Information processing apparatus, client management system, and client management method

• US 9,092,252 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2012
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Asayama, Atsushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong, Camquy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kamran, Mehran
• Application Number:
  US13/609,784
• Publication Number:
  US 20130227564A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,050 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

According to one embodiment, in response to a connection request from a second virtual machine corresponding to a second client terminal on which a first user has newly executed a logon operation, an information processing apparatus determines whether a first user profile associated with a first identifier of the first user is being used by another client terminal. If the first user profile is being used, the apparatus causes a first virtual machine corresponding to the another client terminal to unmount the first storage location, and transmits the information indicative of the path to the first storage location to a second virtual machine corresponding to the second client terminal.

Claims

1. An information process apparatus which is applied to a client management system configured to manage a plurality of virtualization client terminals and a plurality of thin client terminals on a network, the thin client terminals each configured to communicate with a virtual machine in the client management system by using a screen transfer protocol, the virtualization client terminals each configured to execute virtualization software, an operating system and an application program in a virtual image file which is delivered from the client management system, the apparatus comprising:

a storage module configured to store (i) an identifier of a user, (ii) an identifier of a user profile corresponding to the user, (iii) a flag that indicates whether the user profile is being used, and (iv) information indicative of a path to a storage location of the user profile;

a first control module configured to transmit, in response to receiving a connection request including an identifier of a first user from a first virtual machine corresponding to a first client terminal which is one of the plurality of thin client terminals or the plurality of virtualization client terminals and on which the first user has executed a logon operation, information indicative of a path to a first storage location in a storage on the network to the first virtual machine such that the first storage location is mounted on a file system of the first virtual machine, the first storage location storing a first user profile associated with the identifier of the first user, wherein the first control module, upon receiving a logon notification including the identifier of the first user from the first virtual machine, accesses the storage module and sets a flag of the first user profile to be a first state; and

a second control module configured to determine, in response to receiving a connection request from a second virtual machine corresponding to a second client terminal which is one of the plurality of thin client terminals or the plurality of virtualization client terminals and on which the first user has newly executed a logon operation, whether the first user profile is being used by the first client terminal, to cause, if the first user profile is being used, the first virtual machine to unmount the first storage location, and to transmit the information indicative of the path to the first storage location to the second virtual machine such that the first storage location is mounted on a file system of the second virtual machine, wherein the second control module, upon receiving a logoff notification including the identifier of the first user from the first virtual machine, accesses the storage module and sets the flag of the first user profile to be a second state different than the first state.

2. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second control module is further configured to cause, if the first user profile is being used, the second virtual machine to display on a display of the second client terminal a screen for confirming whether or not to establish a connection of the second client terminal to the system, and to cause, if a request indicative of execution of the connection has been received from the second virtual machine, the first virtual machine to unmount the first storage location.

3. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second control module is configured to instruct the first virtual machine to execute a logoff process for disconnecting the first client terminal from the system, thereby to cause the first virtual machine to unmount the first storage location.

4. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second control module is configured to store a notification file, which indicates that the first user profile is being requested by another client terminal, in a folder on the storage, in which the first storage location is present, thereby to cause the first virtual machine to unmount the first storage location.

5. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first client terminal is one of the plurality of thin client terminals.

6. A client management system configured to manage a plurality of virtualization client terminals and a plurality of thin client terminals on a network, the thin client terminals each configured to communicate with a virtual machine in the client management system by using a screen transfer protocol, the virtualization client terminals each configured to execute virtualization software, an operating system and an application program in a virtual image file which is delivered from the client management system, the apparatus comprising:

a storage module configured to store (i) an identifier of a user, (ii) an identifier of a user profile corresponding to the user, (iii) a flag that indicates whether the user profile is being used, and (iv) information indicative of a path to a storage location of the user profile;

a thin client execution server configured to execute a plurality of virtual machines for communicating with a plurality of thin client terminals on the network by using a screen transfer protocol;

a delivery server configured to deliver a virtual image file including an operating system and an application program to a plurality of virtualization client terminals on the network, which execute virtualization software; and

