VMware Assigned Eight Patents

Workload selection and cache capacity planning for virtual storage area network
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,753,833) developed by Magdon-Ismail, Tariq, San Jose, CA, Nguyen, Duy, Fremont, CA, and Martin, Brian James, Campbell, CA, for a “workload selection and cache capacity planning for a virtual storage area network.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems receive a first input/output, I/O) trace including storage addresses that were subject to a plurality of I/O requests from a first workload during a first period of time. The first I/O trace is run through a cache simulation using a plurality of simulated cache sizes. A first state of the cache simulation is stored upon completing the first I/O trace simulation. The first I/O trace is deleted in response to storing the first state. A second I/O trace including storage addresses that were subject to a plurality of I/O requests from the first workload during a second period of time is received. A cumulative miss ratio curve for the first workload is generated by loading the stored first state as a starting point for simulating the second I/O trace and running the second I/O trace through the cache simulation.“

The patent application was filed on November 26, 2014 (14,555,072).

Instant xvmotion using private storage virtual appliance
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,753,768) developed by Chandrasekaran, Karthik, Bangalore, India, for a “instant xvmotion using a private storage virtual appliance.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for migrating a virtual machine, (VM) from a source host system to a destination host system, where the VM is associated with a source virtual disk file, (VMDK) residing in a local storage component of the source host system, are provided. In one embodiment, a virtual infrastructure, (VI) server in communication with the source and destination host systems can create a shell directory in the local storage component of the source host system, where the shell directory includes a symbolic link to the source VMDK. The VI server can further promote the shell directory to a private virtual storage appliance, (PSVA) running on the source host system. The VI server can then cause an execution state of the VM to be transferred from the source host system to the destination host system, without transferring the source VMDK between the host systems.“

The patent application was filed on April 22, 2014 (14/258,053).

Application management in enterprise environments using cloud-based application recipes
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,727,324) developed by Zamir, Tal, Haifa, Israel, Wygodny, Shlomo, Herzliya, Israel, and Ilan, Dan, Tel Aviv, Israel, for a “application management in enterprise environments using cloud-based application recipes.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A cloud-based system is described for producing application deltas based on application recipes that identify components of the application deltas using unique identifiers, without the recipe containing all or any content of the actual application. The application recipe can be conveyed to an organization operating on an enterprise network, where the application recipe can be matched with application files in the organization’s backup storage containing copies of content of endpoint devices on the network to retrieve components identified by the recipe and produce the application delta for the application. Subsequently, the application delta can be used as an installation package to perform IT operations such as installing the application on endpoint devices.“

The patent application was filed on May 22, 2015 (14/720,050).

VM and host management function availability
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,703,652) developed by Ganesan, Hariharan Jeyaraman, and Antony, Jinto, Bangalore, India, for a “VM and host management function availability during management network failure in host computing systems in a failover cluster.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for virtual machine, (VM) management function availability during management network failure in a first host computing system in a cluster are described. In one example embodiment, management network failure is identified in the first host computing system. The management network being coupled to virtual management software in a management server and used for VM and host management functions. VM and host management functions on the first host computing system are then initiated via a failover agent associated with an active host computing system that is connected to the management network in the cluster and a shared storage network.“

The patent application was filed on July 22, 2014 (14/337,265).

Providing availability of agent virtual computing instance during storage failure
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,703,651) developed by Hanumantharaya, Vinaya, Marakala, Santhosh, and Eshwarappa, Kiran, Bangalore, India, for a “providing availability of an agent virtual computing instance during a storage failure.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present disclosure includes detecting a failure associated with a first storage location on which a first agent virtual computing instance, (AVCI) is deployed, wherein the first AVCI is being executed by a first hypervisor, stopping the execution of the first AVCI, determining whether a second AVCI that provides services analogous to the first AVCI is being executed by a second hypervisor and is deployed on a second storage location, creating a linked clone of the second AVCI on the second storage location responsive to the second AVCI being executed by the second hypervisor and deployed on the second storage location, redeploying the first AVCI on the second storage location responsive to the second AVCI not being executed by the second hypervisor or not deployed on the second storage location, and deleting files of the first AVCI from the first storage location after the failure is corrected.“

The patent application was filed on August 11, 2015 (14/822,915).

Filter appliance for object-based storage system
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,703,482) developed by Uluski, Derek, Cambridge, MA, Tomar, Nagendra, Sakargayan, Gourav, Bangalore, India, and Vaghani, Satyam B., San Jose, CA, for a “filter appliance for object-based storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A framework for performing transformations of logical storage volumes in software is provided. This framework interposes on various operations that can be performed on a logical storage volume, such as input/output, (IO) operations, via one or more filters, which may be implemented by an appliance that is inserted into the data path of the operations issued to the logical storage volume.“

The patent application was filed on June 29, 2012 (13/539,139).

Deployment of virtual machine disks from shared network file system
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,699,252) developed by Antony, Jinto, Bangalore, India, for a “deployment of virtual machine disks from a shared network file system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for deployment of virtual machine disks, (VMDKs) in a virtualized computing environment are disclosed. In one embodiment, a request to deploy a VMDK to a virtual machine, (VM) is received. The VMDK includes a master virtual disk file and at least one data virtual disk file. Further, the master virtual disk file is copied from a shared network file system to a storage device associated with a host computing system. Furthermore, a redo virtual disk file is created in the storage device upon copying the master virtual disk file. Also, changes made to content associated with the VMDK are stored in the redo virtual disk file until the at least one data virtual disk file is copied to the storage device.“

The patent application was filed on August 5, 2014 (14/451,454).

Federated cloud storage system
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,697,376) developed by Madanapalli, Narendra Prasad, Vasanthakumari, Reghuram, and Chowdary, Valluri, Bangalore, India, for a “federated cloud storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “User storage is attached to a central storage management system when the central storage management system receives a request to attach a cloud-based user storage thereto. The central storage management system accesses the cloud-based user storage and determines a set of objects stored therein. For each object in the set of objects, the storage management system stores corresponding metadata therein.“

The patent application was filed on July 17, 2015 (14/801,858).