VMware Assigned Twenty-One Patents

Lockless synchronization of LSM tree metadata in distributed system
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,176,099) developed by Wang, Wenguang, Santa Clara, CA, Gao, Junlong, Mountain View, CA, Spillane, Richard P., Johnson, Robert T., Palo Alto, CA, Karamanolis, Christos, Los Gatos, CA, and Austruy, Maxime, Lausanne, Switzerland, for a “lockless synchronization of LSM tree metadata in a distributed system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The disclosure herein describes synchronizing a data cache and an LSM tree file system on an object storage platform. Instructions to send a cached data set from the data cache to the LSM tree file system are received. An updated metadata catalog is generated. If the LSM tree structure is out of shape, compaction is performed on the LSM tree file system which may be on a different system or server. When an unmerged compacted metadata catalog is identified, a merged metadata catalog is generated, based on the compacted metadata catalog and the cached data set, and associated with the cached data set. The cached data set and the associated metadata catalog are sent to the LSM tree file system, whereby the data cache and the LSM tree file system are synchronized. Synchronization is enabled without the data cache or file system being locked and/or waiting for the other entity.”

The patent application was filed on December 21, 2018 (16/231,300).

Routing traffic of logical unit to multiple backend data objects based on metadata mapping
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,176,053) developed by Yang, Yang, Guo, Zhaohui, Zhou, Haitao, Huang, Zhou, Zhao, Jian, and Feng, Jin, Shanghai, China, for a “routing traffic of a logical unit to multiple backend data objects based on metadata mapping.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The disclosure herein describes enabling use of a logical unit for data storage in a distributed storage system using a plurality of backend data objects. Based on receiving instructions to create a logical unit of a logical unit size, a target backend object size to be used with the logical unit is determined, and a plurality of backend objects for allocation to the logical unit is calculated. The backend objects are allocated to the logical unit and a metadata mapping associated with the logical unit is generated. The metadata mapping associates logical block addresses of the logical unit to the allocated backend objects. The logical unit is linked with the metadata mapping in an input/output (I/O) service and, based on the linked metadata mapping, I/O traffic is routed to and from the logical unit. Using multiple backend objects enhances flexibility and efficiency of data storage on the distributed storage system.”

The patent application was filed on October 15, 2019 (16/653,548).

Data protection for document database
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,175,995) developed by Hipsh, Lior, and Calderon, Yoel, Hod Hasharon, Israel, for a “data protection for a document database system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In an example, method of data protection in a document database system includes grouping documents input to the document database system into super documents, each of the super documents including a plurality of chunks, each of the plurality of chunks including one of the documents. The method further includes operating an object storage system according to a storage policy that implements parity processing, where the parity processing includes computing parity chunks for the super documents and storing the parity chunks in an object store, where a plurality of the parity chunks are computed for each of the super documents. The method further includes sending each of the super documents to the object storage system for parity processing according to the storage policy.”

The patent application was filed on June 29, 2015 (14/754,037).

Optimizing cluster-wide operations in HCI deployment
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,175,944) developed by Hogan, Cormac, Cork, Ireland, Denneman, Frank, Purmerend, The Netherlands, and Epping, Duncan, Helmond, The Netherlands, for “optimizing cluster-wide operations in a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) deployment.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for optimizing cluster-wide operations in a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) deployment are provided. In one set of embodiments, a computer system can receive a request to initiate a cluster-wide operation on a cluster of the HCI deployment, where the cluster includes a plurality of host systems, and where the cluster-wide operation involves a host-by-host evacuation of virtual machines (VMs) and storage components from the plurality of host systems. The computer system can further generate a set of recommendations for executing the host-by-host evacuation in a manner that minimizes the total amount of time needed to complete the cluster-wide operation. The computer system can then execute the host-by-host evacuation in accordance with the set of recommendations.”

The patent application was filed on January 3, 2020 (16/733,496).

