Virtual Machine Reuse via Process Termination for Application Management

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Solution Overview

Problem

Managing applications on computing systems, particularly those utilizing virtual machines, requires significant expertise and time, and existing solutions often necessitate different user techniques for configuration and operation, leading to inefficiencies and resource wastage.

Innovation Solution

An application management platform that includes a load balancer, orchestrator, monitoring module, and repository, which simplifies the deployment, management, and re-use of virtual machines by automating tasks such as provisioning, scaling, and resource allocation, allowing for efficient management of multiple applications without requiring specialized knowledge from end-users.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If virtual machines are terminated and re-provisioned for each application deployment, then application isolation and security are improved, but computational resource wastage increases and deployment time increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveapplication isolation and securityVSAvoidcomputational resource wastage

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system terminates application processes on virtual machines and recovers the virtual machine resources for reuse. The orchestrator monitors application status, terminates processes when applications stop, and makes the virtual machine available for new deployments, thus recovering computational resources without requiring full re-provisioning

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

Solution Approach 2:

Virtual machines are designed to serve multiple application deployments universally. The same virtual machine infrastructure can host different applications sequentially, with the orchestrator managing the allocation and termination of processes to enable the virtual machine to fulfill multiple functions across different application lifecycles

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Adaptability or versatility

If users manually manage application deployment on virtual machines, then customization and control are improved, but user expertise requirements increase and management time increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecustomization and controlVSAvoiduser expertise requirements and management time

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The orchestrator implements self-service automation for application deployment management. It automatically provisions virtual machines, deploys applications, monitors process status, and terminates processes when needed, eliminating the need for users to perform manual configuration and management tasks while maintaining system control and adaptability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The orchestrator acts as an intermediary between users and the virtual machine infrastructure. It abstracts the complex deployment and management operations, providing users with simplified interfaces while handling the technical complexity of virtual machine provisioning, application deployment, and process management in the background

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Adaptability or versatility

If multiple virtual machines are provisioned for multiple applications, then application independence and scalability are improved, but resource consumption and management complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveapplication independence and scalabilityVSAvoidmanagement complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system merges the management of multiple virtual machines and applications under a single orchestrator platform. The orchestrator provides unified provisioning, deployment, monitoring, and termination capabilities across the entire virtual machine fleet, reducing management complexity while maintaining application independence and enabling scalable deployment

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentUS8997093B2Application installation management by selectively reuse or terminate virtual machines based on a process status

Publication Date: 2015.03.31 SAP SE

AI summary

Example systems and methods of managing installation of applications are described. In one implementation, a repository stores data associated with multiple application instances. An orchestrator analyzes application instances running on multiple provisioned virtual machines and identifies at least one unused virtual machine among the multiple provisioned virtual machines. The orchestrator terminates processes running on the unused virtual machine and clears data associated with the unused virtual machine. The cleared virtual machine is added to a virtual machine pool for use by another application instance.