State customization of forked virtual machines

摘要

Embodiments support instant forking of virtual machines (VMs) and state customization. A computing device initiates execution of a first group of services (e.g., identity-independent) in a first VM. A second VM is instantiated from the first VM. The second VM shares memory and storage with the first VM. The computing device customizes the second VM based on configuration data associated with the second VM. A second group of services (e.g., identity-dependent) starts executing on the second VM after configuring the identity of the second VM. Customizing the second VM includes configuring one or more identities of the second VM. In some embodiments, a domain identity is selected from a pool of previously-created identities and applied to the second VM, before bootup completes on the second VM.

主权项

1. A system for creating customized, forked virtual machines (VMs) with identity-based differentiation of services, said system comprising:
memory associated with a computing device, said memory storing a virtual device state and a memory state of a parent virtual machine (VM); storage for the parent VM, said storage further including configuration data for at least one child VM, said storage further identifying identity-independent services and identity-dependent services, wherein the identity-independent services are unrelated to an identity of the child VM and the identity-dependent services are associated with the identity of the child VM; and a processor programmed to:
initiate execution of the identity-independent services in the parent VM;instantiate the child VM from the parent VM, wherein the child VM shares memory and storage with the parent VM;configure the identity of the child VM based on the configuration data associated with the child VM; andinitiate execution of the identity-dependent services in the child VM after configuring the identity of the child VM, wherein execution of the identity-dependent services occurs without prompting a reboot of the child VM.