Methods and apparatus to manage virtual machines

• US 9,361,335 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2014
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reddy, Thirumalesh, Indireddy, Sreekantha, Ankala, Shreekanth, Mathia, Bhavin
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Ted T
• Application Number:
  US14/315,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20150106807A1
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 717101-103, 717120-121, 717171-173, 717176-178, 718/1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• 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

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to manage virtual machines are disclosed. An example method includes determining that a deployment of a first virtual machine has halted because the first virtual machine is dependent on a parameter of a second virtual machine, detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed and has caused configuration information to be stored in a repository, retrieving, via a processor, the configuration information, including the parameter, from the repository, and transmitting, via the processor, the parameter to the first virtual machine to cause the first virtual machine to resume deployment.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a dependency controller to determine that a deployment director has initiated deployment of a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine and the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted because the first virtual machine is dependent on a parameter of the second virtual machine and to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed and has caused configuration information to be stored in a repository; and

a configuration controller to retrieve the configuration information, including the parameter, from the repository and to transmit the parameter to the first virtual machine to cause the first virtual machine to resume deployment, at least one of the dependency controller and the configuration controller including a processor.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the repository is a lightweight directory access protocol server.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the configuration controller includes a configuration retriever to receive the configuration information by performing a lightweight directory access protocol query.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the configuration controller includes an information collector to store the configuration information in the repository in response to a request from the second virtual machine received.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the configuration controller retrieves the configuration information in response to a request for the parameter from the first virtual machine.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the parameter is a network address for the second virtual machine.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the dependency controller is to determine that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted in response to receiving a wait request from the first virtual machine.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the dependency controller is to, in response to receiving the wait request, query an inventory of virtual machines for a workload identified in the wait request to identify the second virtual machine.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the dependency controller is to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed by querying a datastore for a notification received from the second virtual machine.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the dependency controller is to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed in response to receiving a notify request from the second virtual machine.

11. A method comprising:

initiating deployment of a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine;

determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted because the first virtual machine is dependent on a parameter of the second virtual machine;

detecting, via the processor, that the second virtual machine has been deployed and has caused configuration information to be stored in a repository;

retrieving, via the processor, the configuration information, including the parameter, from the repository; and

transmitting, via the processor, the parameter to the first virtual machine to cause the first virtual machine to resume deployment.

12. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the repository is a lightweight directory access protocol server.

13. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the retrieving of the configuration information includes performing a lightweight directory access protocol query.

14. A method as defined in claim 11, further including storing the configuration information in the repository in response to a request from the second virtual machine.

15. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the retrieving of the configuration information is responsive to a request for the parameter from the first virtual machine.

16. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the parameter is a network address for the second virtual machine.

17. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the determining that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted includes receiving a wait request from the first virtual machine.

18. A method as defined in claim 17, further including, in response to receiving the wait request, querying an inventory of virtual machines for a workload identified in the wait request to identify the second virtual machine.

19. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed includes querying a datastore for a notification received from the second virtual machine.

20. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed includes receiving a notify request from the second virtual machine.

21. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

initiate deployment of a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine;

determine that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted because the first virtual machine is dependent on a parameter of the second virtual machine;

detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed and has caused configuration information to be stored in a repository;

retrieve the configuration information, including the parameter, from the repository; and

transmit the parameter to the first virtual machine to cause the first virtual machine to resume deployment.

22. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the repository is a lightweight directory access protocol server.

23. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed cause the machine to retrieve the configuration information by performing a lightweight directory access protocol query.

24. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed cause the machine to store the configuration information in the repository in response to a request from the second virtual machine.

25. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed cause the machine to retrieve the configuration information responsive to a request for the parameter from the first virtual machine.

26. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the parameter is a network address for the second virtual machine.

27. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed cause the machine to determine that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted by receiving a wait request from the first virtual machine.

28. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 27, wherein the instructions, when executed cause the machine to, in response to receiving the wait request, query an inventory of virtual machines for a workload identified in the wait request to identify the second virtual machine.

29. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed cause the machine to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed by querying a datastore for a notification received from the second virtual machine.

30. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed cause the machine to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed by receiving a notify request from the second virtual machine.