Remote console access in a scalable cloud computing environment

• US 9,225,661 B1
• Filed: 10/18/2013
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Yang, Guanghong, Chan, Will, Huang, Alex, Liang, Sheng, Vittal, Chiradeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abedin, Normin
• Application Number:
  US14/057,438
• Time in Patent Office: 802 Days
• Field of Search: 709/235, 709/237, 709/240
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers

Abstract

A scalable cloud infrastructure serves two or more customers, where each customer is associated with at least one unit of virtual resources. The virtual resources are established by apportioning physical resources in the cloud infrastructure that are partitioned into pods within one or more zones in a scalable manner. Additionally, the cloud infrastructure establishes one or more management server clusters each comprising one or more management servers. The two or more customers create a number of virtual machines within pods in a zone. Due to the scalability of the cloud infrastructure, a console proxy virtual machine and server is introduced to support console access to virtual machines. The console proxy server serves as an intermediary between a browser and a viewed virtual machine configured to maintain viewing session quality while minimizing network impact.

Claims

1. A method of managing display of virtual machine display windows on a console client machine, comprising:

instantiating a console proxy server having first connections to a plurality of user virtual machines and having a second connection to the console client machine, the first connections using a remote frame buffer protocol by which the virtual machines specify updates to respective virtual machine display windows, the console client machine executing a browser having a browser window in which the virtual machine display windows of the user virtual machines are displayed;

by the console proxy server, maintaining a mapping between browser window tile areas of the browser window and respective tile areas of one of the virtual machine display windows, the mapping reflecting a dynamically variable size and location of the virtual machine display window in the browser window; and

by the console proxy server in response to an update to the virtual machine display window received from the respective virtual machine via the respective first connection;

determining respective areas of the virtual machine display window that are changed by the update, and using the mapping to identify respective changed tile areas of the virtual machine display window and corresponding browser window tile areas;

creating an image stripe including image data for only the changed tile areas of the virtual machine display window; and

transmitting the image stripe to the console client machine via the second connection to update the browser window, the image stripe being accompanied by location information identifying respective browser tile areas to be updated with corresponding image data of the image stripe.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

the virtual machine display window occupies less than an entire extent of the browser window; and

the browser window tile areas collectively span an entire extent of the browser window and include (a) first tile areas fully occupied by respective interior portions of the virtual machine display window, and (b) second tile areas including respective edge portions of the virtual machine display window and respective adjacent portions of the browser window not occupied by the virtual machine display window.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein receiving the update to the virtual machine display window includes receiving an update to a remote frame buffer in a graphical remote desktop sharing scheme, and wherein determining respective areas of the virtual machine display window that are changed includes translating the updates into the changed tile areas of the virtual machine display window.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the image data of the image stripe is arranged as a set of tile locations, each tile location including (a) an image tile for a respective changed tile area of the virtual machine display window, and (b) a respective portion of the location information, the portion identifying a respective browser window tile area to be updated with the image tile.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the image data of the image stripe is arranged as an aggregated single image and aggregated tile information, the aggregated tile information including tile location information identifying respective locations of image tiles in the aggregated single image, each image tile to be used to update a corresponding browser window tile area.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the aggregated tile information includes a resource locator string usable by the browser to retrieve the aggregated single image from a remote location for further processing to segregate the image tiles for use in updating the browser window.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the console proxy server includes a display translation module and a user input translation module, the display translation module being operative to perform the mapping-maintaining, determining, creating and transmitting steps, the user input translation module being operative to process inbound traffic representing user input events at the console client machine, the processing including translating input data of the inbound traffic into user input notifications and transmitting the user input notifications to the respective virtual machine using the remote frame buffer protocol.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the tile areas are arranged in a two-dimensional grid having rows and columns, and wherein determining respective areas of the virtual machine display window that are changed by the update includes a two-level looping for all the rows and columns, the two-level looping having an inner sequence including:

a test for intersection of a current row and column with a changed area of the virtual machine display window; and

