Creating a virtual resource package

• US 9,547,486 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2014
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tang, Wei Feng, Yue, Bai, Huang, Yan Jun, Wang, Xi Ning
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wang, Ben C
• Application Number:
  US14/150,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20140208320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,105 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and/or computer program product creates a virtual resource package. Metadata related to a machine is captured, where the machine is a physical machine and/or a virtual machine. A constraint definition describing a configuration constraint of the machine is generated based on the captured metadata. A disk image file of the at least one machine, the captured metadata and the generated constraint definition are packaged to generate the virtual resource package.

Claims

1. A method for creating a virtual resource package, the method comprising:

capturing, by one or more processors, metadata related to at least one machine, wherein said at least one machine includes at least one of a physical machine and a virtual machine;

generating, by one or more processors, a constraint definition describing a configuration constraint of the at least one machine based on the captured metadata, wherein the configuration constraint limits a quantity of custom nodes that are permitted to be connected to an application server, and wherein the configuration constraint further limits a quantity of ports on a database that are permitted to be connected to the application server;

packaging, by one or more processors, a disk image file of the at least one machine, the captured metadata and the generated constraint definition to generate the virtual resource package;

converting, by one or more processors, the captured metadata related to the at least one machine into a plurality of data files;

aggregating, by one or more processors, the plurality of data files into a context model file; and

organizing, by one or more processors, the plurality of data files into at least three categories, wherein a first category is for data files related to software used by the at least one machine, wherein a second category is for the software used by the at least one machine, and wherein a third category is for hardware used by the at least one machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to the at least one machine being a physical machine, the capturing metadata related to at least one machine includes:

capturing, as the metadata, information related to an operation system of the physical machine, information related to hardware in the physical machine, and information related to software installed on the physical machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to the at least one machine being a virtual machine, the capturing metadata related to at least one machine includes:

capturing, as the metadata, information related to resources of the virtual machine, information related to an operation system of the virtual machine, and information related to software installed on the virtual machine.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information related to software includes topology information of the software.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by one or more processors, the plurality of data files in subdirectories that corresponding to the categories, wherein data files of a same category from the respective plurality of data files are stored together in a same subdirectory; and

generating, by one or more processors, the constraint definition describing the configuration constraint of the at least one machine based on the context model file.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the configuration constraint of the at least one machine includes a minimum password age for a password to utilize the operation system, a configuration constraint of the software, and a triggered action constraint of the at least one machine, wherein the at least one machine triggers an action in response to a condition of the triggered action constraint being met.

7. An apparatus for creating a virtual resource package, the apparatus comprising:

a capturing device having a central processing unit (CPU) configured to capture metadata related to at least one machine that includes at least one of a physical machine and a virtual machine;

a generating device having the central processing unit (CPU) configured to generate a constraint definition describing a configuration constraint of the at least one machine based on the captured metadata, wherein the configuration constraint limits a quantity of custom nodes that are permitted to be connected to an application server, and wherein the configuration constraint further limits a quantity of ports on a database that are permitted to be connected to the application server;

a packaging device having the central processing unit (CPU) configured to package a disk image file of the at least one machine, the captured metadata and the generated constraint definition to generate the virtual resource package;

a converting device having the CPU configured to convert the captured metadata related to the at least one machine into a plurality of data files;

an aggregating device having the CPU configured to aggregate the plurality of data files into a context model file; and

an organizing device having the CPU configured to organize the plurality of data files into at least three categories, wherein a first category is for data files related to software used by the at least one machine, wherein a second category is for the software used by the at least one machine, and wherein a third category is for hardware used by the at least one machine.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the capturing device includes a physical machine metadata capturing unit configured to capture, as the metadata, at least one of information related to an operation system of the physical machine and information related to software installed on the physical machine.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the capturing device includes a virtual machine metadata capturing unit configured to capture, as the metadata, at least one of information related to resources of the virtual machine, information related to an operation system of the virtual machine, and information related to software installed on the virtual machine.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information related to software includes topology information of the software.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

one or more processors storing the plurality of data files in subdirectories that corresponding to the categories, wherein data files of a same category from the respective plurality of data files are stored together in a same subdirectory; and

a constraint definition generating unit having the central processing unit (CPU) configured to generate the constraint definition describing the configuration constraint of the at least one machine based on the context model file.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the configuration constraint of the at least one machine includes at least one of a configuration constraint of the operation system, a configuration constraint of the software, and a triggered action constraint of the at least one machine.

13. A computer program product for creating a virtual resource package, the computer program product comprising a computer readable hardware storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable and executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:

capturing metadata related to at least one machine, wherein said at least one machine includes at least one of a physical machine and a virtual machine;

generating a constraint definition describing a configuration constraint of the at least one machine based on the captured metadata, wherein the configuration constraint limits a quantity of custom nodes that are permitted to be connected to an application server, and wherein the configuration constraint further limits a quantity of ports on a database that are permitted to be connected to the application server;

packaging a disk image file of the at least one machine, the captured metadata and the generated constraint definition to generate the virtual resource package

converting the captured metadata related to the at least one machine into a plurality of data files;

aggregating the plurality of data files into a context model file; and

organizing the plurality of data files into at least three categories, wherein a first category is for data files related to software used by the at least one machine, wherein a second category is for the software used by the at least one machine, and wherein a third category is for hardware used by the at least one machine.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein in response to the at least one machine being a physical machine, the method further comprises:

capturing, as the metadata, at least one of information related to an operation system of the physical machine and information related to software installed on the physical machine.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein in response to the at least one machine being a virtual machine, the method further comprises:

capturing, as the metadata, at least one of information related to resources of the virtual machine, information related to an operation system of the virtual machine, and information related to software installed on the virtual machine.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the information related to software includes topology information of the software.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

storing the plurality of data files in subdirectories that corresponding to the categories, wherein data files of a same category from the respective plurality of data files are stored together in a same subdirectory; and

generating the constraint definition describing the configuration constraint of the at least one machine based on the context model file.