US2013212581A1PendingUtilityA1

System, Method and Computer Program Product for Performing a Security or Maintenance Operation in Association with Virtual Disk Data

49
Individually held — no corporate assignee on recordPriority: Dec 3, 2007Filed: Jan 7, 2013Published: Aug 15, 2013
Est. expiryDec 3, 2027(~1.4 yrs left)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Jonathan L. EdwardsJohn TeddyTracy Camp
G06F 9/44505G06F 9/45533G06F 21/562G06F 16/11
49
PatentIndex Score
0
Cited by
0
References
0
Claims

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product are provided for performing a security or maintenance operation in association with virtual disk data accessed independent of a virtual machine. In use, data stored on a virtual disk is accessed at least in part independent of a virtual machine. Further, a security or maintenance operation is performed in association with the accessed data.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising the steps of:
 Identifying a virtual disk that is associated with a virtual machine;   without employing the virtual machine, parsing the virtual disk to identify one or more registry files associated with the virtual machine;   without employing the virtual machine, using an identified registry file to perform a security operation for the benefit of the virtual machine without employing the virtual machine.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  including the additional step of providing read and write access to the virtual disk at the sector level. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  including the additional step, of identifying the virtual disk file system and providing file level read and write access to the virtual disk. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  including the additional step of providing read and write access to at least a portion of the registry files. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the parsing step includes parsing files on the virtual disk and encoding the files for encapsulating an image of the virtual disk. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the encoding uses VMDK or VHD. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of identifying partitions of the virtual disk. 
     
     
         8 . A computer system comprising:
 a virtual machine;   a virtual disk associated with the virtual machine;   an operating system adapted to run on the computer system and not part of the virtual machine;   a security application associated with the operating system and not part of the virtual machine;   a processor for executing a first code segment associated with the security application and, the execution of the first code segment is expected to cause the parsing of the virtual disk to identify a registry file associated with the virtual machine;   the processor also for executing a second code segment associated with the security application, the execution of the second code segment expected to cause the use of the identified registry files to perform a security operation for the benefit of the virtual machine.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first code segment and the second code segment are part of a single process relating to security. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the execution of the first code segment is also expected to cause the provision of read and write access to the virtual disk at the sector level. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the execution of the first code segment is also expected to cause the provision of file level read and write access to the virtual disk. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the execution of the first code segment is also expected to cause the provision of read and write access to at least a portion of the registry files. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the execution of the first code segment is also expected to cause the encoding of files for encapsulating an image of the virtual disk. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the encoding uses VMDK or VHD. 
     
     
         15 . A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
 computer code for identifying a virtual disk that is associated with a virtual machine;   computer code not residing within the virtual machine, for parsing the virtual disk to identify one or more registry files associated with the virtual machine;   computer code not residing within the virtual machine, for using an identified registry file to perform a security operation for the benefit of the virtual machine without employing the virtual machine.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for providing read and write access to the virtual disk at the sector level. 
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for identifying the virtual disk file system and providing file level read and write access to the virtual disk. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for providing read and write access to at least a portion of the registry files. 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for parsing files on the virtual disk and encoding the files for encapsulating an image of the virtual disk. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 19  wherein the encoding uses VMDK or VHD.

Join the waitlist — get patent alerts

Track US2013212581A1 — get alerts on status changes and closely related new filings.

We store only your email — no account needed. See our privacy policy.