Virtual Disk Attachment Control for License Compliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Controlling the usage of application programs on virtual disks in virtual machines to ensure compliance with license entitlements is challenging, especially in large virtual appliances, as existing methods require modifying virtual machines and attaching new disks before verifying compliance.
Innovation Solution
A method that detects requests for adding new virtual disks, determines their composition, retrieves usage entitlements, and enables or prevents attachment based on a comparison between the two, allowing proactive control without modifying the virtual machines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If virtual disks are attached to virtual machines before verifying license compliance, then the virtual machine can be configured and deployed, but license entitlement compliance cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs license compliance verification before attaching the virtual disk to the virtual machine. The licensing tool analyzes the virtual disk image file independently, checking software artifacts against license entitlements in advance. This preliminary action ensures compliance is established prior to deployment, resolving the contradiction between deployment speed and compliance reliability.
2Reliability
If licensing agents are injected into virtual machines to control usage, then license compliance can be monitored, but the virtual machine configuration becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the licensing control function from the virtual machine environment and performs it externally on the virtual disk image file before attachment. The licensing tool operates independently on the disk image, analyzing software artifacts and comparing them with license entitlements without requiring any agents or modifications inside the virtual machine. This extraction eliminates the complexity of injecting and managing licensing agents within the virtual machine.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a licensing tool as an intermediary between the virtual disk management system and the virtual machine. This intermediary analyzes the virtual disk image file and determines compliance before attachment, acting as a mediator that ensures license enforcement without requiring direct integration or agents within the virtual machine itself, thus maintaining simplicity while ensuring compliance.
3Reliability
If virtual disks are controlled after attachment, then usage can be monitored, but proactive compliance control is not possible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs compliance verification as a preliminary action during the virtual disk attachment process itself, before the virtual disk becomes operational in the virtual machine. The licensing tool analyzes the virtual disk image and verifies compliance during the attachment operation, enabling proactive control rather than reactive monitoring after deployment. This eliminates the time loss associated with post-attachment verification and ensures compliance is established upfront.
Data Source
AI summary
Controlling usage of virtual disks in a data-processing center hosting a set of virtual machines is described where each virtual disk comprises a set of software artifacts. A corresponding method comprises detecting a request of adding a new virtual disk comprising a set of new software artifacts to a selected one of the virtual machines, determining composition information of the new virtual disk, which includes an indication of the new software artifacts, retrieving an indication of usage entitlements of the new software artifacts in the data-processing center, enabling or preventing the attachment of the new virtual disk to the selected virtual machine according to a comparison between the composition information and the usage entitlements, attaching the new virtual disk to the selected virtual machine in response to the enabling thereof, and updating the usage entitlements in response to the attachment of the new virtual disk.