Fast provisioning of a centralized virtual desktop using linked clones with overlaid centralized virtual desktop layers
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method in a virtualization environment for fast provisioning of a user desktop image on a virtual machine, the virtual machine being hosted by a virtual machine server configured to allow a user to access the virtual machine from a remote computing device, the virtual machine server being connected via a network to a cloning and synchronization system (“
- CSS”
) server computing system containing a centralized virtual desktop (“
CVD”
) object stored and maintained by the CSS server, wherein multiple distinct computing devices of a user are bound in a group to the CVD, wherein the CVD data object comprises a collection of files included in a central desktop image, wherein the CVD data object defines one or more layers of the central desktop image including a user files layer containing user files, a user settings layer containing user settings, and an application software layer containing application software, comprising;
receiving and storing at a virtual machine infrastructure, a template base image containing an operating system and infrastructure software suitable for execution on the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine infrastructure is configured to manage at least one virtual machine in the virtualization environment;
instantiating the virtual machine on the virtual machine server with a linked-clone of the received template base image by linking to the template base image on the virtual machine infrastructure without making a copy of the template base image, whereby a single copy of the template base image is stored at the virtual machine infrastructure; and
overlaying at least one of the one or more layers of the CVD data object on the linked-clone of the received template base image, without overwriting the linked-clone of the received template base image, in order to provision the user desktop image to the instantiated virtual machine.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for n-way cloning and synchronization of a user desktop image are provided. Example embodiments provide a Cloning and Synchronization System (“CSS”) which binds a server stored CVD object representing the user'"'"'s desktop image to one or more endpoint devices. Each endpoint device receives a clone of the CVD object that comprises one or more layers of the server CVD depending upon the suitability of the endpoint device hardware and operating system to the server stored desktop. The cloned CVDs in the endpoint devices are then kept synchronized by synchronization operations. In one embodiment, the CSS allows only one endpoint device to act as a master device and push up changes to the server CVD. These changes are then pushed down to the other devices using different synchronization methods dependent upon the layer.
19 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method in a virtualization environment for fast provisioning of a user desktop image on a virtual machine, the virtual machine being hosted by a virtual machine server configured to allow a user to access the virtual machine from a remote computing device, the virtual machine server being connected via a network to a cloning and synchronization system (“
- CSS”
) server computing system containing a centralized virtual desktop (“
CVD”
) object stored and maintained by the CSS server, wherein multiple distinct computing devices of a user are bound in a group to the CVD, wherein the CVD data object comprises a collection of files included in a central desktop image, wherein the CVD data object defines one or more layers of the central desktop image including a user files layer containing user files, a user settings layer containing user settings, and an application software layer containing application software, comprising;receiving and storing at a virtual machine infrastructure, a template base image containing an operating system and infrastructure software suitable for execution on the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine infrastructure is configured to manage at least one virtual machine in the virtualization environment; instantiating the virtual machine on the virtual machine server with a linked-clone of the received template base image by linking to the template base image on the virtual machine infrastructure without making a copy of the template base image, whereby a single copy of the template base image is stored at the virtual machine infrastructure; and overlaying at least one of the one or more layers of the CVD data object on the linked-clone of the received template base image, without overwriting the linked-clone of the received template base image, in order to provision the user desktop image to the instantiated virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- CSS”
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10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium stored in a virtualization infrastructure containing content for controlling a computer processor for provisioning a user desktop image to a virtual machine, the virtual machine being hosted by a virtual machine server configured to allow a user to access the virtual machine from a remote computing device, the virtual machine server being connected via a network to a cloning and synchronization system (“
- CSS”
) server computing system containing a centralized virtual desktop (“
CVD”
) object stored and maintained by the CSS server, wherein multiple distinct computing devices of a user are bound in a group to the CVD, wherein the CVD data object comprises a collection of files included in a central desktop image, wherein the CVD data object defines one or more layers of the central desktop image including a user files layer containing user files, a user settings layer containing user settings, and an application software layer containing application software, by performing a method comprising;receiving at the virtual machine infrastructure a template base image containing an operating system and infrastructure software suitable for execution on the virtual machine; instantiating the virtual machine on the virtual machine server with a linked-clone of the received template base image by linking to the template base image on the virtual machine infrastructure without making a copy of the template base image, whereby a single copy of the template base image is stored at the virtual machine infrastructure; and overlaying at least one of the one or more layers of the CVD data object on the linked-clone of the received template base image, without overwriting the linked-clone of the received template base image, in order to provision the user desktop image to the instantiated virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
- CSS”
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15. A virtualization infrastructure, comprising:
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one or more server computer systems having memory and processing capability; a plurality of virtual machines hosted by the one or more server computer systems configured to allow a user to access a virtual machine in the plurality of virtual machines from a remote computing device, each virtual machine instantiated on the one or more server computer systems with a linked-clone of a template base image containing an operating system and infrastructure software by linking to the template base image without making a copy of the template base image, whereby a single copy of the template base image is stored for the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the template base image is received from a cloning and synchronization system (“
CSS”
) server computing system containing a centralized virtual desktop (“
CVD”
) object stored and maintained by the CSS server, wherein multiple distinct computing devices of a user are bound in a group to the CVD, wherein the CVD data object comprises a collection of files included in a central desktop image, wherein the CVD data object further defines one or more layers including a user files layer containing user files, a user settings layer containing user settings, and an application software layer containing application software; andlogic, stored in the memory of at least one of the one or more server computer systems that, when executed, receives copies of the files defined by the one or more layers of the CVD data object and integrates the received files onto at least one of the linked-clones, without overwriting the linked-clone of the received template base image. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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Specification