Cloning virtual machines
US8566821B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 11, 2008 |
| Grant date | Oct 22, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 12, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/1469
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
While current solutions for cloning virtual machines can involve copying and duplicating files associated to a virtual machine (VM), systems and techniques can be devised to create thin clones of a VM using the VM's associated storage system to copy and deduplicate storage for the VMs. One can create a base VM in a directory of a storage container attached to a hypervisor, and then map the storage container to a volume on a storage system. One can clone the base VM using a snapshot of respective files associated to the base VM, which can comprise creating metadata that identified a physical storage location of the files. Further, the metadata can then be copied to a desired location on the storage container, to create a VM clone. Once copied, the cloned VM can be customized and registered within the hypervisor.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.