Template-based software discovery and management in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environments

Abstract

A technique to manage software licensing in an environment that provides virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). A license manager is configured to receive first information identifying software applications associated with a virtual machine template used in the infrastructure, as well as second information that a user has logged into the VDI from a client device, thereby creating a VDI session. For a particular time period of interest, the license manager calculates software application usage information from the first and second information. Preferably, the software application usage information represents an application count that is based on the user and the client device “pair” when the user has the VDI session during at least some portion of the time period. The software application usage information is provided to one or more other computing systems to take a given action, such as tracking, managing, auditing, enforcing and accounting for software usage in the VDI environment.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONTechnical Field[0001]This disclosure relates generally to managing applications in a “cloud” compute environment.Background of the Related Art[0002]A popular information technology (IT) delivery model is cloud computing, by which shared resources, software and information are provided over the Internet to computers and other devices on-demand. Cloud computing can significantly reduce IT costs and complexities while improving workload optimization and service delivery. With this approach, an application instance can be hosted and made available from Internet-based resources that are accessible through a conventional Web browser or mobile application over HTTP. Cloud compute resources are typically housed in large server farms that run one or more network applications, typically using a virtualized architecture wherein applications run inside virtual servers, or so-called “virtual machines” (VMs), that are mapped onto physical servers in a data center facili...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a way to manage software licensing in a cloud computing environment with virtual desktops. It introduces a license manager that keeps track of software applications installed on virtual machines and uses this information to determine software application usage. This usage information is then used to manage software licensing in a way that takes into account the user and the session they are using. The technical effect is a more efficient and effective way to manage software licensing in a virtual desktop infrastructure.

Problems solved by technology

In this model, typically the consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities.

Known solutions, however, have not adequately addressed such software license consumption monitoring in this context.

In part, this is a consequence of the fact that the lifetime of the virtual machines being managed by the VDI server can be very short (e.g., hours, or even minutes).

Also, it is well-known that desktops are characterized by long periods of inactivity (i.e., idleness), during which virtual machines may be down-sized to consume a minimal amount of resources required for the desktop.

Traditional approaches to monitoring license usage in this operating environment are unsatisfactory.

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