Virtual machine merging method and system

摘要

A system, computer readable medium and method for merging a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine that runs on a same or different physical machine. The method includes a step of receiving instructions for merging processes of the first virtual machine with processes of the second virtual machine; a step of merging the first virtual machine with the second virtual machine onto a first physical machine; a step of merging an operating system of the first virtual machine with an operating system of the second virtual machine onto the first physical machine; and a step of maintaining active in the merged virtual machine each process that was active prior to merging the first and second virtual machines.

主权项

1. A method for merging a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine that run on a same or different physical machines, the method comprising:
receiving instructions for merging processes of the first virtual machine with processes of the second virtual machine; merging the first virtual machine with the second virtual machine onto a first physical machine; after the virtual machines are merged, merging an operating system of the first virtual machine, which 1) executes a first set of applications and 2) is a particular type of operating system, with an operating system of the second virtual machine, which 1) executes a second set of applications and 2) is of the same type as the operating system of the first virtual machine, onto the first physical machine such that the merged operating system executes all of the applications from the first and second sets of applications; determining, for each process running on the first virtual machine that has an identical process running on the second virtual machine, which of the identical processes is more advanced, wherein determining which process is more advanced is based on which process has downloaded a greater portion of a file; selecting the process that was determined to be more advanced from the identical processes to run on the merged virtual machine; and maintaining active in the merged virtual machine, after the first and second virtual machines have finished merging, the selected process and all processes that did not have an identical process that were active prior to merging the first and second virtual machines.