Abstract: Techniques for facilitating parallelized configuration of multiple virtual machines. The techniques include duplicating commands received from an administrator and controlling the multiple virtual machines with those commands in a parallel manner. Different types of commands are treated differently. More specifically, commands for controlling software executing in the virtual machines are replicated and sent to each virtual machine. By contrast, commands for managing virtual machines themselves are provided to virtualization software like a hypervisor to be executed. Duplication of the commands for controlling software executing in the virtual machines is performed by an input/output multiplexer, which also has the function of combining display output from each of the virtual machines. More specifically, the input/output multiplexer displays a common display output to the administrator, where the common display output is the screen that is shown on each of the virtual machines.

Abstract: A method and system include compatibly interfacing a suitably adapted central switch in a computer network virtualization environment to one or more user-end peripheral device(s) to dispense with a need for a user-end thin client. The method and system also include appropriately routing a data associated with a direct and exclusive communication between a virtual machine on a host server including a number of virtual machines and the one or more user-end peripheral device(s) using the central switch.

Abstract: To optimize front-end operations performed on virtual machines, a storage tiering module preemptively guides the placement of virtual volumes in storage tiers within a storage system. Upon detecting a front-end operation request, the storage tiering module identifies a storage requirement, such as an expected provisioning activity level during the front-end operation. Based on the identified storage requirement, the storage tiering module selects an appropriate storage tier. Subsequently, in preparation for the front-end operation, the storage tiering module places the virtual volume at the selected storage tier. Because the storage tiering module places the virtual volume in a tier that reflects the resource consumption expected during the front-end operation, the storage system does not incur the performance degradation that often precedes tier movement in conventional, reactive approaches to storage tiering.

Abstract: Examples provide for virtual machine recovery using pooled memory. A shared partition is created on pooled memory accessible by a plurality of virtual machine hosts. A set of memory pages for virtual machines running on the hosts is moved to the shared partition. A master agent polls memory page tables associated with the plurality of hosts for write access. If the master agent obtains write access to a memory page table of a given host, the given host that previously held the write access is identified as a failed host or an isolated host. The virtual machines of the given host enabled to resume from pooled memory are respawned on a new host while maintaining memory state of the virtual machines using data within the pooled memory, including the virtual machine memory pages, memory page table, host profile data, and/or host-to-VM table data.

Abstract: Techniques for providing a hyper-converged computing device with an integrated central virtualization switch is disclosed. In one embodiment, the hyper-converged computing device includes a server comprising at least one central processing unit (CPU), memory, and storage, a central virtualization switch integrated with the server, a virtualization application to manage virtual machines hosted by the hyper-converged computing device, and a hyper-converged application to manage the hyper-converged computing device. The hyper-converged application is to appropriately route data associated with an exclusive communication between the virtual machines and peripheral devices through the central virtualization switch that is integrated with the server.

Abstract: Techniques for centralized management of network switch operations across multiple virtualization platforms via a “spanned distributed virtual switch.” These techniques generally include creating a distributed virtual switch for each virtual platform that participates in the spanned distributed virtual switch, configuring each such distributed virtual switch with a mutually exclusive set of ports, configuring each distributed virtual switch with network configuration information for associated sets of ports, and synchronizing the network configuration information across distributed virtual switches. When configuration information changes in one distributed virtual switch, those changes are synchronized across other distributed virtual switches that participate in the spanned distributed virtual switch. A computer system, method, and computer-readable medium are provided herein.

Abstract: An example method is provided to maintain state information of a virtual machine in a virtualized computing environment through an externally-triggered approach. The method may comprise detecting, by an external entity, that a first host in a cluster is disconnected from a first network connecting the first host to a distributed storage system accessible by the cluster. The method may also comprise instructing the first host to suspend a virtual machine supported by the first host and to store state information associated with the virtual machine. The method may further comprise selecting a second host from the cluster and instructing the first host to migrate the suspended virtual machine to the second host such that the suspended virtual machine is able to resume from suspension on the second host based on the stored state information.

Abstract: An example method is provided to maintain state information of a virtual machine in a virtualized computing environment through a self-triggered approach. The method may comprise detecting, by a first host from a cluster in the virtualized computing environment, that the first host is disconnected from a network connecting the first host to a distributed storage system accessible by the cluster. The method may also comprise suspending, by the first host, a virtual machine supported by the first host and storing state information associated with the virtual machine. The method may further comprise selecting a second host from the cluster and migrating the suspended virtual machine to the second host such that the suspended virtual machine is able to resume from suspension on the second host based on the stored state information.

Abstract: Aspects of peripheral device sharing for virtual machines are described. In some aspects, a virtual machine requires access to a peripheral device. The virtual machine is executed in a first host computing system. A table is accessed, and includes a list of peripheral devices, an indication that the peripheral device is connected to a second host computing system, a bandwidth requirement of the peripheral device, and a network bandwidth allocated to the virtual machine. The virtual machine is provided with access to the peripheral device based on a comparison between the bandwidth requirement of the peripheral device, and a threshold percentage of the network bandwidth allocated to the virtual machine.

