Dynamically deployed virtual machine

#Embodiments of the invention generally relate to computer systems and more particularly to virtual machines, logical partitions, etc. created from an image.

#Virtual machines, also referred to as partitions, etc. may be built from master images or templates that contain e.g., a virtual disk containing an operating system, initial configuration and software applications. Virtual machines may be generally created as a Full Clone of the master image or as a Linked Clone of the master image.

#To create a Full Clone virtual machine, everything is copied from the master image into the virtual machine disk. Frequently, these virtual disks are multiple gigabytes (e.g., 80 GB) and so deploying a Full Clone virtual machine may take several minutes as the virtual disk is copied from the master image. The coping often takes place over a communications network. The Full Clone virtual disk starts as a complete copy of the master image. The benefit of the Full Clone is that once deployed, the Full Clone virtual machine runs at an optimal speed.

#FIG. 1 depicts a cloud computing node according to an embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 depicts a cloud computing environment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 3 depicts abstraction model layers according to an embodiment of the present invention.

#Embodiments of the invention generally relate to computer systems and more particularly to a hybrid Full Clone and Linked Clone virtual machine deployment scheme to achieve the benefits of Full Clone and Linked Clone virtual machines. A dynamic virtual machine deployment initially is deployed in a Linked Clone state and is therefore quickly deployed. Thus, the dynamically deployed virtual machine is generally ready for immediate use. Meanwhile, while the dynamically deployed virtual machine is actively running, a cloud management system copies segments, functionality, etc. of the master image to the dynamically deployed virtual machine. Eventually, the segments, functionality, etc. are fully instantiated such that the dynamically deployed virtual machine is in a Full Clone state. In certain embodiments, the segments, functionality, etc. are copied as the underlying host system has available resources to do so. For example, if physical memory/disk, physical processing unit, and/or networking resources are used below a certain threshold (e.g., 10% utilization of memory/disk, 20% utilization of processing unit, and/or 15% networking capacity), then the copying of the segments, functionality, etc. may occur in the background. If any of the underlying physical resources changes above a threshold amount, the copying of the segments, functionality, etc. may be paused until the host system returns to a computationally quieter status. Further, the rate of copying of the segments, functionality, etc. can be adjusted inversely compared to the amount of host system physical resources being used for other computational work. For example, as the physical disk usage increases, the copying of segments, functionality, etc. decreases. For clarity, the term virtual machine and the term partition may herein be referred to interchangeably.

#It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes a detailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather, embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented in conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known or later developed.

#Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or interaction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may include at least five characteristics, at least three service models, and at least four deployment models.