System to support native storage of a container image on a host operating system for a container running in a virtual machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025124006-A1
Application number	US-202418983144-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 16, 2024
Priority date	Sep 10, 2020
Publication date	Apr 17, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Described herein are a system and method for forming a container image. The system and method include obtaining a first layer of a plurality of layers of the container image. The contents of the first layer are stored in a directory such that a first disk image layer file is mounted to the directory. A second layer of the plurality of layers is obtained, and the contents of the second layer are stored in the directory so that the first disk image layer includes contents of the first layer and the second layer. The first disk image layer is saved and is mountable and includes files of the container image.

First claim

1 . A method for forming a container image, the method comprising:
obtaining a first layer of a plurality of layers of the container image; storing contents of the first layer into a directory, wherein a first disk image layer file is mounted to the directory; obtaining a second layer of the plurality of layers, wherein the second layer is a difference layer over at least the first layer; storing contents of the second layer into the directory so that the first disk image layer file includes the contents of the first layer and the second layer; and saving the first disk image layer file, the first disk image layer file being mountable and including files of the container image.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring the first disk image layer file to have case sensitive file names.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to storing contents of the second layer into the directory, un-mounting the first disk image layer file from the directory; and saving a copy of the first disk image layer file in a second directory.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first layer and second layer correspond to first and second digest files in a repository; and each of the first digest file and second digest file has a hash value and is accessible from the repository by its hash value.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising executing a container based on the container image, the container having a root file system, by mounting the first disk image layer file to the root file system.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the method is performed by a container runtime executing on a host operating system of a computing device; and wherein the container is running in a virtual computing instance executing on the computing device, the container virtualizing a guest operating system of the virtual computing instance.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the host operating system is Mac OS.

8 . A system comprising:
one or more processors; and a computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform operations for forming a container image, operations comprising:
obtaining a first layer of a plurality of layers of the container image;
storing contents of the first layer into a directory, wherein a first disk image layer file is mounted to the directory;
obtaining a second layer of the plurality of layers, wherein the second layer is a difference layer over at least the first layer;
storing contents of the second layer into the directory so that the first disk image layer file includes the contents of the first layer and the second layer; and
saving the first disk image layer file, the first disk image layer file being mountable and including files of the container image.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise configuring the first disk image layer file to have case sensitive file names.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
prior to storing contents of the second layer into the directory, un-mounting the first disk image layer file from the directory; and saving a copy of the first disk image layer file in a second directory.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein:
the first layer and second layer correspond to first and second digest files in a repository; and each of the first digest file and second digest file has a hash value and is accessible from the repository by its hash value.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise executing a container based on the container image, the container having a root file system, by mounting the first disk image layer file to the root file system.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein:
the operations are performed by a container runtime executing on a host operating system; and the container is running in a virtual computing instance executing on the system, the container virtualizing a guest operating system of the virtual computing instance.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the host operating system is Mac OS.

15 . A non-transient computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by one or more processors operations for forming a container image, operations comprising, the operations comprising:
obtaining a first layer of a plurality of layers of the container image; storing contents of the first layer into a directory, wherein a first disk image layer file is mounted to the directory; obtaining a second layer of the plurality of layers, wherein the second layer is a difference layer over at least the first layer; storing contents of the second layer into the directory so that the first disk image layer file includes the contents of the first layer and the second layer; and saving the first disk image layer file, the first disk image layer file being mountable and including files of the container image.

16 . The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising configuring the first disk image layer file to have case sensitive file names.

17 . The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
prior to storing contents of the second layer into the directory, un-mounting the first disk image layer file from the directory; and saving a copy of the first disk image layer file in a second directory.

18 . The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:
the first layer and second layer correspond to first and second digest files in a repository; and each of the first digest file and second digest file has a hash value and is accessible from the repository by its hash value.

19 . The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising executing a container based on the container image, the container having a root file system, by mounting the first disk image layer file to the root file system.

20 . The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein:
the operations are performed by a container runtime executing on a host operating system; and the container is running in a virtual computing instance executing on the system, the container virtualizing a guest operating system of the virtual computing instance.

Assignees

• VMware LLC

Inventors

• Wu Junfei
• Ye Xiaodong

Classifications

• G06F16/137 Primary

  Hash-based (content-based indexing of textual data G06F16/31) · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45583

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

• G06F9/455

  Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines · CPC title

• G06F16/188 Primary

  Virtual file systems · CPC title