Virtual computing instance transfer path selection
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,175,942) developed by Ekbote, Siddharth, San Jose, CA, and Cui, Leon, Beijing, China, for a “virtual computing instance transfer path selection.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The disclosure provides an approach for selecting a path to use in transferring a virtual computing instance such as a virtual machine (VM) across data centers. In one embodiment, throughput and throttling information are sampled (e.g., per second) when VMs are transferred from a source data center to a destination data center, and the sampled information is used to construct histograms that provide performance profiles of the VM transfers. Such histogram information across a number of VM transfers can then be mined to determine trends. In turn, trends determined from historical histogram information may be extrapolated into the future to predict performance of a subsequent VM transfer operation and to select a path and/or destination storage and host pair to use for the VM transfer operation.”

The patent application was filed on August 29, 2019 (16/556,099).

Validating integrity of application data using secure hardware enclaves
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,170,077) developed by Kataria, Alok Nemchand, Pune, India, Bhatnagar, Achindra, Hyderabad, India, Shinde, Sachin, Pune, India, Carbone, Martim, and Shah, Deep, Palo Alto, CA, for “validating the integrity of application data using secure hardware enclaves.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for verifying the integrity of application data using secure hardware enclaves are provided. In one set of embodiments, a client system can create a secure hardware enclave on the client system and load program code for an integrity verifier into the secure hardware enclave. The client system can further receive a dataset from a server system and store the dataset at a local storage or memory location, and receive, via the integrity verifier, a cryptographic hash of the dataset from the server system and store the received cryptographic hash at a memory location within the secure hardware enclave. Then, on a periodic basis, the integrity verifier can compute a cryptographic hash of the stored dataset, compare the computed cryptographic hash against the stored cryptographic hash, and if the computed cryptographic hash does not match the stored cryptographic hash, determine that the stored dataset has been modified.”

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2019 (16/296,273).

Distributed data method for encrypting data
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,163,894) developed by Hsu, Windsor, San Jose, CA, Chandra, Surendar, Sunnyvale, CA, and Patterson, R. Hugo, Los Altos, CA, for a “distributed data method for encrypting data.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for performing data encryption on data to be stored within a storage system are provided. A client application executing on a host machine may generate a data storage write request to write data to a storage system. A host-side module, executing on the host machine receives the write request. The host-side module is configured to generate one or more fingerprints for the data corresponding to the write request, where the one or more fingerprints are unique identifiers used to identify data blocks that make up the data. The host-side module generates encrypted data by encrypting the data blocks using an encryption technique. The encrypted data is then sent to a storage node within the storage system. Deduplication may be performed on the encrypted data using the one or more generated fingerprints.”

The patent application was filed on January 20, 2020 (16/747,495).

High availability for persistent memory
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,163,656) developed by Subrahmanyam, Pratap, Saratoga, CA, Venkatasubramanian, Rajesh, San Jose, CA, Tati, Kiran, and Ali, Qasim, Santa Clara, CA, for a “high availability for persistent memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for implementing high availability for persistent memory are provided. In one embodiment, a first computer system can detect an alternating current (AC) power loss/cycle event and, in response to the event, can save data in a persistent memory of the first computer system to a memory or storage device that is remote from the first computer system and is accessible by a second computer system. The first computer system can then generate a signal for the second computer system subsequently to initiating or completing the save process, thereby allowing the second computer system to restore the saved data from the memory or storage device into its own persistent memory.”

The patent application was filed on September 26, 2019 (16/584,857).

Lockless method for writing updated versions of configuration data file for distributed file using directory renaming
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,163,461) developed by Zhang, Ye, Shanghai, China, Wang, Wenguang, Santa Clara, CA, Patil, Sriram, San Jose, CA, Spillane, Richard P., Mountain View, CA, Gao, Junlong, Santa Clara, CA, He, Wangping, Guo, Zhaohui, and Yang, Yang, Shanghai, China, for a “lockless method for writing updated versions of a configuration data file for a distributed file system using directory renaming.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “System and method for writing updated versions of a configuration data file for a distributed file system in a storage system uses a directory renaming operation to write a new updated version of the configuration data file using the latest version of the configuration data file and a target directory. After the latest version of the configuration data file is modified by a particular host computer in the storage system, the modified configuration data file is written to a temporary file. The directory naming operation is then initiated on the temporary file to change the directory for the temporary file to the target directory. If the directory renaming operation has failed, a retry is performed by the particular host computer to write the new updated version of the configuration data file using a new latest version and a new target directory.”

