Virtual machine installation image caching

• US 9,081,682 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Lipchuk, Maor, Frenkel, Omer, Peer, Livnat
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THAN VINH
• Application Number:
  US13/725,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20140108722A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 711/113, 711/161, 711/162
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/08 in hierarchically structured memory systems, e.g. virtual memory systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning 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 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method including sending, from a virtual desktop server manager at a data center and over a network, at least one request to a virtual machine storage domain for virtual machine installation images. The virtual machine storage domain stores the virtual machine installation images separate from the data center. The method further includes receiving, from the virtual machine storage domain over the network, the virtual machine installation images. The method further includes caching the virtual machine installation images in a data storage domain within the data center. The method further includes receiving a request to present a list of the virtual machine installation images. The method further includes in response to receiving the request to present the list, presenting the list of the cached virtual machine installation images.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processing device that executes a virtual desktop server manager at a data center, that an existing operation is in progress for caching virtual machine installation images in a data storage domain within the data center from a virtual machine storage domain over a network, wherein the virtual machine storage domain stores the virtual machine installation images separate from the data center;

in response to determining that the existing operation is in progress, waiting to perform or canceling performance of a subsequent operation for caching the virtual machine installation images;

receiving a request to present a list of the virtual machine installation images that are cached in the data storage domain; and

in response to receiving the request to present the list, presenting the list of the cached virtual machine installation images.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to create an instance of a virtual machine from a selected one of the cached virtual machine installation images; and

in response to receiving the request to create the instance, creating the instance of the virtual machine using the selected one of the cached virtual machine installation images.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein caching comprises:

adding one or more new virtual machine installation images to the cached virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain that are not already in the data storage domain;

replacing one or more existing virtual machine installation images in the cached virtual machine installation images with one or more modified virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain; and

removing one or more previous virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images that are no longer in the virtual machine storage domain.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein caching the virtual machine installation images comprises periodically caching the virtual machine installation images.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein caching the virtual machine installation images comprises caching the virtual machine installation images on demand.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein caching the virtual machine installation images comprises caching the virtual machine installation images upon activation of the virtual machine storage domain.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine installation images comprise ISO (International Organization for Standardization) images that conform to standards for an ISO file system.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

determine, by the processing device that executes a virtual desktop server manager at a data center, that an existing operation is in progress for caching virtual machine installation images in a data storage domain within the data center from a virtual machine storage domain over a network, wherein the virtual machine storage domain stores the virtual machine installation images separate from the data center;

in response to the determination that the existing operation is in progress, wait to perform or cancel performance of a subsequent operation for caching the virtual machine installation images;

receive a request to present a list of the virtual machine installation images that are cached in the data storage domain; and

in response to the receipt of the request to present the list, present the list of the cached virtual machine installation images.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processing device to:

receive a request to create an instance of a virtual machine from a selected one of the cached virtual machine installation images; and

in response to the receipt of the request to create the instance, create the instance of the virtual machine using the selected one of the cached virtual machine installation images.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processing device to cache virtual machine installation images by:

adding one or more new virtual machine installation images to the cached virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain that are not already in the data storage domain;

replacing one or more existing virtual machine installation images in the cached virtual machine installation images with one or more modified virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain; and

removing one or more previous virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images that are no longer in the virtual machine storage domain.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions are to cause the processing device to cache the virtual machine installation images by periodically caching the virtual machine installation images.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions are to cause the processing device to cache the virtual machine installation images by caching the virtual machine installation images on demand.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions are to cause the processing device to cache the virtual machine installation images by caching the virtual machine installation images upon activation of the virtual machine storage domain.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the virtual machine installation images comprise ISO (International Organization for Standardization) images that conform to standards for an ISO file system.

15. A system comprising:

a data storage domain within a data center; and

a processing device to execute a virtual desktop server manager at the data center to;

determine that an existing operation is in progress for caching virtual machine installation images in the data storage domain from a virtual machine storage domain over a network, wherein the virtual machine storage domain stores the virtual machine installation images separate from the data center;

in response to the determination that the existing operation is in progress, wait to perform or cancel performance of a subsequent operation for caching the virtual machine installation images;

receive a request to present a list of the virtual machine installation images that are cached in the data storage domain; and

in response to the receipt of the request to present the list, present the list of the cached virtual machine installation images.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the virtual desktop server manager is further to:

receive a request to create an instance of a virtual machine from a selected one of the cached virtual machine installation images; and

in response to the receipt of the request to create the instance, create the instance of the virtual machine using the selected one of the cached virtual machine installation images.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the virtual desktop server manager is further to cache virtual machine installation images by:

adding one or more new virtual machine installation images to the cached virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain that are not already in the data storage domain;

replacing one or more existing virtual machine installation images in the cached virtual machine installation images with one or more modified virtual machine installation images from the virtual machine storage domain; and

removing one or more previous virtual machine installation images from the cached virtual machine installation images that are no longer in the virtual machine storage domain.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the virtual desktop server manager caches the virtual machine installation images by periodically caching the virtual machine installation images.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the virtual desktop server manager caches the virtual machine installation images by caching the virtual machine installation images on demand.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the virtual desktop server manager caches the virtual machine installation images by caching the virtual machine installation images upon activation of the virtual machine storage domain.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the virtual machine installation images comprise ISO (International Organization for Standardization) images that conform to standards for an ISO file system.