Virtual Machine Metadata Management via Systems Management Partition
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The management of virtual machines across different vendor environments is complex due to proprietary formats, lack of standardization, and difficulty in tracking VMs, leading to challenges in compliance, security, and resource management.
Innovation Solution
A method for managing and controlling virtual machines involves applying compliance policies, registering VMs with unique IDs, and storing metadata within a systems management partition (SMP) for tracking and optimization, ensuring compliance and efficient resource utilization across environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If VMs are created and moved across different vendor environments with proprietary formats, then VM flexibility and vendor choice are improved, but management complexity and tracking difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a standardized metadata format and management interface that acts as an intermediary between diverse VM formats and the management system. This intermediary layer translates and normalizes VM information from different vendors into a common structure, enabling unified management without requiring changes to the underlying VM formats or vendor-specific tools.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal metadata schema that can represent VM information across multiple vendor environments and formats. This universal structure enables a single management system to handle diverse VM types from different vendors, eliminating the need for separate management tools for each vendor while maintaining full compatibility with proprietary formats.
2Reliability
If compliance policies are applied to all VMs before execution, then security and compliance are improved, but execution time and operational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements pre-execution compliance checking that validates VM metadata against compliance policies before the VM is allowed to execute. By performing this validation in advance and caching the compliance status, the system ensures security requirements are met without requiring repeated checks during each execution cycle, thus minimizing time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes a feedback mechanism where compliance check results are stored and reused. Once a VM's compliance status is determined, this information is fed back into the system and used for subsequent execution requests, eliminating redundant validation work and reducing preparation time for repeated operations while maintaining compliance assurance.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a
Figure 2b
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed for controlling and managing virtual machines and other such virtual systems. VM execution approval is based on compliance with policies controlling various aspects of VM. The techniques can be employed to benefit all virtual environments, such as virtual machines, virtual appliances, and virtual applications. For ease of discussion herein, assume that a virtual machine (VM) represents each of these environments. In one particular embodiment, a systems management partition (SMP) is created inside the VM to provide a persistent and resilient storage for management information (e.g., logical and physical VM metadata). The SMP can also be used as a staging area for installing additional content or agentry on the VM when the VM is executed. Remote storage of management information can also be used. The VM management information can then be made available for pre-execution processing, including policy-based compliance testing.