Container image building

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10719345-B2
Application number	US-201815980946-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2018
Priority date	May 16, 2018
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

Methods, computer program products, and systems are presented. The method, computer program products, and systems can include, for instance: obtaining configuration data that specifies a designated runtime container image; selecting a first subset of content of a first container image stored in a system memory, the selecting based on an action referenced in the configuration data; extracting the first subset of content from the first container image, the extracting including providing a second container image that includes the first subset of content of the first container image and is absent of a second subset of content of the first container image; and running the designated runtime container image to provide a runtime container, the designated runtime container image having the first subset of content of the first container image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
obtaining configuration data that specifies a designated runtime container image;
selecting a first subset of content of a first container image stored in a system memory, the selecting based on an action referenced in the configuration data;
extracting the first subset of content from the first container image, the extracting including providing a second container image that includes the first subset of content of the first container image and is absent of a second subset of content of the first container image; and
running the designated runtime container image to provide a runtime container, the designated runtime container image having the first subset of content of the first container image, wherein the method includes building the designated runtime container, the building including the selecting and the extracting, wherein the action is an atomic action provided by a “first” atomic action resulting in extraction of a top layer of the first container image, wherein the building includes performing a “rest” atomic action resulting in extraction of all layers other than a top layer from a third container image, a “subtract” atomic action resulting in extraction of from a fourth container image layers not commonly included in an operation container image and an “intersect” atomic action resulting in extraction from a fifth container image layers commonly included in an operation container image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method includes building the designated runtime container image, the building including combining binary data and/or text data content of the first container image with binary data and/or text data content of third container image.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extracting the first subset of content of from the first container image is performed by a central container image repository, and wherein the running the designated runtime container image to provide a runtime container is performed by a container host node, and wherein the central container image repository is remote from the container host node.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first subset of content of the first container image is layer content of the first container image, the layer content having an associated layer ID and an associated first layer directory of the system memory for storing the first subset of content of the first container image, and wherein the method includes building the designated runtime container image, the building being performed so that a container image directory for the designated runtime container includes a reference to the first layer directory of the system memory for storing the first subset of content of the first container image.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data includes administrator user defined configuration data defined using an administrator user interface that permits an administrator to specify a graphical representation graphically depicting an ordering of layers of the designated runtime container image.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extracting the first subset of content from the first container image includes extracting binary data and/or text data content and is performed by a container host node external to a remote central container image repository, wherein the method includes building the designated runtime container using a container image build file that includes a first command to cause an image pull from the remote central container image repository to the container host node and a second atomic action command to direct the extracting.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method includes building the designated runtime container image using a container image build file that includes a first command to cause a container image pull from a remote central container image repository and a second atomic action command to direct the extracting, wherein the first container image is a multiple layer container image stored locally in a system memory of a container host node, and wherein the running the designated runtime container image includes running the designated runtime container image on the container host node.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method includes further extracting a specified subset of content from a third container image, and wherein the method includes building the designated runtime container image, wherein the building includes using the first subset of content extracting, and wherein the building includes using the specified subset of content resulting from the further extracting.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data is administrator user defined configuration data defined by an administrator user using an administrator user interface, wherein the administrator user interface facilitates display of information specifying container image IDs identifying container images having the first subset of content in response to administrator user entry of information specifying a layer defined by the extracted first subset of content.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data is administrator user defined configuration data defined by an administrator user using an administrator user interface, wherein the administrator user interface facilitates display, with use of a decision data structure that associates container image IDs to container layer IDs, of information specifying a list to layer IDs associated to the first container image.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extracting includes creating a new container image directory for the second container image, and storing in the new container image directory a reference to a layer directory of the first container image in which the first container image is stored.

12. A computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium readable by one or more processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by one or more processor for performing a method comprising:
obtaining configuration data that specifies a designated runtime container image;
selecting a first subset of content of a first container image stored in a system memory, the selecting based on an action referenced in the configuration data;
extracting the first subset of content from the first container image, the extracting including providing a second container image that includes the first subset of content of the first container image and is absent of a second subset of content of the first container image; and
running the designated runtime container image to provide a runtime container, the designated runtime container image having the first subset of content of the first container image, wherein the method includes building the designated runtime container, the building including the selecting and the extracting, wherein the action is an atomic action provided by a “first” atomic action resulting in extraction of a top layer of the first container image, wherein the building includes performing a “rest” atomic action resulting in extraction of all layers other than a top layer from a third container image, a “subtract” atomic action resulting in extraction of from a fourth container image layers not commonly included in an operation container image and an “intersect” atomic action resulting in extraction from a fifth container image layers commonly included in an operation container image.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 ,
wherein the configuration data is administrator user defined configuration data,
wherein the selecting, and the extracting are performed in response to a user activated control to initiate process

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Du Yan
• Luo Lan
• Zhao Jun Li
• Yin Jian Dong
• Chen Li Long

Classifications

• G06F9/45545

  Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

  Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing · CPC title

• G06F8/63 Primary

  Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order · CPC title

• G06F2009/45583

  Memory management, e.g. access or allocation · CPC title