Provisioning a virtual machine from one or more VM images

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention directed to a method for provisioning a specified virtual machine from one or more selected images, sent over the network, includes the step of decomposing each of the selected VM images to provide a group of components, each component having specified information associated with it. The method further includes using a predetermined selection criterion to select components from the group for assembly into a specified VM image, and using the selected components of the specified VM image to provision the specified virtual machine at one or more locations.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 621,596, filed on Sep. 17, 2012, status Pending, and entitled “PROVISIONING A VIRTUAL MACHINE FROM ONE OR MORE VM IMAGES”. The contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field[0003]The invention disclosed and claimed herein generally pertains to use of a virtual machine (VM) image to provision a specified virtual machine. More particularly, the invention pertains to assembling or constructing the VM image from components or slices obtained from one or more other VM images.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]As is known by those of skill in the art, a virtual machine (VM) is a software implementation of a computer or like machine that executes programs in the manner of a physical machine. A virtual machine image is a group of software and data components that are used to provision a virtual machine, in order to provide a VM inst...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a method for creating a virtual machine by using a selection criterion to choose components from a set of available VM images. These components can be streamed to the virtual machine to allow for pipelined processing. The method can also include creating new VM images by combining subgraphs from different VM images. The technical effect of this invention is a more efficient and flexible way to create and provision virtual machines.

Problems solved by technology

Notwithstanding the benefits of making VM images available to users by cloud computing or other means, in order to achieve coherence and economies of scale, the current use of VM images has significant disadvantages.

This could be a very undesirable burden for the user, if the user already had other access to the particular operating system, and did not need the particular web service.

A further drawback in the use of VM images can be the slowness with which they may become available.

However, in current arrangements, these two components would not become available for use until the entire given VM image was instantiated in its entirety at the user's location.

These added five or 10 minutes that the user would have to wait to begin his work could be quite burdensome, such as if the user had to instantiate the VM image frequently, or wanted to include it in a product being marketed to others.

Yet another disadvantage of currently used VM images pertains to trust or security.

For the above given VM image, it could happen that the particular operating system and database were known by the user to be totally secure, but the web service was not known to be secure.

Accordingly, if the user wanted to use the VM image in a product he was marketing, he could not guarantee its security.

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