Abstract: Techniques for placing virtual machines based on compliance of device profiles are disclosed. In one embodiment, a list of device profiles may be maintained, each device profile including details of at least one virtual device and associated capabilities. Further, a first device profile from the list of device profiles may be assigned to a virtual machine. Furthermore, the virtual machine may be placed on a host computing system based on compliance of the first device profile.

Abstract: Techniques for placing containers in a cloud (e.g., into virtual machines (“VMs”)) based on container policies. The container policies may specify compute-related qualities, storage-related quality, and/or network-related qualities that are to be met by the underlying software and hardware that supports execution of the virtual machines. A cloud director or other entity receives requests to place containers in a particular virtual machine based on the container policies and directs placement of the virtual machine based on the policies. The cloud director may migrate and/or reconfigure VMs, virtual machine disk files, and/or virtual network interface controllers to satisfy the container placement policy. After placement, the cloud director may disable migration to maintain the VM in a desired state.

Abstract: Techniques for security scanning of containers executing within VMs. A virtualization system maintains container disk files that store data for containers. The container disk files are stored separate from, and not included within, virtual machine disk files that store data for the virtual machines. To scan data for any particular container, a scanning module scans the container disk file associated with the container. If a threat is found, a container scan catalog is updated to indicate this fact. A container may be disconnected from the network if identified security threats cannot be removed from the container. An entire VM may be disconnected from the network if all containers within the VM have threats that cannot be cleaned. The use of container disk files for security threat scanning allows for data for individual containers to be scanned.

Abstract: Techniques for placing virtual machines based on compliance of device profiles are disclosed. In one embodiment, a list of device profiles may be maintained, with each device profile including details of at least one virtual device and associated capabilities. Further, a device profile from the list of device profiles may be assigned to a virtual machine running on a first host computing system. A virtual device and associated configurations required by the virtual machine may be identified to comply with the device profile. A management operation may be performed to migrate or clone the virtual device and associated configurations from a second host computing system to the first host computing system to support the compliance of the device profile assigned to the virtual machine.

Abstract: A system and method for responding to a virtual machine (VM) network failure for a host in a network partition in a high availability (HA) cluster. The method includes providing a plurality of network partition response options; and receiving a selection of a first network partition response option from the plurality of network partition response options, the selected first network partition response option causing a processor to transfer execution of a VM on the host to a second host that has VM network connectivity upon detecting a VM network failure for the host.

Abstract: The present disclosure is related to dynamically control log level in a datacenter. An example machine-readable medium may store instructions executable by a processing resource to receive a stream of log data from a plurality of end devices via associated logging interfaces in the virtual datacenter. Further, the received stream of log data is dynamically analyzed. Furthermore, the log level of any one or more of the plurality of end devices is then controlled based on the analysis. The log data associated with the controlled log level of any one of the one or more of plurality of end devices is then received, which can then assist in debugging and troubleshooting.

Abstract: An example method is provided for a computing device to perform traffic handling for a container in a virtualized computing environment. The method may comprise receiving a traffic flow of packets from a virtual machine and identifying a container from which the traffic flow originates based on content of the received traffic flow of packets. The container may be supported by the virtual machine. The method may further comprise retrieving a policy configured for the identified container and handling the received traffic flow of packets according to the policy.

Abstract: In an example, a method of managing virtualization software installed on a host computer includes connecting to a platform management system in the host computer while a hardware platform in the host computer is in a low-power state; and accessing files of the virtualization software on a storage device in the platform management system through a distributed file system service executing on a controller of the platform management system.

Abstract: In case of network isolation of a host executing one or more virtual machines, the state of the one of more virtual machines is saved using a variety of isolation response mechanisms. Isolation responses may include a live migration to another host using a shared storage system connected to both hosts, a virtual machine suspend and resume operation, and a snapshot reversion operation. The execution state of the virtual machine(s) running on the isolated host, which includes the state of the guest operating system and any running applications, are maintained in the other host, even after host isolation has occurred.

Abstract: Examples provide for virtual machine recovery using pooled memory. A shared partition is created on pooled memory accessible by a plurality of virtual machine hosts. A set of memory pages for virtual machines running on the hosts is moved to the shared partition. A master agent polls memory page tables associated with the plurality of hosts for write access. If the master agent obtains write access to a memory page table of a given host, the given host that previously held the write access is identified as a failed host or an isolated host. The virtual machines of the given host enabled to resume from pooled memory are respawned on a new host while maintaining memory state of the virtual machines using data within the pooled memory, including the virtual machine memory pages, memory page table, host profile data, and/or host-to-VM table data.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for migrating a linked clone virtual machine (VM) based on a location of a client device. In one embodiment, a client device transmits its location to a VM management center, and a migration application running thereon determines whether the client device and a linked clone VM to which the client device is attempting to connect are at the same location. If the client device and the linked clone VM are not at the same location, the migration application identifies a VM hosting site proximate to the client device, and instructs a hypervisor to “cold” migrate the linked clone VM and its associated redo log to a VM host and a storage device, respectively, at the identified VM hosting site. The link clone VM may then be “actively” linked to a base VM at the VM hosting site, while maintaining “passive” links to base VM(s) at other locations.