Optimizing provisioning through automated virtual machine template generation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9600267-B2
Application number	US-201514739006-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2015
Priority date	Jun 15, 2015
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

Software that dynamically updates virtual machine templates at deterministic intervals in order to reduce patching time, by performing the following operations: (i) identifying a virtual machine (VM) provisioned according to a first VM template; (ii) initiating a patching process that applies a set of patch(es) to the VM, thereby creating a patched VM; (iii) determining that an amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than a predetermined threshold; and (iv) responsive to determining that the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the predetermined threshold, generating a second VM template based, at least in part, on the patched VM.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying, by one or more processors, a virtual machine (VM) provisioned according to a first VM template;
initiating, by one or more processors, a patching process that applies a set of patch(es) to the VM, thereby creating a patched VM;
determining, by one or more processors, a patch threshold based, at least in part, on a cost function, wherein the patch threshold is an amount of time that must elapse before a resource cost of completing the patching process is greater than a resource cost of creating a new VM template that already includes the set of patch(es);
determining, by one or more processors, that an amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold; and
responsive to determining that the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold, generating, by one or more processors, a second VM template based, at least in part, on the patched VM.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the patching process is a managed service in a cloud computing environment.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising provisioning, by one or more processors, a new VM according to the second VM template.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising replacing, by one or more processors, the first VM template with the second VM template.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold comprises:
recording a first timestamp at the time that the patching process is initiated;
recording a second timestamp at the time that the patching process is completed; and
calculating a difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the second VM template comprises creating a snapshot of the patched VM after the patching process has completed.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the patching process includes a plurality of patching subprocesses; and
the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is an aggregate amount of time to complete each of the corresponding patching subprocesses.

8. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon:
instructions executable by a device to cause the device to identify a virtual machine (VM) provisioned according to a first VM template;
instructions executable by the device to cause the device to initiate a patching process that applies a set of patch(es) to the VM, thereby creating a patched VM;
instructions executable by the device to cause the device to determine a patch threshold based, at least in part, on a cost function, wherein the patch threshold is an amount of time that must elapse before a resource cost of completing the patching process is greater than a resource cost of creating a new VM template that already includes the set of patch(es);
instructions executable by the device to cause the device to determine that an amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold; and
instructions executable by the device to cause the device to, responsive to determining that the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold, generate a second VM template based, at least in part, on the patched VM.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the patching process is a managed service in a cloud computing environment.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising instructions executable by the device to cause the device to provision a new VM according to the second VM template.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising instructions executable by the device to cause the device to replace the first VM template with the second VM template.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the determining that the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold comprises:
recording a first timestamp at the time that the patching process is initiated;
recording a second timestamp at the time that the patching process is completed; and
calculating a difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the generating of the second VM template comprises creating a snapshot of the patched VM after the patching process has completed.

14. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein:
the patching process includes a plurality of patching subprocesses; and
the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is an aggregate amount of time to complete each of the corresponding patching subprocesses.

15. A computer system comprising:
a processor(s) set; and
a computer readable storage medium;
wherein:
the processor set is structured, located, connected and/or programmed to execute instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium; and
the instructions include:
instructions executable by the processor set to cause the system to identify a virtual machine (VM) provisioned according to a first VM template;
instructions executable by the processor set to cause the system to initiate a patching process that applies a set of patch(es) to the VM, thereby creating a patched VM;
instructions executable by the processor set to cause the system to determine a patch threshold based, at least in part, on a cost function, wherein the patch threshold is an amount of time that must elapse before a resource cost of completing the patching process is greater than a resource cost of creating a new VM template that already includes the set of patch(es);
instructions executable by the processor set to cause the system to determine that an amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold; and
instructions executable processor set to cause the system to, responsive to determining that the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold, generate a second VM template based, at least in part, on the patched VM.

16. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the patching process is a managed service in a cloud computing environment.

17. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further include instructions executable by the processor set to cause the system to provision a new VM according to the second VM template.

18. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further include instructions executable by the processor set to cause the system to replace the first VM template with the second VM template.

19. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the determining that the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is greater than the patch threshold comprises:
recording a first timestamp at the time that the patching process is initiated;
recording a second timestamp at the time that the patching process is completed; and
calculating a difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp.

20. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein:
the patching process includes a plurality of patching subprocesses; and
the amount of time taken to complete the patching process is an aggregate amount of time to complete each of the corresponding patching subprocesses.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Chefalas Thomas E
• Egle David M
• Hiebert Daniel L
• Jurgensen Dennis D
• Meyer Iii Arthur J
• Schultz David M
• Singh Peter A

Classifications

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F8/62

  Uninstallation · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06F8/70

  Software maintenance or management · CPC title