a profile management module configured to manage a plurality of user profiles corresponding to a plurality of users by using a storage which stores the plurality of user profiles, the profile management module comprising;

a first control module configured to transmit, in response to receiving a connection request including an identifier of a first user from a first virtual machine corresponding to a first client terminal which is one of the plurality of thin client terminals or the plurality of virtualization client terminals and on which the first user has executed a logon operation, information indicative of a path to a first storage location in a storage on the network to the first virtual machine such that the first storage location is mounted on a file system of the first virtual machine, the first storage location storing a first user profile associated with the identifier of the first user, wherein the first control module, upon receiving a logon notification including the identifier of the first user from the first virtual machine, accesses the storage module and sets a flag of the first user profile to be a first state; and

a second control module configured to determine, in response to receiving a connection request from a second virtual machine corresponding to a second client terminal which is one of the plurality of thin client terminals or the plurality of virtualization client terminals and on which the first user has newly executed a logon operation, whether the first user profile is being used by the first client terminal, to cause, if the first user profile is being used, the first virtual machine to unmount the first storage location, and to transmit the information indicative of the path to the first storage location to the second virtual machine such that the first storage location is mounted on a file system of the second virtual machine, wherein the second control module, upon receiving a logoff notification including the identifier of the first user from the first virtual machine, accesses the storage module and sets the flag of the first user profile to be a second state different than the first state.

7. The client management system of claim 6, wherein the second control module is further configured to cause, if the first user profile is being used, the second virtual machine to display on a display of the second client terminal a screen for confirming whether or not to establish a connection of the second client terminal to the system, and to cause, if a request indicative of execution of the connection has been received from the second virtual machine, the first virtual machine to unmount the first storage location.

8. The client management system of claim 6, wherein the first client terminal is one of the plurality of thin client terminals.

9. A client management method of managing a plurality of virtualization client terminals and a plurality of thin client terminals on a network, the thin client terminals each configured to communicate with a virtual machine in the client management system by using a screen transfer protocol, the virtualization client terminals each configured to execute virtualization software, an operating system and an application program in a virtual image file which is delivered from the client management system, the method comprising:

storing, in a storage module, (i) an identifier of a user, (ii) an identifier of a user profile corresponding to the user, (iii) a flag that indicates whether the user profile is being used, and (iv) information indicative of a path to a storage location of the user profile;

transmitting, in response to receiving a connection request including an identifier of a first user from a first virtual machine corresponding to a first client terminal which is one of the plurality of thin client terminals or the plurality of virtualization client terminals and on which the first user has executed a logon operation, information indicative of a path to a first storage location in a storage on the network to the first virtual machine, such that the first storage location is mounted on a file system of the first virtual machine, the first storage location storing a first user profile associated with the identifier of the first user, wherein the first control module, upon receiving a logon notification including the identifier of the first user from the first virtual machine, accesses the storage module and sets a flag of the first user profile to be a first state;

determining, in response to receiving a connection request from a second virtual machine corresponding to a second client terminal which is one of the plurality of thin client terminals or the plurality of virtualization client terminals and on which the first user has newly executed a logon operation, whether the first user profile is being used by the first client terminal; and

causing, if the first user profile is being used, the first virtual machine to un mount the first storage location, and transmitting the information indicative of the path to the first storage location to the second virtual machine such that the first storage location is mounted on a file system of the second virtual machine, wherein the second control module, upon receiving a logoff notification including the identifier of the first user from the first virtual machine, accesses the storage module and sets the flag of the first user profile to be a second state different than the first state.

10. The client management method of claim 9, further comprising causing, if the first user profile is being used, the second virtual machine to display on a display of the second client terminal a screen for confirming whether or not to establish a connection of the second client terminal to the system, wherein said causing the first virtual machine to unmount the first storage location includes causing, if a request indicative of execution of the connection has been received from the second virtual machine, the first virtual machine to unmount the first storage location.

11. The client management method of claim 9, wherein the first client terminal is one of the plurality of thin client terminals.