The patent application was filed on April 20, 2020 (16/853,623).

Resumable replica resynchronization
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,157,195) developed by Xiang, Enning, San Jose, CA, Knauft, Eric, San Francisco, CA, and Renauld, Pascal, Palo Alto, CA, for a “resumable replica resynchronization.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems and techniques are described for transferring data. A described technique includes determining that a first replica of an object stored at a first host has become available to a distributed storage system after previously being unavailable to the distributed storage system. The object includes a range of memory addresses at which data of the object is stored. In response to determining that the first replica has become available, resyncing data for the first replica is obtained. The resyncing data indicates whether each range of memory addresses is synchronized at the first replica with other replicas of the object. Tracking data for the first replica is obtained. The tracking data indicates whether data stored at the range of memory addresses of the object has been modified at a second replica while the first replica was unavailable. The resyncing data is updated based on the tracking data.”

The patent application was filed on June 19, 2019 (16/445,649).

Migration of data compute node across sites
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,153,170) developed by Chandrashekhar, Ganesan, Campbell, CA, Thakkar, Pankaj, Cupertino, CA, Goliya, Abhishek, Pune, India, Nipane, Nilesh Ramchandra, Mountain View, CA, and Natarajan, Janani, Campbell, CA, for a “migration of data compute node across sites.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Some embodiments provide a method for configuring a DCN migrated from a first host computer at a first site of multiple sites spanned by a logical network to a second host computer at a second site. At the second host, the method receives, from the first host, data for configuring the DCN and implementing the logical network on the second site. The data includes (i) data particular to the first site and(ii) a global identifier for a logical port to which the DCN attaches. The method provides the global identifier to a local logical network manager, which uses the global identifier to retrieve data regarding the logical port from a global network manager that manages the logical network across the sites. Based on data retrieved from the global network manager, the method modifies the data particular to the first site into data particular to the second site.”

The patent application was filed on June 19, 2020 (16/906,966).

Cloud-scale file-based filesystem for hybrid cloud storage
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,151,095) developed by Debnath, Sajal, Mishrauliya, Nitin, and Shetty, Prasanna, Bengaluru, India, for a “cloud-scale file-based filesystem for hybrid cloud storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method is provided for a file-based filesystem. The method includes mounting storage devices, periodically ranking the mounted storage devices, exporting a directory in a native filesystem as a share, receiving a first request to make a directory in the share, and, in response to the first request, making the directory in the store by storing information about the directory in a database without making the directory in the native filesystem. The method includes receiving a second request to write a file in the share and, in response to the second request, writing the file in the share by selecting a highest-ranking mounted storage device, storing information about the file in the database, and writing the file with a unique identifier as its file name in a root directory of the selected storage.”

The patent application was filed on August 17, 2017 (15/679,184).

Manage workload domains in virtual server racks
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,150,950) developed by Kumar, Prafull, Palo Alto, CA, Lochhead, Jason Anthony, Farmers Branch, TX, and Spirov, Konstantin Ivanov, Sofia, Bulgaria, for “methods and apparatus to manage workload domains in virtual server racks.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods and apparatus to manage workload domains in virtual server racks are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a policy enforcer to evaluate whether capacities of the plurality of workload domains comply with policy capacity levels of respective user-defined policies for the plurality of workload domains, and a resource manager to, when a first workload domain has a first quantify of resources that exceeds a first policy capacity level of a first user-defined policy, identify a second workload domain requesting a second quantity of resources, when the second quantity of resources is equal to the first quantity of resources, allocate the first quantity of resources from the first workload domain to the second workload domain to satisfy the first policy capacity level, when the second quantity of resources is less than the first quantity of resources, allocate the second quantity of resources from the first workload domain to the second workload domain, and de-allocate remaining resources from the first workload domain to a shared resource pool to satisfy the first policy capacity level.”

The patent application was filed on May 3, 2017 (15/585,172).

