G06F8/63

Sharing prepopulated container image caches among container execution environments

Techniques are described for sharing prepopulated container image caches among container execution environments to improve the performance of container launches. The container images used to prepopulate such a cache at a computing device supporting one or more container execution environments can include various container images that are used as the basis for a wide range of user-created containers such as, for example, container images representing popular operating system distributions, database servers, web-application frameworks, and so forth. Existing systems typically obtain these container images as needed at runtime when launching containers (for example, from a container registry or other external source), often incurring significant overhead in the container launch process. The use of a prepopulated container image cache can significantly improve the performance of container launches by making such commonly used container images available to container execution environments running at a computing device ahead of time.

Cloud restart for VM failover and capacity management

A method of restarting a virtual machine (VM) running in a cluster in a first data center, in a second data center, includes: transmitting images of VMs, including a first VM, running in the cluster of hosts at a first point in time to the second data center for replication in the second data center; generating difference data representing a difference in an image of the first VM at a second point in time and the image of the first VM at the first point in time; transmitting the difference data to the second data center; setting the first VM to be inactive in the first data center; and communicating with a control plane in the second data center to set as active, and power on, a VM in the second data center using the replicated image of the first VM updated with the difference data.

Hybrid approach to performing a lazy pull of container images
11709665 · 2023-07-25 · ·

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a hybrid approach to performing a lazy pull of a container image. A file system in user space (FUSE) is utilized to lazy pull the container image, and manage file requests from the container while the container image is being fetched locally. During the retrieving, the FUSE may receive from the container, one or more file requests, and may temporarily block each of the one or more file requests until it can process them. Once the container image is fully fetched locally, the overlay structure of the container image expected by a file system in the kernel (e.g., Overlay FS) is created and control is passed to the file system in the kernel. The FUSE may then unmount itself, to expose the container to the underlying mount point.

Configuring a computing device using managed operating system images

Systems and methods are included for causing a computing device to assemble and boot from a managed operating system. When the computing device is powered on, it can execute firmware that specifies a server to contact. The server can identify an operating system (OS) to boot, and the location of a pre-enrollment installer for assembling the OS image. The pre-enrollment installer can download base OS images in one or more pieces from multiple locations determined based on ownership information of the computing device. The multiple OS images can relate to enterprise management and company-specific applications and drivers. Once the pre-enrollment installer has combined the base OS images, the computing device reboots using the combined OS image.

METHOD, APPARATUS AND DEVICE FOR GENERATING BARE METAL SERVER LINUX SYSTEM
20230004411 · 2023-01-05 ·

Provided are a method, apparatus, and device for generating a bare metal server Linux system image, and a memory medium. The method includes: analyzing a received bare metal server Linux system image generation request so as to obtain a target configuration parameter of a target bare metal server Linux system image to be generated and a target operating system model; selecting, from a redundant array of independent disks driver library, a target redundant array of independent disks driver that matches the target configuration parameter and the target operating system model; adding the target redundant array of independent disks driver to a boot file of a virtual machine to generate a target boot file; and exporting, from the virtual machine, a virtual machine disk image file containing the target boot file, as the target bare metal server Linux system image.

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING VIRTUAL ADDRESSING TO EXECUTE APPLICATION IMAGES
20230236962 · 2023-07-27 ·

One or more computing devices, systems, and/or methods are provided. In an example, a method comprises storing a first application image and a second application image in an application image memory, designating the first application image as active, receiving a first address for accessing the application image memory from a processor, modifying the first address based on a first offset between a base starting address of the first application image and a starting physical address of the first application image in the application image memory to generate a second address, and accessing the application image memory using the second address.

Method, electronic device, and computer program product for managing operating system
11714631 · 2023-08-01 · ·

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, an electronic device, and a computer program product for managing an operating system. The method includes receiving a version upgrade request for the system. The method further includes using a target system image to upgrade the system from a first version to a second version corresponding to the target system image. The method further includes storing, in response to determining that the system operates normally within a first time period, the target system image to a first storage device for the system without updating a historical system image stored in a second storage device for the system, wherein the historical system image corresponds to the first version. In this way, by storing image files of different versions for selectively resetting the operating system in case of a failure, stability of the system after an upgrade is improved.

FIRMWARE PROVISION APPARATUS AND PROVISION METHOD THEREFOR
20230027848 · 2023-01-26 · ·

The present invention relates to a firmware provision apparatus and a provision method therefor. The firmware provision apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a memory that stores firmware data of a specific device; and a processor that divides the firmware data into two or more logical blocks, and generates a firmware image including the logical blocks obtained from the division, wherein the logical blocks include data areas in which the corresponding divided firmware data is stored and buffer areas in which data about changed details of the corresponding divided firmware data is stored.

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM WITH CONTAINER IMAGE MANIFEST CONTENT
20230025529 · 2023-01-26 ·

Method and apparatus are provided for managing a distrusted system. The method comprises receiving, by a cluster management agent, a cluster specification update that includes a container image manifest content that describes an infrastructure of the distributed system; converting, by a runtime container engine of the cluster management agent, the container image manifest content into an operating system bootloader consumable disk image for rebooting one or more nodes in the distributed system; and initiating, by the cluster management agent, a system reboot using the operating system bootloader consumable disk image for a node in the distributed system to update the node to be in compliance with the cluster specification update. The cluster specification update is received via a local API of the cluster management agent in the absence of internet access or via a communication channel through an internet connection with the cluster management agent.

Creating Product Orchestration Engines
20230027902 · 2023-01-26 ·

A system can receive information about a first orchestration service that indicates a mapping from an application programming interface (API) to an executable script, and a dependency of the first orchestration service on a second orchestration service. The system can, in response to receiving the information, creating a base container image for the first orchestration service. The system can associate the API with executing the executable script on the base container image. The system can associate the dependency of the first orchestration service on the second orchestration service with the base container image. The system can, in response to receiving data indicative of a request to create an instance of the first orchestration service, creating an instance of the base container image.