Reconfiguring virtual machines

• US 9,311,119 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2012
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Shah, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kamran, Mehran
• Application Number:
  US13/483,775
• Publication Number:
  US 20130326505A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,413 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45545 Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A host controller obtains virtual machine configuration data for a virtual machine which has a guest operating system. The host controller may identify a plurality of virtual hardware components supported by the guest operating system and may identify a set of the plurality of virtual hardware components which are not used by the virtual machine. The host controller may reconfigure the virtual machine to use one or more of the set of virtual hardware components.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a processing device, virtual machine configuration data for a virtual machine from a quest agent residing on the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine comprises a guest operating system;

identifying, in view of the virtual machine configuration data and without user interaction, a plurality of virtual hardware components supported by the guest operating system on the virtual machine;

identifying, in the plurality of supported virtual hardware components, a set of supported virtual hardware components that are not used by the virtual machine, wherein the set of support virtual hardware components comprises at least one virtual hardware component that was not supported by the virtual machine prior to an update to the virtual machine configuration data;

reconfiguring the virtual machine to use at least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components in view of user input; and

restarting the virtual machine after reconfiguring the virtual machine to use the at least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the virtual machine configuration data comprises:

identifying one or more virtual machine components installed on the virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine configuration data comprises one or more of:

data indicative of an installation of a new guest operating system;

data indicative of an update to the guest operating system;

data indicative of an installation of a new software component on the virtual machine;

data indicative of an upgrade of an existing software component installed on the virtual machine;

or

data indicative of one or more virtual hardware components installed on the virtual machine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein reconfiguring the virtual machine comprises:

providing data indicative of the set of supported virtual hardware components to a user; and

receiving user input indicating the at least one virtual hardware component.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein reconfiguring the virtual machine to use at the least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components is performed without user input.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining additional virtual machine configuration data for the virtual machine;

identifying a second plurality of virtual hardware components supported by the guest operating system on the virtual machine, based on the additional virtual machine configuration data;

identifying, in the second plurality of virtual hardware components, a second set of supported virtual hardware components that are not used by the virtual machine; and

reconfiguring the virtual machine to use a second virtual hardware component from the second set of supported virtual hardware components.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of supported virtual hardware components comprises virtual hardware components that the virtual machine was previously unable to use.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device communicably coupled to the memory, the processing device to;

obtain virtual machine configuration data for a virtual machine from a quest agent residing on the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine comprises a guest operating system;

identify, in view of the virtual machine configuration data and without user interaction, a plurality of virtual hardware components supported by the guest operating system on the virtual machine;

identify, in the plurality of supported virtual hardware components, a set of supported virtual hardware components that are not used by the virtual machine, wherein the set of support virtual hardware components comprises at least one virtual hardware component that was not supported by the virtual machine prior to an update to the virtual machine configuration data;

reconfigure the virtual machine to use at least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components in view of user input; and

restarting the virtual machine after reconfiguring the virtual machine to use the at least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein obtaining the virtual machine configuration data comprises:

identifying one or more virtual machine components installed on the virtual machine.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein reconfiguring the virtual machine comprises:

providing data indicative of the set of supported virtual hardware components to a user; and

receiving user input indicating the at least one virtual hardware component.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing device is further to:

obtain additional virtual machine configuration data for the virtual machine;

identify a second plurality of virtual hardware components supported by the guest operating system on the virtual machine, based on the additional virtual machine configuration data;

identify in the second plurality of virtual hardware components, a second set of supported virtual hardware components that are not used by the virtual machine; and

reconfigure the virtual machine to use a second virtual hardware component from the second set of supported virtual hardware components.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the virtual machine configuration data comprises one or more of:

data indicative of an installation of a new guest operating system;

data indicative of an update to the guest operating system;

data indicative of an installation of a new software component on the virtual machine;

data indicative of an upgrade of an existing software component installed on the virtual

machine;

or

data indicative of one or more virtual hardware components installed on the virtual machine.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing device is further to reconfigure the virtual machine to use at the least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components is performed automatically.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the set of supported virtual hardware components comprises virtual hardware components that the virtual machine was previously unable to use.

15. A non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium comprising instructions that when accessed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

obtain, by the processing device, virtual machine configuration data for a virtual machine from a quest agent residing on the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine comprises a guest operating system;

identify, in view of the virtual machine configuration data and without user interaction, a plurality of virtual hardware components supported by the guest operating system on the virtual machine;

identify, in the plurality of supported virtual hardware components, a set of supported virtual hardware components that are not used by the virtual machine, wherein the set of support virtual hardware components comprises at least one virtual hardware component that was not supported by the virtual machine prior to an update to the virtual machine configuration data;

reconfigure the virtual machine to use at least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components in view of user input; and

restarting the virtual machine after reconfiguring the virtual machine to use the at least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components.

16. The non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processing device to obtain the virtual machine configuration data further comprises the processing device to:

identify one or more virtual machine components installed on the virtual machine.

17. The non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processing device to reconfigure the virtual machine further comprises the processing device to:

provide data indicative of the set of supported virtual hardware components to a user; and

receive user input indicating the at least one virtual hardware component.

18. The non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further to reconfigure the virtual machine to use at the least one virtual hardware component from the set of supported virtual hardware components is performed automatically.

19. The non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further to:

obtain additional virtual machine configuration data for the virtual machine;

identify a second plurality of virtual hardware components supported by the guest operating system on the virtual machine, based on the additional virtual machine configuration data;

identify in the second plurality of virtual hardware components, a second set of supported virtual hardware components that are not used by the virtual machine; and

reconfigure the virtual machine to use a second virtual hardware component from the second set of supported virtual hardware components.

20. The non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium of claim 15, wherein the set of supported virtual hardware components comprises virtual hardware components that the virtual machine was previously unable to use.