Enforcing universal security policies across data centers
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,146,592) developed by Aharchaou, Hamza, Redwood City, CA, Ghannadian, Farzad, Burlingame, CA, Palavalli, Amarnath, Cupertino, CA, and Krishnamurthy, Rajiv, Los Altos, CA, for an “enforcing universal security policies across data centers.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to enforcing universal security policies across data centers. Embodiments include receiving, from a user, a first universal security policy (USP) related to a first universal policy group. Embodiments include identifying a first data center as an enforcement point for the first USP. Embodiments include automatically generating, at the first data center, a first local security policy based on the first USP. Embodiments include deploying a workload associated with the first universal policy group to the first data center. The first USP is enforced for the workload via the first local security policy.”

The patent application was filed on January 16, 2019 (16/249,629).

Virtual machine image file synchronization using delta bitmaps and delta files
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,144,412) developed by Zaydman, Oleg, San Jose, CA, and Kota, Preeti, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “virtual machine image file synchronization using delta bitmaps and delta files.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A synchronization process for virtual-machine images (and other segmented files) provides for generating a ‘delta’ bitmap indicating which segments (e.g., clusters) of a first virtual-machine image were changed to obtain a second (e.g., updated) virtual-machine image on a source node. The delta bitmap can be applied to the second-virtual-machine image to generate a delta file. The delta file can be sent along with the delta bitmap to a target node that already has a copy of the first virtual-machine image. The transferred delta bitmap and delta file can then be used on the target node to generate a replica of the second virtual-machine image, thereby effecting synchronization. In variations, different bitmaps and delta files can be transferred to optimize the synchronization process.”

The patent application was filed on June 5, 2017 (15/613,970).

Storing B-tree pages in capacity tier for erasure-coded storage in distributed data
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,144,394) developed by Wang, Wenguang, Santa Clara, CA, Knauft, Eric, Palo Alto, CA, and Gunturu, Vamsidhar, Cupertino, CA, for a “storing B-tree pages in capacity tier for erasure-coded storage in distributed data systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems, for managing metadata data blocks, include a fast performance tier and a large capacity tier. The capacity tier stores the data blocks in erasure-encoded stripes. The performance tier stores map data indicating correspondences between logical addresses, associated with a first layer of the system, and physical addresses associated with a second layer. The map data is structured as a B-tree with leaf nodes and index nodes. A method includes determining a volume associated with the leaves. In response to the volume being greater than a threshold, migrating a portion of the leaves to the stripes of the capacity tier. A portion of the indexes that include pointers to the migrated portion of the leaves are updated to include updated pointers to physical addresses of the stripes that store the migrated leaves. A portion of the performance tier that stores the migrated leaves is re-allocated to store additional map data.”

The patent application was filed on June 5, 2020 (16/894,646).

Content-based post-process data deduplication
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,144,227) developed by Marinescu, Adrian, Issaquah, WA, and McCready, Glen, Redwood City, CA, for a “content-based post-process data deduplication.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for implementing content-based post-process data deduplication are provided. In one set of embodiments, a computer system can receive a write request comprising write data to be persisted to a storage system and can sample a portion of the write data. The computer system can further execute one or more analyses on the sampled portion in order to determine whether the write data is a good deduplication candidate that is likely to contain redundancies which can be eliminated via data deduplication. If the one or more analyses indicate that the write data is a good deduplication candidate, the computer system can cause the write data to be persisted to a staging storage component of the storage system. Otherwise, the computer system can cause the write data to be persisted to a primary storage component of the storage system that is separate from the staging storage component.”

The patent application was filed on September 7, 2017 (15/698,636).

