Segregating a monolithic computing system into multiple attachable application containers based on application boundaries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9910667-B2
Application number	US-201615186242-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2016
Priority date	Jun 17, 2016
Publication date	Mar 6, 2018
Grant date	Mar 6, 2018

Abstract

Techniques are described for segregating a monolithic computing device that contains many installed applications into separate application storage volumes that can be attached or detached from the computing device as needed. Once the monolithic device has been segregated, the application storage volumes can be managed remotely from a management server and can be enabled or disabled on the device based on instructions from an administrator. Additionally, the administrator is enabled to select which application storage volumes are migrated during an operating system (OS) upgrade on the computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for segregating a monolithic computing system into multiple application containers, the method comprising:
performing a static analysis of a computing system having an operating system and a plurality of applications installed thereon to determine application boundaries, the static analysis including:
identifying a first set of components that comprise a first application of the plurality of applications including
inspecting an installation database on the computing system to determine a set of basic components of the first application installed on the computing system, the set of basic components including one or more binary executable files;
parsing the one or more binary executable files to identify character strings that indicate a file system path, a registry path, a file name or an imported module; and
capturing one or more additional components identified by the character strings parsed from the one or more binary executable files;

identifying a second set of components that comprise a second application of the plurality of applications;

generating a first virtual disk that contains the first set of components of the first application, including storing the set of basic components and the additional components in the first virtual disk; and
generating a second virtual disk that contains the second set of components of the second application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
deleting the first set of components of the first application from original locations on the computing system in which the set of components were stored during installation of the first application; and
attaching the first virtual disk by mounting the first virtual disk to the computing system and modifying one or more registry keys on the operating system to make the first application executable from the mounted first virtual disk.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first application is separated from the operating system and wherein the first application is executed by invoking the first set of components in the first virtual disk.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
disabling the first application on the computing system by unmounting the first virtual disk.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
uploading the first virtual disk containing the first application and the second virtual disk containing the second application to a management server over a network connection.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the static analysis is performed by an agent operating on the computing system, the agent configured to communicate with a management server over a network connection to receive instructions for attaching or detach the first virtual disk.

7. A computing device, comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:
perform a static analysis of a computing system having an operating system and a plurality of applications installed thereon to determine application boundaries, the static analysis including:
identify a first set of components that comprise a first application of the plurality of applications including
inspecting an installation database on the computing system to determine a set of basic components of the first application installed on the computing system, the set of basic components including one or more binary executable files;
parsing the one or more binary executable files to identify character strings that indicate a file system path, a registry path, a file name or an imported module; and
capturing one or more additional components identified by the character strings parsed from the one or more binary executable files;

identify a second set of components that comprise a second application of the plurality of applications;

generate a first virtual disk that contains the first set of components of the first application, including storing the set of basic components and the additional components in the first virtual disk; and
generate a second virtual disk that contains the second set of components of the second application.

8. The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:
delete the first set of components of the first application from original locations on the computing system in which the set of components were stored during installation of the first application; and
attach the first virtual disk by mounting the first virtual disk to the computing system and modifying one or more registry keys on the operating system to make the first application executable from the mounted first virtual disk.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the first application is separated from the operating system and wherein the first application is executed by invoking the first set of components in the first virtual disk.

10. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:
disable the first application on the computing system by unmounting the first virtual disk.

11. The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:
upload the first virtual disk containing the first application and the second virtual disk containing the second application to a management server over a network connection.

12. The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the static analysis is performed by an agent operating on the computing system, the agent configured to communicate with a management server over a network connection to receive instructions for attaching or detach the first virtual disk.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising one or more sequences of instructions, the instructions when executed by one or more processors causing the one or more processors to execute the operations of:
performing a static analysis of a computing system having an operating system and a plurality of applications installed thereon to determine application boundaries, the static analysis including:
identifying a first set of components that comprise a first application of the plurality of applications including
inspecting an installation database on the computing system to determine a set of basic components of the first application installed on the computing system, the set of basic components including one or more binary executable files;
parsing the one or more binary executable files to identify character strings that indicate a file system path, a registry path, a file name or an imported module; and
capturing one or more additional components identified by the character strings parsed from the one or more binary executable files;

identifying a second set of components that comprise a second application of the plurality of applications;

generating a first virtual disk that contains the first set of components of the first application, including storing the set of basic components and the additional components in the first virtual disk; and
generating a second virtual disk that contains the second set of components of the second application.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising instructions that when executed by one or more processors causing the one or more processors to execute the operations of:
deleting the first set of components of the first applicat

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Adler Nir
• Golbert Dima
• Lupovitz Or
• Shougaev Kosta

Classifications

• G06F8/75 Primary

  Structural analysis for program understanding · CPC title

• G06F8/70 Primary

  Software maintenance or management · CPC title

• G06F8/65

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

• G06F9/44505

  Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files · CPC title