System and method for on-demand cloning of virtual machines

• US 9,152,446 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2014
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Transcontinental Events, LLC
• Original Assignee: Transcontinental Events, LLC
• Inventors: Ansel, Duane A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kawsar, Abdullah Al
• Assistant Examiner(s): Arcos, Caroline H
• Application Number:
  US14/477,627
• Publication Number:
  US 20140380312A1
• Time in Patent Office: 397 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45504 Abstract machines for programme code execution, e.g. Java virtual machine [JVM], interpreters, emulators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A system for on-demand cloning of virtual machines (VMs) includes a virtual server to host a number of VMs, the virtual server including at least one master VM. The system also includes a Web server to authenticate a user in response to a request for online access to a new VM on the virtual server. In addition, the system includes a cloning module, in communication with the Web server and the virtual server, to automatically clone the master VM to create a unique VM clone for the user on the virtual server responsive to the request.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a computing device comprising a processor and a memory,

a virtual machine (VM) host server resident on the memory and operating on the processor to host a number of VMs, the VM host server including at least one master VM having a base image stored on a non-transitory non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, the base image comprising an operating system;

a Web server resident on the memory and operating on the processor to authenticate a user by use of a user authentication credential in response to a request for online access to a new VM on the VM host server;

a cloning module resident on the memory and operating on the processor, in communication with the Web server and the VM host server, to automatically clone a master VM to create a VM clone for the user on the VM host server responsive to the request, wherein the VM clone comprises a copy of the base image on the non-transitory non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, wherein the cloning module is configured to create the VM clone by copying the base image and renaming the copied image according to unique information pertaining to the user, and wherein the cloning module is further configured to check resources of a plurality of virtual servers to select a virtual server with adequate resources to host the VM clone, to assign the VM clone to the selected virtual server, and to boot the VM clone using an auto-login sequence into an administrator account, wherein, in response to the user being authenticated, the cloning module is further configured to determine whether the user has an existing VM clone by checking for a VM clone uniquely named according to the unique identifier assigned to the user, and in response to the user having an existing VM clone, provide the user with online access to the existing VM clone; and

wherein the Web server comprises a common graphical user interface configured to, based on the user authentication, provide access to the cloning module for creating the VM clone for the user and to provide access to the deployed VM clone of the user by use of the user authentication credential, wherein the user authentication credential used to provide access to the deployed VM clone corresponds to the user authentication credential used to authenticate the user to the Web server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the unique information comprises identification information provided by the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the unique information comprises one or more login credentials of the user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the Web server is configured to authenticate the user with a .NET Passport authentication system that returns a passport unique identifier in response to the user being successfully authenticated.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the cloning module is further configured to create a new user object in an active directory according to the unique information pertaining to the user.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the unique information comprises identification information provided by the user.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the unique information comprises one or more login credentials of the user.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the cloning module is further configured to add the new user object to a security group of the active directory as well as to set a primary group for the new user object.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the cloning module is further configured to execute a script while the VM clone is logged into the administrator account to change a computer name associated with the VM clone.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the cloning module is further configured to execute a script while the VM clone is logged into the administrator account to add the VM clone to a domain.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the cloning module is further configured to execute a script while the VM clone is logged into the administrator account to add the VM clone to a workgroup.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the cloning module includes a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) script, and wherein the cloning module uses the LDAP script to clone the master VM.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the cloning module is further configured to prompt the user to select a master VM for cloning from a plurality of master VMs, each master VM being optimized for a different set of tasks.

14. A method, comprising:

providing a common graphical user interface to provide access to a cloning module configured to create VM clones for a user and to provide online access to deployed VM clones of the user, wherein VM clones are created on a virtual server comprising a processor and memory, the virtual server including at least a master VM having a base image stored on a non-transitory storage, wherein the base image comprises an operating system, wherein creating a VM clone for the user comprises;

authenticating the user by use of a user authentication credential in response to a request for online access to a new VM on the virtual server,

associating the user with a unique user identifier in response to authenticating the user,

checking resources of a plurality of virtual servers to select a virtual server from a plurality of virtual servers with adequate resources to host the VM clone of the user,

automatically cloning a master VM to create a VM clone for the user on the virtual server responsive to the request by creating a copy of the base image for the VM clone on the non-transitory storage of the virtual server of the selected virtual server,

renaming the copy of the base image on the VM host server according to the unique user identifier associated with the user, and

booting the VM clone using an auto-login sequence into an administrator account, and

wherein providing online access to the deployed VM clone of the user through the common graphical interface comprises;

determining, in response to the user being authenticated, whether the user has an existing VM clone by checking for a VM clone uniquely named according to the unique user identifier associated with the user, and

providing the user with online access to the existing VM clone in response to determining that the user has an existing VM clone, wherein the authentication credential used to access the deployed VM corresponds to the authentication credential used to authenticate the user to create the VM clone and displaying a list of VM clones created for the user including the deployed VM clone.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

allocating virtual hardware resources to the VM clone hosted on the virtual server hosted on a physical host; and

upgrading the virtual hardware resources allocated to the VM clone in response to a request from the user.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising reverting to the virtual hardware resources originally allocated to the VM clone after a pre-determined time.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the user authentication credential comprises a .NET Passport authentication credential that returns a passport unique user identifier in response to the user being successfully authenticated.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising creating a new user object in an active directory according to unique information pertaining to the user.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the unique information comprises identification information provided by the user.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the unique information comprises one or more login credentials of the user.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising adding the new user object to a security group of the active directory.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein creating the VM clone for the user further comprises changing a computer name associated with the VM clone in accordance with the unique identifier associated with the user.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein creating the VM clone for the user further comprises adding the VM clone to one or more of a domain and a workgroup.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein creating the VM clone for the user further comprises executing a script while logged in to the administrator account, wherein executing the script comprises one or more of changing a computer name of the VM clone, adding the VM clone to a workgroup, and adding the VM clone to a domain.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein the authentication credential comprises an email address and password.