Distributed service chain across multiple clouds
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,140,218) developed by Tidemann, Jeremy, Urbana, IL, Polychronopoulos, Constantine, Saratoga, CA, Bordeleau, Marc-Andre, Shawinigan, CA, Choh, Edward, Richmond, CA, Gupta, Ojas, Mountain View, CA, Kidd, Robert, Champaign, IL, Kommula, Raja, Cupertino, CA, Oikonomou, Georgios, Patras, Greece, and Zhao, Mingjie, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “distributed service chain across multiple clouds.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Some embodiments of the invention provide novel methods for performing services on data messages passing through a network connecting one or more datacenters, such as software defined datacenters (SDDCs). The method of some embodiments uses service containers executing on host computers to perform different chains (e.g., ordered sequences) of services on different data message flows. For a data message of a particular data message flow that is received or generated at a host computer, the method in some embodiments uses a service classifier executing on the host computer to identify a service chain that specifies several services to perform on the data message. For each service in the identified service chain, the service classifier identifies a service container for performing the service. The service classifier then forwards the data message to a service forwarding element to forward the data message through the service containers identified for the identified service chain. The service classifier and service forwarding element are implemented in some embodiments as processes that are defined as hooks in the virtual interface endpoints (e.g., virtual Ethernet ports) of the host computer’s operating system (e.g., Linux operating system) over which the service containers execute.”

The patent application was filed on October 30, 2019 (16/668,485).

Distributed file storage supporting accesses from multiple container hosts
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,137,924) developed by Sterin, Mark, Mountain View, CA, Dhamdhere, Prashant, Milpitas, CA, Luo, Miao, Sunnyvale, CA, Goswami, Shivanshu, Stony Brook, NY, and Thole, Tushar, San Jose, CA, for a “distributed file storage system supporting accesses from multiple container hosts.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques are disclosed for providing a distributed file storage system that permits containerized applications running in distinct container hosts to read/write to the same storage volume. In one embodiment, a file sharing volume service is configured to use a container orchestrator to start a respective file server for each shared storage volume mounted for use by user-level containerized application(s). The file sharing volume service further manages the file server by creating and updating a metadata entry that specifies (1) a count of a number of times the shared storage volume has been mounted for use, and (2) a port number exposed for use in mounting path(s) to access the shared storage volume. Upon receiving a request to run a containerized application with the shared storage volume, the file sharing volume service updates the metadata entry to increase the count, and retrieves and uses the port number to mount path(s) for accessing the shared storage volume.”

The patent application was filed on July 27, 2018 (16/047,900).

Management platform recovery for user device
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,126,441) developed by Polyakov, Alexey, Sammamish, WA, Rao, Nitin, Atlanta, GA, Ravishankar, Nikhil, Bangalore, India, Hua, Xueliang, Atlanta, GA, Shantharam, Shravan, Cumming, GA, Stastny, Ondrej, Kirkland, WA, and Peppin, Brooks, Colorado Springs, CO, for a “management platform recovery for a user device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Examples described here include systems and methods for refreshing the operating system (OS) of a device enrolled in a management platform. Execution of a first command file ensures that necessary components of the management platform residing on the device are stored in a partitioned portion of the device hard drive to preserve them during the OS refresh. After a new instance of the OS has been installed, execution of a second command file migrates the necessary components from the partitioned portion of the hard drive to the new OS instance. When the user logs back into the refreshed device, a third command file installs all necessary device management components at the new OS instance and re-enrolls the device with the management platform. In this manner, the OS of a managed device can be refreshed and re-enrolled in the management platform without significant input from a user or administrator.”

The patent application was filed on May 21, 2019 (16/418,261).

Management platform recovery for user device
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,126,419) developed by Polyakov, Alexey, Sammamish, WA, Rao, Nitin, Atlanta, GA, Ravishankar, Nikhil, Bangalore, India, Hua, Xueliang, Atlanta, GA, Shantharam, Shravan, Cumming, GA, Stastny, Ondrej, Kirkland, WA, and Peppin, Brooks, Colorado Springs, CO, for a “management platform recovery for a user device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Examples described here include systems and methods for refreshing the operating system (OS) of a device enrolled in a management platform. Execution of a first command file ensures that necessary components of the management platform residing on the device are stored in a partitioned portion of the device hard drive to preserve them during the OS refresh. After a new instance of the OS has been installed, execution of a second command file migrates the necessary components from the partitioned portion of the hard drive to the new OS instance. When the user logs back into the refreshed device, a third command file installs all necessary device management components at the new OS instance and re-enrolls the device with the management platform. In this manner, the OS of a managed device can be refreshed and re-enrolled in the management platform without significant input from a user or administrator.”

The patent application was filed on May 21, 2019 (16/418,269).