Autonomic Virtual Appliance Customizer for Deployment Simplification
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Solution Overview
Problem
The deployment of virtual machines requires significant manual intervention by administrators with specialized knowledge due to technical customization requirements, which can vary by virtualization platform, making it complex for end users without such knowledge to customize virtual appliances effectively.
Innovation Solution
A customizer system that retrieves customization values from various providers to autonomically customize virtual appliances, allowing end users to initiate customization at different times prior to deployment and providing additional customization options, specifically for CPU, memory, storage, network, and software properties using Open Virtualization Format (OVF) files.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual customization by administrators is used, then customization accuracy is improved, but deployment complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a customization service as an intermediary component that automatically retrieves customization values from multiple providers and applies them to virtual machine deployment. This service acts as a mediator between the deployment system and customization data, eliminating the need for administrators to manually configure complex customization parameters while maintaining high customization accuracy through automated value retrieval and validation.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual customization by administrators is used, then customization precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by enabling the deployment process to automatically obtain customization values from configured providers without requiring administrator intervention. The customization service autonomously retrieves, validates, and applies customization parameters, allowing end users to deploy virtual machines with precise customization through simple operations rather than complex manual configuration.
3Ease of operation
If autonomic customization is implemented, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The customization service incorporates feedback mechanisms by validating retrieved customization values against expected formats and constraints before application. The system monitors the customization process, verifies data integrity from providers, and can fallback to default values or error handling procedures when validation fails, thereby maintaining reliability while enabling automated operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A customizer autonomically customizes a virtual appliance by retrieving customization values for various customizable properties of a virtual machine from various providers to customize the virtual appliance in order to simplify deployment of the virtual appliance. The customization properties may include CPU properties, memory properties, storage properties, network properties and properties specific to the software in the virtual appliance. The customizer allows an end user to initiate autonomic customization of the virtual appliance at various times prior to deployment of the virtual appliance. The customizer also allows the user to provide additional customization upon execution.