Monitoring and managing applications on virtual machines using a proxy agent

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10437621-B2
Application number	US-201514693019-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2015
Priority date	Apr 22, 2015
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

In some implementations, a method includes receiving, from a virtual machine, a request to create a proxy agent configured to monitor an application executing on the virtual machine, wherein the proxy agent is associated with the virtual machine and wherein the virtual machine is unable to host the proxy agent. The method also includes creating the proxy agent based on the request to create the proxy agent. The method further includes receiving monitoring data for the application executing on the virtual machine via the proxy agent. The method further includes transmitting a status of the application or the monitoring data to a server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
at a host computing device configured to communicate with a server via a network,
booting a virtual machine on the host computing device using a first disk image having a configuration module with use of a boot loader of the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine of the host computing device is unable to host a proxy agent;
executing the configuration module of the first disk image to cause a request to create a proxy agent to be transmitted to the server for installation of the proxy agent at the server, wherein the proxy agent is configured to monitor an application of the virtual machine over the network; and
rebooting the virtual machine on the host computing device using a second disk image with use of the boot loader of the virtual machine, wherein the second disk image includes the application to be monitored over the network via the proxy agent.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein executing the configuration module of the first disk image further comprises:
receiving an identifier for the virtual machine from a managing server, wherein the request to create the proxy agent includes the identifier.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
at the host computing device,
provisioning the virtual machine.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: at the host computing device,
executing the configuration module of the first disk image to cause a plugin module to be transmitted to the server for execution of the plugin module on the server, wherein the plugin module is configured to operate in conjunction with the proxy agent at the server to facilitate communication between the server and the application of the virtual machine.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the disk image is located in a partition of the virtual machine and wherein the second disk image is located in a second partition of the virtual machine.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the disk image is located in a virtual disk of the virtual machine and wherein the second disk image is located in a second virtual disk of the virtual machine.

7. A host computing device configured to communicate with a server via a network, the host computing device comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable memory storing instructions;
a processor programmed to execute the instructions in memory to perform operations comprising:
booting a virtual machine on the host computing device using a first disk image having a configuration module with use of a boot loader of the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine of the host computing device is unable to host a proxy agent;
executing the configuration module of the first disk image to cause a request to create a proxy agent to be transmitted to the server for installation of
the proxy agent at the server, wherein the proxy agent is configured to monitor an application of the virtual machine over the network; and
rebooting the virtual machine on the host computing device using a second disk image with use of the boot loader of the virtual machine, wherein the second disk image includes the application to be monitored over the network via the proxy agent.

8. The host device of claim 7 , wherein executing the configuration module of the first disk image further comprises:
receiving an identifier for the virtual machine from a managing server, wherein the request to create the proxy agent includes the identifier.

9. The host device of claim 7 , the operations further comprising:
provisioning the virtual machine.

10. The host device of claim 7 , the operations further comprising:
executing the configuration module of the first disk image to cause a plugin module to be transmitted to the server for execution of the plugin module on the server, wherein the plugin module is configured to operate in conjunction with the proxy agent at the server to facilitate communication between the server and the application of the virtual machine.

11. The host device of claim 7 , wherein the disk image is located in a partition of the virtual machine and wherein the second disk image is located in a second partition of the virtual machine.

12. The host device of claim 7 , wherein the disk image is located in a virtual disk of the virtual machine and wherein the second disk image is located in a second virtual disk of the virtual machine.

13. A non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions which when executed by a host computing device configured to communicate with a server via a network cause the host computing device to perform operations comprising:
booting a virtual machine on the host computing device using a first disk image having a configuration module with use of a boot loader of the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine of the host computing device is unable to host a proxy agent;
executing the configuration module of the first disk image to cause a request to create a proxy agent to be transmitted to the server for installation of
the proxy agent at the server, wherein the proxy agent is configured to monitor an application of the virtual machine over the network; and
rebooting the virtual machine on the host computing device using a second disk image with use of the boot loader of the virtual machine, wherein the second disk image includes the application to be monitored over the network via the proxy agent.

14. The media of claim 13 , wherein executing the configuration module of the first disk image further comprises:
receiving an identifier for the virtual machine from a managing server, wherein the request to create the proxy agent includes the identifier.

15. The media of claim 13 , the operations further comprising:
provisioning the virtual machine.

16. The media of claim 13 , the operations further comprising:
executing the configuration module of the first disk image to cause a plugin module to be transmitted to the server for execution of the plugin module on the server, wherein the plugin module is configured to operate in conjunction with the proxy agent at the server to facilitate communication between the server and the application of the virtual machine.

17. The media of claim 13 , wherein the disk image is located in a partition of the virtual machine and wherein the second disk image is located in a second partition of the virtual machine.

18. The media of claim 13 , wherein the disk image is located in a virtual disk of the virtual machine and wherein the second disk image is located in a second virtual disk of the virtual machine.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Haque Shaheedur Reza
• Turner Matthew
• Lim Vanson

Classifications

• G06F2009/45591

  Monitoring or debugging support · CPC title

• G06F2009/45595

  Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title