Registering and accessing virtual systems for use in a managed system

• US 9,477,520 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2015
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ManageIQ, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Fitzgerald, Joseph, Barenboim, Oleg
• Primary Examiner(s): Wai, Eric C
• Application Number:
  US14/803,603
• Publication Number:
  US 20150324219A1
• Time in Patent Office: 463 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 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for controlling and managing virtual machines and other such virtual systems. VM execution approval is based on compliance with policies controlling various aspects of VM. The techniques can be employed to benefit all virtual environments, such as virtual machines, virtual appliances, and virtual applications. For ease of discussion herein, assume that a virtual machine (VM) represents each of these environments. In one particular embodiment, a systems management partition (SMP) is created inside the VM to provide a persistent and resilient storage for management information (e.g., logical and physical VM metadata). The SMP can also be used as a staging area for installing additional content or agentry on the VM when the VM is executed. Remote storage of management information can also be used. The VM management information can then be made available for pre-execution processing, including policy-based compliance testing.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transferring virtual appliances, the apparatus comprising:

a processor communicatively coupled to a plurality of virtual appliances, each of which having a plurality of virtual appliance characteristics; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a virtual appliance logical name which includes a plurality of discrete tags, wherein each discrete tag is representative of a respective virtual appliance characteristic of the plurality of virtual appliance characteristics;

responsive to receiving the virtual appliance logical name, resolve the virtual appliance logical name into at least one virtual appliance explicit name associated with at least one storage location of at least one virtual appliance of the plurality of virtual appliances by accessing a virtual appliance registry, the virtual appliance registry including at least a unique identifier that uniquely identifies the virtual appliance, the virtual appliance logical name, the at least one virtual appliance explicit name and the at least one storage location which is located in a virtual appliance repository separate from the virtual appliance registry, and each respective one of the plurality of virtual appliances being associated with a different unique identifier, and the virtual appliance logical name being different from the unique identifier and the virtual appliance explicit name; and

responsive to resolving the virtual appliance logical name, transfer the at least one virtual appliance from the at least one storage location in the virtual appliance repository to a host environment.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein receiving the virtual appliance logical name includes receiving a virtual appliance event request.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the virtual appliance event request includes a start virtual appliance request.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein resolving the virtual appliance logical name includes using a UDDI registry.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein resolving the virtual appliance logical name includes using a SQL database look-up.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein transferring the at least one virtual appliance includes using at least one FTP, HTTP, AND HTTPS.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to decompress the at least one virtual appliance.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processor is programmed to translate the at least one virtual appliance.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to translate the at least one virtual appliance.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to cache the at least one virtual appliance.

11. An apparatus for transferring a first plurality of virtual appliances and a second plurality of virtual appliances, the apparatus comprising:

a processor communicatively coupled to the first plurality of virtual appliances and the second plurality of virtual appliances, each of which having a plurality of virtual appliance characteristics; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a first virtual appliance logical name which includes a first plurality of discrete tags, wherein each discrete tag is representative of a respective virtual appliance characteristic of the plurality of virtual appliance characteristics;

responsive to receiving the first virtual appliance logical name, resolve the first virtual appliance logical name into at least one first virtual appliance explicit name associated with at least one first storage location of at least one first virtual appliance of the first plurality of virtual appliances by accessing a virtual appliance registry, the virtual appliance registry including at least a first unique identifier that uniquely identifies the first virtual appliance, the first virtual appliance logical name, the at least one first virtual appliance explicit name and the at least one first storage location which is located in a virtual appliance repository separate from the virtual appliance registry, and each respective one of the first plurality of virtual appliances being associated with a different unique identifier, and the first virtual appliance logical name being different from the first unique identifier and the first virtual appliance explicit name;

responsive to resolving the first virtual appliance logical name, transfer the at least one first virtual appliance of the first plurality of virtual appliances from the at least one first storage location in the virtual appliance repository to a first host environment;

receive a second virtual appliance logical name which includes a second plurality of discrete tags, wherein each discrete tag is representative of a respective virtual appliance characteristic of the plurality of virtual appliance characteristics;

responsive to receiving the second virtual appliance logical name, resolve the second virtual appliance logical name into at least one second virtual appliance explicit name associated with at least one second storage location of at least one second virtual appliance of the second plurality of virtual appliances by accessing the virtual appliance registry, the virtual appliance registry including at least a second unique identifier that uniquely identifies the second virtual appliance, the second virtual appliance logical name, the at least one second virtual appliance explicit name and the at least one second storage location which is located in the virtual appliance repository separate from the virtual appliance registry, and each respective one of the second plurality of virtual appliances being associated with a different unique identifier, and the second virtual appliance logical name being different from the second unique identifier and the second virtual appliance explicit name; and

responsive to resolving the second virtual appliance logical name, transfer the at least one second virtual appliance of the second plurality of virtual appliances from the at least one second storage location in the virtual appliance repository to a second host environment, wherein the first plurality of virtual appliances include at least one virtual appliance in the second plurality of virtual appliances.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first host environment includes the second host environment.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first host environment is different than the second host environment.

14. A method for transferring virtual appliances, the method comprising:

receiving, at a processor communicatively coupled to a plurality of virtual appliances, each of which having a plurality of virtual appliance characteristics, a virtual appliance logical name which includes a plurality of discrete tags, wherein each discrete tag is representative of a respective virtual appliance characteristic of the plurality of virtual appliance characteristics;

responsive to receiving the virtual appliance logical name, resolving, by the processor, the virtual appliance logical name into at least one virtual appliance explicit name associated with at least one storage location of at least one virtual appliance of the plurality of virtual appliances by accessing a virtual appliance registry, the virtual appliance registry including at least a unique identifier that uniquely identifies the virtual appliance, the virtual appliance logical name, the at least one virtual appliance explicit name and the at least one storage location which is located in a virtual appliance repository separate from the virtual appliance registry, and each respective one of the plurality of virtual appliances being associated with a different unique identifier, and the virtual appliance logical name being different from the unique identifier and the virtual appliance explicit name; and

responsive to resolving the virtual appliance logical name, transferring, by the processor, the at least one virtual appliance from the at least one storage location in the virtual appliance repository to a host environment.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving the virtual appliance logical name includes receiving a virtual appliance event request.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the virtual appliance event request includes a start virtual appliance request.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein resolving the virtual appliance logical name includes using a UDDI registry.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein resolving the virtual appliance logical name includes using a SQL database look-up.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein transferring the at least one virtual appliance includes using at least one FTP, HTTP, AND HTTPS.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the processor is programmed to translate the at least one virtual appliance.