only in the event that the test is satisfied, (a) marking a current tile as requiring an update, and (b) updating the image stripe with updated image data for the current tile.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein a partially readied image stripe is transmitted to the browser upon request prior during but prior to completion of the two level looping.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein determining respective areas of the virtual machine display window that are changed by the update includes (a) maintaining information about respective frequencies at which respective tile areas of the virtual machine display window are changed, and (b) based on the information, adjusting relative frequencies at which respective tile areas of the virtual machine display window are checked for a need for updating.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer program instructions recorded thereon, the instructions being executable by a computerized device to cause the computerized device to perform a method of managing display of virtual machine display windows on a console client machine, the method including:

instantiating a console proxy server having first connections to a plurality of user virtual machines and having a second connection to the console client machine, the first connections using a remote frame buffer protocol by which the virtual machines specify updates to respective virtual machine display windows, the console client machine executing a browser having a browser window in which the virtual machine display windows of the user virtual machines are displayed;

by the console proxy server, maintaining a mapping between browser window tile areas of the browser window and respective tile areas of one of the virtual machine display windows, the mapping reflecting a dynamically variable size and location of the virtual machine display window in the browser window; and

by the console proxy server in response to an update to the virtual machine display window received from the respective virtual machine via the respective first connection;

determining respective areas of the virtual machine display window that are changed by the update, and using the mapping to identify respective changed tile areas of the virtual machine display window and corresponding browser window tile areas;

creating an image stripe including image data for only the changed tile areas of the virtual machine display window; and

transmitting the image stripe to the console client machine via the second connection to update the browser window, the image stripe being accompanied by location information identifying respective browser tile areas to be updated with corresponding image data of the image stripe.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein:

the virtual machine display window occupies less than an entire extent of the browser window; and

the browser window tile areas collectively span an entire extent of the browser window and include (a) first tile areas fully occupied by respective interior portions of the virtual machine display window, and (b) second tile areas including respective edge portions of the virtual machine display window and respective adjacent portions of the browser window not occupied by the virtual machine display window.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein receiving the update to the virtual machine display window includes receiving an update to a remote frame buffer in a graphical remote desktop sharing scheme, and wherein determining respective areas of the virtual machine display window that are changed includes translating the updates into the changed tile areas of the virtual machine display window.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the image data of the image stripe is arranged as a set of tile locations, each tile location including (a) an image tile for a respective changed tile area of the virtual machine display window, and (b) a respective portion of the location information, the portion identifying a respective browser window tile area to be updated with the image tile.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the image data of the image stripe is arranged as an aggregated single image and aggregated tile information, the aggregated tile information including tile location information identifying respective locations of image tiles in the aggregated single image, each image tile to be used to update a corresponding browser window tile area.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15, wherein the aggregated tile information includes a resource locator string usable by the browser to retrieve the aggregated single image from a remote location for further processing to segregate the image tiles for use in updating the browser window.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the console proxy server includes a display translation module and a user input translation module, the display translation module being operative to perform the mapping-maintaining, determining, creating and transmitting steps, the user input translation module being operative to process inbound traffic representing user input events at the console client machine, the processing including translating input data of the inbound traffic into user input notifications and transmitting the user input notifications to the respective virtual machine using the remote frame buffer protocol.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the tile areas are arranged in a two-dimensional grid having rows and columns, and wherein determining respective areas of the virtual machine display window that are changed by the update includes a two-level looping for all the rows and columns, the two-level looping having an inner sequence including:

a test for intersection of a current row and column with a changed area of the virtual machine display window; and

only in the event that the test is satisfied, (a) marking a current tile as requiring an update, and (b) updating the image stripe with updated image data for the current tile.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 18, wherein a partially readied image stripe is transmitted to the browser upon request prior during but prior to completion of the two level looping.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein determining respective areas of the virtual machine display window that are changed by the update includes (a) maintaining information about respective frequencies at which respective tile areas of the virtual machine display window are changed, and (b) based on the information, adjusting relative frequencies at which respective tile areas of the virtual machine display window are checked for a need for updating.