Desktop image management for virtual desktops using a branch reflector

摘要

A desktop image management system is described that can efficiently distribute updates to virtual desktops running on host servers in a data center. The system is comprised of a central server and multiple agents, each agent installed on a virtual machine. When a VM receives an update from the central server, the files are stored in a single instance store on the host server. Corresponding stub files (empty of content) are created on the VM for each file in the single instance store. The stub files are marked to indicate that the stub file is mapped to the single instance store. When the guest operating system requests to read the stub file, the virtual disk layer of the host server detects that the requested block has been marked and fetches the content of the file from the single instance store.

主权项

1. A system for virtual desktop image management, the system comprising:
a central server storing a set of updates to be applied to a plurality of virtual machines, each of the set of updates including one or more of: files, registry entries, or drivers; a host server device hosting the plurality of virtual machines, the host server device connected to the central server via a communication connection, the host server device further including:
a first virtual machine including a first agent nominated to be a branch reflector for all of the plurality of virtual machines hosted on the host server device;a second virtual machine that is to be updated with at least one of the set of updates from the central server, the second virtual machine including a second agent;wherein the first agent on the first virtual machine is configured to (a) determine that an update is to be applied to the second virtual machine, (b) download the files, registry entries and drivers from the central server on behalf of the second virtual machine (c) store the files, registry entries and drivers in a single instance store on physical storage associated with the host server, and (d) provide an instruction to the second agent to apply the update to the second virtual machine by creating one or more stub files; andwherein the one or more stub files are created on the second virtual machine corresponding to at least some of the files, registry entries in the single instance store, such that a request to read the one or more stub files returns content from the single instance store.