Composing a virtual disk using application delta disk images
First Claim
1. A method for generating a virtual desktop for a virtual machine to be displayed at a client computing device, the method comprising:
- booting the virtual desktop from a virtual disk comprised of a base disk image and a user delta disk image that receives all disk writes to the virtual disk;
for a selected application to be provided to a user of the virtual desktop, allocating disk space on the virtual disk for one or more files associated with the selected application, the allocating comprising generating and storing on the user delta disk image meta data that indicates one or more locations on the virtual disk at which the one or more files are to be stored;
shutting down the virtual desktop after the allocating of the disk space;
while the virtual desktop is shut down, maintaining the meta data on the user delta disk; and
recomposing the virtual disk by linking the base disk image, an application delta disk image, and the user delta disk image, the user delta disk image configured to receive all disk writes to the composed virtual disk, the application delta disk image including the one or more files associated with the selected application, andthe recomposing comprising copying the meta data from the user delta disk image to the application delta disk image and modifying the meta data of the application delta disk image and the user delta disk image so that the one or more files associated with the selected application are mapped to the disk space allocated for the one or more files associated with the selected application and read requests to the virtual disk for the one or more files are satisfied with data from the one or more files associated with the application on the application delta disk image.
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Accused Products
Abstract
According to a system and method for composing a virtual disk for a virtual desktop, the virtual desktop is booted from a virtual disk comprised of a base disk image and a user delta disk image that receives all disk writes to the virtual disk. Disk space is allocated on the virtual disk for a file associated with a selected application to be provided to a user of the virtual desktop. Then the virtual desktop is recomposed offline by linking the base disk image, an application delta disk image including the file associated with the selected application, and the user delta disk image. The recomposing includes modifying meta data of the application delta disk and the user delta disk so that the file associated with the selected application is mapped to the disk space previously allocated.
138 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for generating a virtual desktop for a virtual machine to be displayed at a client computing device, the method comprising:
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booting the virtual desktop from a virtual disk comprised of a base disk image and a user delta disk image that receives all disk writes to the virtual disk; for a selected application to be provided to a user of the virtual desktop, allocating disk space on the virtual disk for one or more files associated with the selected application, the allocating comprising generating and storing on the user delta disk image meta data that indicates one or more locations on the virtual disk at which the one or more files are to be stored; shutting down the virtual desktop after the allocating of the disk space; while the virtual desktop is shut down, maintaining the meta data on the user delta disk; and recomposing the virtual disk by linking the base disk image, an application delta disk image, and the user delta disk image, the user delta disk image configured to receive all disk writes to the composed virtual disk, the application delta disk image including the one or more files associated with the selected application, and the recomposing comprising copying the meta data from the user delta disk image to the application delta disk image and modifying the meta data of the application delta disk image and the user delta disk image so that the one or more files associated with the selected application are mapped to the disk space allocated for the one or more files associated with the selected application and read requests to the virtual disk for the one or more files are satisfied with data from the one or more files associated with the application on the application delta disk image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for generating a virtual desktop, the system including at least one physical processor for executing software instructions that reside in a memory storage system of the system, the software instructions implementing a method comprising:
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causing the virtual desktop to boot from a virtual disk backed by a base disk image and a user delta disk image, the user delta disk image receiving all disk writes to the virtual disk; for a selected application to be provided to a user of the virtual desktop, allocating disk space on the virtual disk for one or more files associated with the selected application, the allocating comprising generating and storing on the user delta disk image meta data that indicates one or more locations on the virtual disk at which the one or more files are to be stored; shutting down the virtual desktop after the allocating of the disk space; while the virtual desktop is shut down, maintaining the meta data on the user delta disk image; and recomposing the virtual disk, the recomposing of the virtual disk comprising linking the base disk image, an application delta disk image, and the user delta disk image, the user delta disk image configured to receive all disk writes to the recomposed virtual disk, the application delta disk image including the one or more files associated with the selected application, and the recomposing further comprising copying the meta data from the user delta disk image to the application delta disk image and modifying meta data of the application delta disk image and the user delta disk image so that the one or more files associated with the selected application are mapped to the disk space allocated for the one or more files associated with the selected application and read requests to the virtual disk for the one or more files are satisfied with data from the one or more files associated with the application on the application delta disk image. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory data storage medium embodying computer instructions causing a computer system to implement a method for composing a virtual desktop, the method comprising:
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causing the virtual desktop to boot from a virtual disk backed by a base disk image and a user delta disk image, the user delta disk image receiving all disk writes to the virtual disk; for a selected application to be provided to a user of the virtual desktop, allocating disk space on the virtual disk for one or more files associated with the selected application, the allocating comprising generating and storing on the user delta disk image meta data that indicates one or more locations on the virtual disk at which the one or more files are to be stored; shutting down the virtual desktop after the allocating of the disk space; while the virtual desktop is shut down, maintaining the meta data on the user delta disk image; and recomposing the virtual disk, the recomposing of the virtual disk comprising linking the base disk image, an application delta disk image, and the user delta disk image, the user delta disk image configured to receive all disk writes to the recomposed virtual disk, the application delta disk image including the one or more files associated with the selected application, and the recomposing further comprising copying the meta data from the user delta disk image to the application delta disk image and modifying meta data of the application delta disk image and the user delta disk image so that the one or more files associated with the selected application are mapped to the disk space allocated for the one or more files associated and read requests to the virtual disk for the one or more files are satisfied with data from the one or more files associated with the application on the application delta disk image. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification