Methods and apparatus to manage virtual machines

An apparatus comprising:

• a user interface to present a list of available basic blueprints, a first basic blueprint in the list defining hardware policies and network policies for deployment of a first virtual machine;
• and
• a blueprint manager to:
• store a first multi-machine blueprint referencing the first basic blueprint for the first virtual machine from the list and a second basic blueprint for a second virtual machine from the list,
• store a second multi-machine blueprint, different than the first multi-machine blueprint, the second multi-machine blueprint referencing the first basic blueprint for the first virtual machine from the list and a third basic blueprint for a third virtual machine,
• in response to a request to provision the first multi-machine blueprint, the request including an identification of a first number of instances to be provisioned for the first virtual machine and a second number of instances to be provisioned for the second virtual machine, provision the first number of instances of the first virtual machine and the second number of instances of the second virtual machine,
• after provisioning of the first number of instances of the first virtual machine, in response to a request to add an additional instance of the first virtual machine, provision another instance of the first virtual machine,
• add the provisioned another instance of the first virtual machine to the provisioned first multi-machine blueprint so that an operation applied to the provisioned first multi-machine blueprint is also applied to the provisioned another instance;
• and
• after the another instance of the first virtual machine is provisioned, in response to detecting a change made to the first basic blueprint referenced by the first multi-machine blueprint, apply the change to the provisioned another instance.

A tangible computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed, causes a machine to at least:

• present a list of available basic blueprints, a first basic blueprint in the list defining hardware policies and network policies for deployment of a first virtual machine;
• store a multi-machine blueprint referencing the first basic blueprint for the first virtual machine from the list and a second basic blueprint for a second virtual machine from the list;
• store a second multi-machine blueprint, different than the first multi-machine blueprint, the second multi-machine blueprint referencing the first basic blueprint for the first virtual machine from the list and a third basic blueprint for a third virtual machine;
• and
• in response to a request to provision the first multi-machine blueprint, the request including an identification of a first number of instances to be provisioned for the first virtual machine and a second number of instances to be provisioned for the second virtual machine, provision the first number of instances of the first virtual machine and the second number of instances of the second virtual machine;
• after provisioning of the first number of instances of the first virtual machine, in response to a request to add an additional instance of the first virtual machine, provision another instance of the first virtual machine;
• add the provisioned another instance of the first virtual machine to the provisioned first multi-machine blueprint so that an operation applied to the provisioned first multi-machine blueprint is also applied to the provisioned another instance;
• and
• after the another instance of the first virtual machine is provisioned, in response to detecting a change made to the first basic blueprint referenced by the first multi-machine blueprint, applying the change to the provisioned another instance.