Managing configurations of system services running in a cluster of hosts by managing lifecycle of virtualization software

A computing system comprising:

• a plurality of hosts each configured with a virtualization software for supporting execution of virtual machines therein, wherein each of the hosts includes a plurality of system services including a first system service and a second system service;
• and
• a management server for the cluster of hosts, wherein the computing system is configured to carry out a method of managing configurations of the plurality of system services in each of the hosts, said method comprising:
• generating by the management server, a master configuration schema from a plurality of individual configuration schemas, each of the individual configuration schemas corresponding to one of the plurality of system services, and the master configuration schema including all the individual configuration schemas and defining one or more configuration properties of the first system service, one or more internal states of the first system service, one or more configuration properties of the second system service, and one or more internal states of the second system service;
• and
• upon receiving an application programming interface (API) call to apply to the plurality of system services desired configurations of the plurality of system services, the desired configurations of the plurality of system services being defined in a desired configuration file, parsing by a host of the cluster of hosts, the desired configuration file to identify a first desired configuration for the first system service and a second desired configuration for the second system service, and storing by the host, the first and second desired configurations in accordance with the master configuration,
• wherein the first system service executes with the stored first desired configuration applied thereto, and the second system service executes with the stored second desired configuration applied thereto.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to be executed in a computing system to carry out a method of managing configurations of a plurality of system services, including a first system service and a second system service, in each of a plurality of hosts, wherein each of the hosts is configured with a virtualization software for supporting execution of virtual machines therein, and wherein the method comprises:

• generating a master configuration schema from a plurality of individual configuration schemas, each of the individual configuration schemas corresponding to one of the plurality of system services, and the master configuration schema including all the individual configuration schemas and defining one or more configuration properties of the first system service, one or more internal states of the first system service, one or more configuration properties of the second system service, and one or more internal states of the second system service;
• and
• upon receiving an application programming interface (API) call to apply to the plurality of system services desired configurations of the plurality of system services, the desired configurations of the plurality of system services being defined in a desired configuration file, parsing the desired configuration file to identify a first desired configuration for the first system service and a second desired configuration for the second system service, and storing the first and second desired configurations in accordance with the master configuration schema,
• wherein the first system service executes with the stored first desired configuration applied thereto, and the second system service executes with the stored second desired configuration applied thereto.