Systems and methods to load applications and application data into a virtual machine using hypervisor-attached volumes

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software are described herein for operating a data management system, including a virtual machine agent running within a virtual machine responding to an attach-triggering event, determining selected storage volumes to be attached to the virtual machine based on a request generated by the virtual agent in response to the attach-triggering event, and dynamically attaching the selected storage volumes to the virtual machine.

1 . A method of operating a data management system, comprising:
 a virtual machine agent running within a virtual machine responding to an attach-triggering event;   determining selected storage volumes to be attached to the virtual machine based on a request generated by the virtual agent in response to the attach-triggering event; and   dynamically attaching the selected storage volumes to the virtual machine.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising mounting the selected storage volumes with a hypervisor, the hypervisor being configured to operate a plurality of virtual machines, and making at least one application stored on the selected storage volumes available to a plurality of virtual machines concurrently via the hypervisor. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a virtual machine manager determines the selected storage volumes to be attached to the virtual machine based on the attach-triggering event and wherein the step of dynamically attaching the selected storage volumes to the virtual machine includes the virtual machine manager instructing the hypervisor which storage volumes to attach to the virtual machine. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a virtual machine manager determines the selected storage volumes to be attached to the virtual machine based on the attach-triggering event and wherein the step of dynamically attaching the selected storage volumes to the virtual machine includes the virtual machine manager instructing a datacenter manager responsible for managing a plurality of hypervisors to cause one of the plurality of hypervisors to attach the a selected set of storage volumes to the virtual machine. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the attach-triggering event is a user logon or a virtual machine startup event. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the selected storage volumes includes data specific to a user associated with the user logon event or specific to the virtual machine associated with a virtual machine startup event. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the selected storage volume includes applications in a read-only state associated with a user identified by the user logon event or associated with a virtual machine identified by the virtual machine startup event. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising tracking instances of each application running on the plurality of virtual machines. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , comprising an application broker configured to select a location from which to source an application storage volume when the application storage volume is available in multiple locations. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising detecting available storage volumes. 
     
     
         11 . A data management system, comprising:
 a plurality of storage volumes;   a hypervisor configured to operate a plurality of virtual machines having secondary storage volumes, wherein the virtual machines include virtual machine agent running which start based on an attach-triggering event; and   a virtual machine manager configured to identify selected storage volumes to be attached to the plurality of virtual machines based on a request generated by the virtual agent in response to the attach-triggering event, wherein the hypervisor is configured to dynamically attach the storage volumes to the secondary storage volumes associated with the plurality of virtual machines.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the hypervisor is configured to mount the storage volumes and make at least one application stored on the storage volumes available to a plurality of virtual machines concurrently via the hypervisor. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising a datacenter manager wherein the virtual machine manager instructs a datacenter manager responsible for managing a plurality of hypervisors to cause one of the plurality of hypervisors to attach the application to the virtual machine. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the attach-triggering event is a user logon event or a virtual machine startup event. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the selected storage volumes includes data specific to a user associated with the user logon event or specific to a virtual machine associated with the virtual machine startup event. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the selected storage volume includes applications in a read-only state associated with a user identified by the user logon event or associated with a virtual machine identified by the virtual machine startup event. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising a license tracker configured to track instances of each application running on the plurality of virtual machines. 
     
     
         18 . A computer readable medium having program instruction stored thereon for operating a data management system, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the data management system, direct the data management system to:
 a virtual machine agent running within a virtual machine responding to an attach-triggering event;   determine selected storage volumes to be attached to the virtual machine based on a request generated by the virtual agent in response to the attach-triggering event; and   dynamically attach the selected storage volumes to the virtual machine.   
     
     
         19 . The computer readable medium of  claim 18 , further having program instructions stored thereon for mounting the selected storage volumes with a hypervisor, the hypervisor being configured to operate a plurality of virtual machines, and making at least one application stored on the selected storage volumes available to a plurality of virtual machines concurrently via the hypervisor. 
     
     
         20 . The computer readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein a virtual machine manager determines the selected storage volumes to be attached to the virtual machine based on the attach-triggering event and wherein the step of dynamically attaching the selected storage volumes to the virtual machine includes the virtual machine manager instructing the hypervisor which storage volumes to attach to the virtual machine.