Returning terminated virtual machines to a pool of available virtual machines to be reused thereby optimizing cloud resource usage and workload deployment time

• US 9,471,360 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2014
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ashok, Rohith K., Kochuba, James K., Quirk, Aaron J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tang, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US14/211,169
• Publication Number:
  US 20150261557A1
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for optimizing cloud resources in utilizing a pool of virtual machines to service user workloads. A writeable partition is created to store middleware and user activity associated with a virtual machine obtained from a pool of available virtual machines to be deployed. In response to the obtained virtual machine being terminated, the contents of the created writeable partition are erased so that the data generated by the middleware and user activity will not be available for subsequent users. The virtual machine is later returned to the pool of available virtual machines after resetting its password and network address to a default state. In this manner, fewer cloud resources are used since resource intensive activities that were required in provisioning a new virtual machine can be eliminated since previously terminated virtual machines can be utilized in the pool of available virtual machines.

Claims

1. A computer program product for optimizing cloud resources in utilizing a pool of virtual machines to service user workloads, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code comprising the programming instructions for:

receiving a request from a user'"'"'s workload for an instance of a virtual machine;

obtaining said instance of said virtual machine from a pool of virtual machines;

creating a writeable partition to store middleware and user activity to be associated with said obtained instance of said virtual machine;

mounting said created writable partition in a storage unit;

unmounting said created writable partition from said storage unit in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated;

erasing contents of said created writable partition in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated; and

returning said instance of said virtual machine to said pool of virtual machines in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated.

2. The computer program product as recited in claim 1, wherein the program code further comprises the programming instructions for:

creating a partition to store a virtual machine operating system and its supporting files; and

mounting said created partition in a Random Access Memory (RAM) drive.

3. The computer program product as recited in claim 2, wherein the program code further comprises the programming instructions for:

tracking changes to said RAM drive made by said user'"'"'s workload.

4. The computer program product as recited in claim 3, wherein the program code further comprises the programming instructions for:

unmounting said partition in said RAM drive in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated; and

rolling-back said tracked changes in said RAM drive in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated.

5. The computer program product as recited in claim 2, wherein said RAM drive is located in a memory of a cloud computing node.

6. The computer program product as recited in claim 1, wherein the program code further comprises the programming instructions for:

resetting a password and a network address of said instance of said virtual machine to a default state prior to returning said instance of said virtual machine to said pool of virtual machines.

7. The computer program product as recited in claim 1, wherein said writable partition corresponds to a logical volume.

8. A system, comprising:

a memory unit for storing a computer program for optimizing cloud resources in utilizing a pool of virtual machines to service user workloads; and

a processor coupled to the memory unit, wherein the processor is configured to execute the program instructions of the computer program comprising;

receiving a request from a user'"'"'s workload for an instance of a virtual machine;

obtaining said instance of said virtual machine from a pool of virtual machines;

creating a writeable partition to store middleware and user activity to be associated with said obtained instance of said virtual machine;

mounting said created writable partition in a storage unit;

unmounting said created writable partition from said storage unit in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated;

erasing contents of said created writable partition in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated; and

returning said instance of said virtual machine to said pool of virtual machines in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the program instructions of the computer program further comprises:

creating a partition to store a virtual machine operating system and its supporting files; and

mounting said created partition in a Random Access Memory (RAM) drive.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the program instructions of the computer program further comprises:

tracking changes to said RAM drive made by said user'"'"'s workload.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the program instructions of the computer program further comprises:

unmounting said partition in said RAM drive in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated; and

rolling-back said tracked changes in said RAM drive in response to said instance of said virtual machine being terminated.

12. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein said RAM drive is located in a memory of a cloud computing node.

13. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the program instructions of the computer program further comprises:

resetting a password and a network address of said instance of said virtual machine to a default state prior to returning said instance of said virtual machine to said pool of virtual machines.

14. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein said writable partition corresponds to a logical volume.