Methods and apparatus to manage virtual machines

• US 9,465,834 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2014
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• 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:
  US14/315,296
• Publication Number:
  US 20150106806A1
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 717120-121, 717171-172, 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 second virtual machine that has not been fully deployed and in response to detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed, notifying, via a processor, the first virtual machine that deployment of the first virtual machine may continue.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating a deployment of a first virtual machine in parallel with a deployment of a second virtual machine;

after the deployment of the first virtual machine has begun, determining, with a processor executing a computer readable instruction, that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted because the deployment of the first virtual machine has reached a point at which the deployment of the first virtual machine is dependent on the second virtual machine that has not been fully deployed;

detecting, by executing computer readable instructions with the processor, that the second virtual machine has been deployed; and

in response to the determining that the second virtual machine has been deployed, notifying, via the processor, the first virtual machine that deployment of the first virtual machine may continue.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the determining that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted is based on a wait request from the first virtual machine.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, further including storing an indication of the wait request in a datastore.

4. A method as defined in claim 2, further including, in response to the wait request, querying an inventory of virtual machines for a workload identified in the wait request to identify the second virtual machine.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed includes querying a datastore for a notification received from the second virtual machine.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed includes receiving a notify request from the second virtual machine.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a wait request manager to determine, during a deployment of a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine, that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted because the first virtual machine has reached a point at which the deployment of the first virtual machine is dependent on the second virtual machine and the second virtual machine has not been fully deployed; and

a notify request manager to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed, the wait request manager to, in response to detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed, notify the first virtual machine that deployment of the first virtual machine may continue.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the wait request manager is to determine that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted based on a wait request from the first virtual machine.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, further including a wait datastore manager to store an indication of the wait request in a datastore.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, further including an inventory manager to, in response to information from the wait request from the wait request manager, query an inventory of virtual machines for a workload identified in the wait request to identify the second virtual machine.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, further including a notify datastore manager to query a datastore for a notification received from the second virtual machine.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the notify request manager is to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed based on a notify request from the second virtual machine.

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

initiate deployment of a first virtual machine in parallel with deployment of a second virtual machine;

determine, after the deployment of the first virtual machine has begun, that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted because the deployment of the first virtual machine has reached a point at which the deployment of the first virtual machine is dependent on the second virtual machine that has not been fully deployed; and

in response to detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed, notify the first virtual machine that deployment of the first virtual machine may continue.

14. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to determine that the deployment of the first virtual machine has halted based on a wait request from the first virtual machine.

15. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to store an indication of the wait request in a datastore.

16. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to, in response to the wait request, query an inventory of virtual machines for a workload identified in the wait request to identify the second virtual machine.

17. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 16, 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.

18. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed based on a notify request from the second virtual machine.

19. A method comprising:

initiating, by executing first instructions on a processor, a deployment of a first virtual machine in parallel with a deployment of a second virtual machine;

after the deployment of the first virtual machine has begun, determining, by executing second instructions on the processor, that the deployment of the first virtual machine has reached a point at which the deployment of the first virtual machine is dependent on the second virtual machine and the second virtual machine has not been fully deployed;

in response to the determining, halting, by executing third instructions on the processor, deployment of the first virtual machine after the first virtual machine has begun deployment;

detecting, by executing fourth instructions on the processor, that the second virtual machine has been deployed; and

in response to the detecting, resuming, by executing fifth instructions on the processor, the deployment of the first virtual machine.

20. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein the halting includes transmitting a wait request.

21. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein the halting includes transmitting a wait request to a dependency controller.

22. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein the detecting that the second virtual machine has been deployed includes receiving a notification responsive to a notify request transmitted by the second virtual machine.

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

initiate a deployment of a first virtual machine in parallel with a deployment of a second virtual machine;

determine, after the deployment of the first virtual machine has begun, that the deployment of the first virtual machine has reached a point at which the deployment of the first virtual machine is dependent on the second virtual machine that has not been fully deployed;

in response to the determining, halt deployment of the first virtual machine after the first virtual machine has begun deployment;

detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed; and

in response to the detecting, resume the deployment of the first virtual machine.

24. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to halt the deployment by transmitting a wait request.

25. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to halt the deployment by transmitting a wait request to a dependency controller.

26. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed by receiving a notification responsive to a notify request transmitted by the second virtual machine.

27. An apparatus comprising:

a wait request manager to determine, during a deployment of a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine, that the deployment of the first virtual machine has reached a point at which the deployment of the first virtual machine is dependent on the second virtual machine that has not been fully deployed and to, in response to the determining, halt deployment of the first virtual machine after the first virtual machine has begun deployment; and

a notify request manager to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed and to, in response to the detecting, resume the deployment of the first virtual machine.

28. An apparatus as defined in claim 27, wherein the wait request manager is to halt the deployment by transmitting a wait request.

29. An apparatus as defined in claim 27, wherein the wait request manager is to halt the deployment by transmitting a wait request to a dependency controller.

30. An apparatus as defined in claim 27, wherein the notify request manager is to detect that the second virtual machine has been deployed by receiving a notification responsive to a notify request transmitted by the second virtual machine.