where the virtual machine mounts the second virtual drive as a root file system.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

creating, at a server system, a boot image based on one or more user-specified parameters associated with virtual machine booting;

providing a first virtual drive that includes the boot image;

booting a virtual machine using the boot image on the first virtual drive; and

providing a second virtual drive to the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine mounts the second virtual drive as a root file system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters include an identifier of an operating system kernel, wherein creating the boot image comprises including the operating system kernel in the boot image.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more parameters include an identifier of a kernel module, wherein creating the boot image comprises including the kernel module in the boot image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters include a random access memory (RAM) disk image, wherein booting the virtual machine comprises creating a RAM disk in a computer memory, and initializing the RAM disk in the computer memory with the RAM disk image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is configured to allow kernel modules to be loaded after the booting is complete.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is configured to restrict all kernel modules from being loaded after the booting is complete.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the one or more user-specified parameters via a network, wherein creating the boot image is in response to receiving the one or more user-specified parameters.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an application programming interface; and

receiving the one or more user-specified parameters via the application programming interface.

24. The method of claim 2, wherein the root file system includes one or more operating system components.

9. A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

creating, at a server system, a boot image based on one or more user-specified parameters associated with virtual machine booting;

providing a first virtual drive that includes the boot image;

booting a virtual machine using the boot image on the first virtual drive; and

providing a second virtual drive to the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine mounts the second virtual drive as a root file system.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more parameters include an identifier of an operating system kernel, wherein creating the boot image comprises including the operating system kernel in the boot image.

11. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the one or more parameters include an identifier of a kernel module, wherein creating the boot image comprises including the kernel module in the boot image.

12. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more parameters include a random access memory (RAM) disk image, wherein booting the virtual machine comprises creating a RAM disk in a computer memory, and initializing the RAM disk with the RAM disk image.

13. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the virtual machine is configured to allow kernel modules to be loaded after the booting is complete.

14. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the virtual machine is configured to restrict all kernel modules from being loaded after the booting is complete.

15. The storage medium of claim 9, the operations comprising:

receiving the one or more user-specified parameters via a network, wherein creating the boot image is in response to receiving the one or more user-specified parameters.

16. The storage medium of claim 9, the operations comprising:

providing an application programming interface; and

receiving the one or more user-specified parameters via the application programming interface.

25. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the root file system includes one or more operating system components.

17. A system comprising:

one or more server computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more server computers, to cause the one or more server computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving data via an interface, the data including one or more user-specified parameters associated with virtual machine booting;

creating a boot image based on one or more user-specified parameters associated with virtual machine booting;

providing a first virtual drive that includes the boot image,

booting a virtual machine using the boot image on the first virtual drive; and

providing a second virtual drive to the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine mounts the second virtual drive as a root file system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more parameters include an identifier of an operating system kernel, wherein creating the boot image comprises including the operating system kernel in the boot image.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more parameters include an identifier of a kernel module, wherein creating the boot image comprises including the kernel module in the boot image.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more parameters include a random access memory (RAM) disk image, wherein booting the virtual machine comprises creating a RAM disk in a computer memory, and initializing the RAM disk with the RAM disk image.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the virtual machine is configured to allow kernel modules to be loaded after the booting is complete.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the virtual machine is configured to restrict all kernel modules from being loaded after the booting is complete.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the interface is an application programming interface.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the root file system includes one or more operating system components.