Updating offline virtual machines or VM images

• US 8,205,194 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fries, Robert M., Michael, Michael L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Thomas K
• Application Number:
  US11/772,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20090007105A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,817 Days
• Field of Search: 717/168
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Methods and systems for updating a virtual machine image. The virtual machine image may be stored as a collection of one or more virtual hard disk files. The virtual machine image is rendered to file-system data. Rendering the virtual machine image to file-system data may comprise mounting the virtual machine image'"'"'s virtual hard disk drives. An analysis engine is invoked to scan the exposed file-system data to determine the update status of software constructs of the virtual machine image and data indicative of the scanning may be stored. The virtual machine image may be updated while inactive or may be deployed and activated in a protected environment for updating.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

mounting a virtual disk for an inactive virtual machine as a physical hard drive within an executing instance of a virtualization program, the virtual disk including data indicative of an inactive guest operating system;

analyzing, while the virtual machine is inactive, at least a portion of the data indicative of the guest operating system to determine version information for the guest operating system; and

identifying a patch for the guest operating system using the version information for the guest operating system.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein analyzing at least the

portion of the data indicative of the guest operating system further comprises:

analyzing configuration settings for the guest operating system.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

installing, while the guest operating system is inactive, the patch for the guest operating system.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, further comprising:

storing the file in a virtual machine library.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

sending the file to a patch host configured to instantiate the virtual machine and install the patch for the guest operating system, the patch host lacking a network connection to an external network.

6. A system for updating a virtual machine image, the system comprising:

a computer system including;

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor when powered, the memory including executable instructions stored thereon that upon execution cause the processor to;

open a file including a virtual disk for an virtual machine that is inactive, the virtual disk including data indicative of a guest operating system that is offline;

scan, while the guest operating system is inactive, the data indicative of the guest operating system to identify update status information for the guest operating system; and

identify a patch to apply to the guest operating system using the update state information for the guest operating system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

mount the file as a physical hard drive within a host operating system.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

overwrite at least a portion of the data indicative of the guest operating system with the patch while the virtual machine is offline.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a patch host lacking a network connection to an external network, the patch host including;

a host-processor;

a host-memory coupled to the host-processor when powered, the host-memory including executable instructions stored thereon that upon execution cause the host-processor to;

instantiate the virtual machine;

run the guest operating system;

overwrite at least a portion of the data indicative of the guest operating system with the patch.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

display an indicator of the update status of the guest operating system, wherein the indicator comprises at least one of an icon, status, or descriptive text.

11. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that upon execution cause a computer system to:

mount a virtual disk for an offline virtual machine as a physical hard drive, the virtual disk including data indicative of an offline guest operating system;

analyze, while the guest operating system is offline, at least a portion of the data indicative of the guest operating system to determine a list of updates for the guest operating system, the list of updates identifying at least one patch; and

overwrite, while the guest operating system is offline, at least a portion of the data indicative of the guest operating system with at least the patch identified in the list of updates.

12. A computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 11, wherein the instructions that upon execution cause the computer system to analyze at least the portion of the data indicative of the guest operating system further comprise instructions that upon execution cause the computer system to:

run an update agent within a host operating system, the update agent configured to scan through the data indicative of the guest operating system searching for version information for the guest operating system.

13. A computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 11, wherein the computer readable storage medium further comprises instructions that upon execution cause the computer system to:

instantiate the virtual machine;

run the guest operating system; and

overwrite, while the guest operating system is running, at least a portion of the data indicative of the guest operating system with at least one patch identified in the list of updates.