Template virtual machines

• US 8,959,511 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2010
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sinha, Suyash, Jayamohan, Ajith
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): MILLS, PAUL V
• Application Number:
  US12/967,066
• Publication Number:
  US 20120151477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 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

There is provided a method of providing a template virtual machine. An exemplary method comprises creating a template virtual machine comprising an image of an operating system and software running on the operating system. The template virtual machine does not include machine-specific identifiers. The template virtual machine is booted into a virtual machine environment. Subsequently, machine-specific identifiers for the template virtual machine are updated. The template virtual machine may then be booted with machine-specific identifiers into a service instance to perform a function determined by the software running on the operating system such that uniform code pages representing the operating system and software running on the operating system are shared among virtual machines in the virtual machine environment.

Claims

1. A method of providing a template virtual machine, comprising:

creating, on a physical server, a template virtual machine comprising an image of an operating system and software running on the operating system, the template virtual machine being without machine-specific identifiers;

booting the template virtual machine into a virtual machine environment;

sharing uniform code pages among other virtual machines that are running the same template virtual machine wherein the uniform code pages are shared in advance to booting a template virtual machine into a service instance and not dynamically, and wherein sharing comprises mapping a guest physical address space associated with the template virtual machine to uniform system pages that already have the uniform code pages resident;

instantiating a state separated store on a differencing virtual hard disk to actively intercept system access to various configuration data stored in a registry and create state containers in the state separated store and to redirect to the state separated store during a service instance boot, each of the state containers including a precedence rank that indicates an order in which the state containers are to be layered in the state separated store;

updating machine-specific identifiers of the template virtual machine; and

booting the template virtual machine with machine-specific identifiers, via the state separated store, into a service instance to perform a function determined by the software running on the operating system such that uniform code pages representing the operating system and software running on the operating system are shared among virtual machines in the virtual machine environment.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the uniform code pages comprise identical physical memory pages.

3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the function comprises a web hosting function.

4. The method recited in claim 1, comprising increasing a consolidation ratio in the virtual machine environment by booting another template virtual machine into the virtual machine environment.

5. The method recited in claim 1, comprising sharing configuration information between the template virtual machine and another template virtual machine having the same software running on the operating system.

6. The method recited in claim 1, comprising storing attributes that define the machine-specific identifiers in the state separated store.

7. The method recited in claim 6, comprising storing attributes corresponding to an application state of the software running on the operating system in the state separated store.

8. The method recited in claim 6, comprising modifying an attribute of the template virtual machine by accessing the state separated store either online or offline.

9. The method recited in claim 6, comprising creating a clone of the template virtual machine by copying the image of the operating system and the software running on the operating system and adding attributes corresponding to machine-specific identifiers.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising creating the differencing virtual hard disks across a physical server before the corresponding template virtual machine is booted into the service instance of the virtual machine environment.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the uniform code pages are deployed in a homogeneous workload deployment.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing security control through the state container.

13. A system for providing a template virtual machine, the system comprising:

a processing unit; and

a system memory, wherein the system memory comprises code configured to direct the processing unit to;

create a template virtual machine comprising an image of an operating system and software running on the operating system, the template virtual machine being without machine-specific identifiers;

boot the template virtual machine into a virtual machine environment;

share uniform code pages among other virtual machines that are running the same template virtual machine wherein the uniform code pages are shared in advance to booting a template virtual machine into a service instance and not dynamically, and wherein sharing comprises mapping a guest physical address space associated with the template virtual machine to uniform system pages that already have the uniform code pages resident;

instantiate a state separated store on a differencing virtual hard disk to actively intercept system access to various configuration data stored in a registry and create state containers in the state separated store and to redirect to the state separated store during a service instance boot, each of the state containers including a precedence rank that indicates an order in which the state containers are to be layered in the state separated store;

update machine-specific identifiers of the template virtual machine; and

boot the template virtual machine with machine-specific identifiers into a service instance to perform a function determined by the software running on the operating system such that uniform code pages representing the operating system and software running on the operating system are shared among virtual machines in the virtual machine environment.

14. The system recited in claim 13, wherein the uniform code pages comprise identical physical memory pages.

15. The system recited in claim 13, wherein a consolidation ratio in the virtual machine environment is increased by booting another template virtual machine into the virtual machine environment.

16. The system recited in claim 13, wherein configuration information is shared between the template virtual machine and a second template virtual machine having the same software running on the operating system.

17. The system recited in claim 13, comprising a state separated store that stores attributes that define the machine-specific identifiers.

18. The system recited in claim 17, wherein the state separated store stores attributes corresponding to an application state of the software running on the operating system.

19. The system recited in claim 17, wherein an attribute of the template virtual machine is modified by accessing the state separated store.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the system memory comprises code configured to direct the processing unit to create the differencing virtual hard disks across a physical server before the corresponding template virtual machine is booted into the service instance of the virtual machine environment.

21. One or more computer-readable storage memory, comprising code configured to direct a processing unit to:

create a template virtual machine comprising an image of an operating system and software running on the operating system, the template virtual machine being without machine-specific identifiers;

boot the template virtual machine into a virtual machine environment;

share uniform code pages among other virtual machines that are running the same template virtual machine wherein the uniform code pages are shared in advance to booting a template virtual machine into a service instance and not dynamically, and wherein sharing comprises mapping a guest physical address space associated with the template virtual machine to uniform system pages that already have the uniform code pages resident;

instantiate a state separated store on a differencing virtual hard disk to actively intercept system access to various configuration data stored in a registry and create state containers in the state separated store and to redirect to the state separated store during a service instance boot, each of the state containers including a precedence rank that indicates an order in which the state containers are to be layered in the state separated store;

add machine-specific identifiers to the template virtual machine; and

boot the template virtual machine with machine-specific identifiers into a service instance to perform a function determined by the software running on the operating system such that uniform code pages representing the operating system and software running on the operating system are shared among virtual machines in the virtual machine environment, the uniform code pages comprising identical physical memory pages, and the uniform code pages being identified in advance of booting the template virtual machine into the service instance of the virtual machine environment.