Automatic shutdown of idle virtual machines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12236257-B2
Application number	US-202217678239-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2022
Priority date	Feb 23, 2022
Publication date	Feb 25, 2025
Grant date	Feb 25, 2025

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for automatically shutting down idle virtual machines (VMs). One method includes an operation for determining a number of active connections of a VM. The method further includes checking disconnect rules to determine automatic shutting down of the VM. The disconnect rules are based on the number of active connections of the VM, and the disconnect rules define criteria for determining when to shut down the VM automatically. The method further includes, based on determining to automatically shut down the VM, sending a message indicating the VM is inactive to a VM manager program executing at a cloud-service provider. The VM manager program is configured to shut down the VM in response to receiving the message indicating the VM is inactive.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining, at a connect monitor in a virtual machine operated by one or more processors of a cloud-service server, a number of active connections of the virtual machine (VM), the VM being executed on the cloud-service server;
checking at the connect monitor in the VM, disconnect rules in the VM, the disconnect rules based on the number of active connections of the VM, the disconnect rules defining criteria for determining when to shut down the VM automatically;
determining, at the connect monitor in the VM, to automatically shut down the VM based on the disconnect rules in the VM;
based on determining to automatically shut down the VM, generating, at the connect monitor in the VM, a message indicating the VM is inactive and sending the message to a VM manager program executing outside of the VM at the cloud-service server, wherein the VM manager program process the message, identify separately predetermined disconnect parameters, in the VM manager program, at the cloud-service server, and selectively shut down the VM based on the disconnect rules and the disconnect parameters.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein each active connection is an ongoing interaction between the VM and another computing device to exchange data.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , further comprising:
for each active connection, establishing a communication channel between the VM and the another computing device.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking a disconnect rule that defines to automatically shut down the VM when a number of terminal-services connections is equal to zero; and
determining to automatically shut down the VM when the number of terminal-services connections is equal to zero.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking respective rules for one or more types of active connections.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking a threshold inactivity period; and
determining to automatically shut down the VM after the VM has zero active connections for at least the threshold inactivity period.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking a number of terminal connections; and
determining to automatically shut down the VM when the number of terminal connections is below a predetermined threshold number of terminal connections.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking a threshold number of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) connections; and
determining to automatically shut down the VM when the number of SMTP connections is below the threshold number of SMTP connections.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking a number of web browser tabs open; and
determining to automatically shut down the VM when the number of web browser tabs open is below a predetermined threshold number of web browser tabs open.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking an amount of time the VM is inactive; and
determining to automatically shut down the VM after the VM is inactive for a minimum amount of time.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
detecting that another VM is configured to not shut down due to inactivity; and
avoid shutting down the other VM due to inactivity.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the VM manager program determines a conflict between the disconnect rules and the disconnect parameters and shuts down the VM based on the disconnect parameters instead of the disconnect rules.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein the disconnect parameters include one or more of threshold number of terminal connections before shutting down VM, threshold number of SMTP connections before shutting down VM, threshold number of web browser tabs open before shutting down VM, minimum amount of time the VM is inactive before shutting down the VM, and VM to not be shut down due to inactivity.

14. A system comprising: a memory comprising instructions; and one or more computer processors, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
determining, at a connect monitor in a virtual machine operated by one or more processors of a cloud-service server, a number of active connections of the virtual machine (VM), the VM being executed on the cloud-service server;
checking, at the connect monitor in the VM, disconnect rules in the VM, the disconnect rules based on the number of active connections of the VM, the disconnect rules defining criteria for determining when to shut down the VM automatically;
determining, at the connect monitor in the VM, to automatically shut down the VM based on the disconnect rules in the VM;
based on determining to automatically shut down the VM, generating, at the connect monitor in the VM, a message indicating the VM is inactive and sending the message to a VM manager program executing outside of the VM at the cloud-service server, wherein the VM manager program process the message, identify separately predetermined disconnect parameters, in the VM manager program, at the cloud-service server, and selectively shut down the VM based on the disconnect rules and the disconnect parameters.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
determining, at a connect monitor in a virtual machine operated by one or more processors of a cloud-service server, a number of active connections of the virtual machine (VM), the VM being executed on the cloud-service server;
checking, at the connect monitor in the VM, disconnect rules in the VM, the disconnect rules based on the number of active connections of the VM, the disconnect rules defining criteria for determining when to shut down the VM automatically;
determining, at the connect monitor in the VM, to automatically shut down the VM based on the disconnect rules in the VM; and
based on determining to automatically shut down the VM, generating, at the connect monitor in the VM, a message indicating the VM is inactive and sending the message to a VM manager program executing outside of the VM at the cloud-service server, wherein the VM manager program is configured to process the message, identify separately predetermined disconnect parameters, in the VM manager program, at the cloud-service server, and selectively shut down the VM based on the disconnect rules and the disconnect parameters.

16. The tangible machine-readable storage medium as recited in claim 15 , wherein each active connection is an ongoing interaction between the VM and another computing device to exchange data.

17. The tangible machine-readable storage medium as recited in claim 15 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking a disconnect rule that defines to automatically shut down the VM when a number of terminal-services connections is equal to zero; and
determining to automatically shut down the VM when the number of terminal-services connections is equal to zero.

18. The tangible machine-readable storage medium as recited in claim 15 , wherein checking the disconnect rules comprises:
checking re

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Nelson Jason

Classifications

• G06F9/485 Primary

  Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution (G06F9/4881 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F9/5022

  Mechanisms to release resources · CPC title

• G06F2009/45575

  Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances · CPC title

• G06F2009/45591

  Monitoring or debugging support · CPC title

• G06F2009/45562

  Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances · CPC title