Method, Apparatus And Computer Program Product For Optimizing Access To The Content Of A Virtual Application Container On A Fixed, Read-Only Medium

A tangible computer-readable storage medium storing data representing program instructions, the execution of which result in operations comprising:

• prior to execution of a program in a virtual container, recording a set of files accessed during a phase change on a physical read-only storage medium in a manner predetermined to minimize the time needed to retrieve the set of files;
• and
• at the occurrence of the phase change, or prior to the occurrence of a phase change if the files are prefetched, accessing the physical read-only storage medium and retrieving the files, or allowing an operating system to access the physical read-only storage medium and retrieve the files as they are needed by an application.

A data processor, comprising:

• a read-only storage medium;
• and
• a virtual machine monitor configured to execute a program in a virtual container, where prior to execution of the application a set of application components accessed during a phase change are recorded on the read-only storage medium in a manner predetermined to minimize the time needed to retrieve the set of components, and the virtual machine monitor, at the occurrence of the phase change, or prior to the occurrence of a phase change if the files are prefetched, is configured to retrieve the components from the read-only storage medium, or to allow an operating system to access the physical read-only storage medium and retrieve the files as they are needed by an application.

A packager of an application to be executed in a virtualization environment by virtual machine monitor, comprising:

• means, responsive to receiving notification from a virtual machine monitor of an occurrence of contemporaneous file accesses not associated with a known phase change of a virtual container, for evaluating the occurrence as a candidate phase change;
• and
• means, responsive to the evaluation indicating a presence of a previously unknown phase change, for recording the files accessed on a new read-only storage medium in the order accessed for use by the same or a different virtual machine monitor during another instance of execution of the application.