Methods and systems for managing virtual and real machines

• US 9,652,267 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2014
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Muller, Leslie
• Primary Examiner(s): SWIFT, CHARLES M
• Application Number:
  US14/475,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20150007194A1
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45587 Isolation or security of virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/508 Monitor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• 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 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5022 Mechanisms to release resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 : considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 : involving task migration

Abstract

Managing virtual and real machines through a provisioning system. The provisioning system allows a user to create and manage machines through a “self-service” approach. The provisioning system interacts with one or more agents that manage the lifecycle of a machine. The system may provide templates that enable a user to readily create a virtual machine. The system may also include interfaces for administrators to manage virtual and real machine resources.

Claims

1. A system for managing virtual computer resources, comprising:

a database for storing resource status, user policies, and a plurality of templates that define virtual machines a user may create, wherein each of the plurality of templates specify one or more of the following;

storages space, computer memory allocation, and required software, for the respective virtual machine; and

a processor programmed to;

receive, from a user, a request for a virtual machine;

determine, from the user policies, one or more of the plurality of templates the user has access rights to;

provide, based on the user policies, one or more of the plurality of templates to the user;

receive a selected template from the one or more of the plurality of templates;

enable, based on the user policies, the user to override parameters in the selected template to enable the user to adjust resources in a way that available templates would not allow;

receive instructions to implement the request based on the selected template; and

provision a virtual machine according to the selected template.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein an allocation of resources for each of the plurality of templates cannot be overridden by the user unless allowed in the user policies.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

determine a current status of the resources; and

wherein providing one or more of the plurality of templates the user is further based on the current status of resources.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user policies define which template a particular user or group of users have access to.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein dynamically providing a status of the virtual machine comprises providing the user with a current status of storages space, computer memory allocation, software, and lease duration for the virtual machine.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein overriding the parameters further comprises enabling, based on the user policies, the user to configure the provisioned virtual machine in a way that available templates would not allow.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to generate a lifecycle workflow of the virtual machine based on the selected template.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, from a user, a request for a virtual machine;

providing, based on user policies, one or more templates the user has access rights to;

receiving a selected template from the one or more of the plurality of templates wherein the selected template specifies one or more of the following;

storages space, computer memory allocation, and required software for the respective virtual machine;

enabling, based on the user policies, the user to override parameters in the selected template to enable the user to adjust resources in a way that available templates would not allow;

provisioning a virtual machine according to the selected template; and

providing a status of the virtual machine.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein an allocation of resources for each of the plurality of templates cannot be overridden by the user unless allowed in the user policies.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a current status of the resources; and

wherein providing one or more of the plurality of templates the user is further based on the current status of resources.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the user policies define which template a particular user or group of users have access to.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein providing a status of the virtual machine comprises providing the user with a current status of storages space, computer memory allocation, software, and lease duration for the virtual machine.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein overriding the parameters further comprises enabling the user to configure the provisioned virtual machine in a way that available templates would not allow.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising generating a lifecycle workflow of the virtual machine based on the selected template.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the user policies define which template a particular user or group of users have access to.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 wherein providing a status of the virtual machine comprises providing the user with a current status of storages space, computer memory allocation, software, and lease duration for the virtual machine.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein wherein overriding the parameters further comprises enabling the user to configure the provisioned virtual machine in a way that available templates would not allow.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receiving, from a user, a request for a virtual machine;

provide, based on user policies, one or more templates the user has access rights to, wherein each of the one or more templates specify one or more of the following;

storages space, computer memory allocation, and required software for the respective virtual machine;

receive a selected template from the one or more of the plurality of templates;

enable, based on the user policies, the user to override parameters in the selected template to enable the user to adjust resources in a way that available templates would not allow;

provision a virtual machine according to the selected template; and

provide a status of the virtual machine.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein an allocation of resources for each of the plurality of templates cannot be overridden by the user unless allowed in the user policies.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

determine a current status of the resources; and

wherein providing one or more of the plurality of templates the user is further based on the current status of resources.