Abstract: A computer-implemented method for automated delivery and identification of virtual drives may include (1) creating a drive-template archive that contains a collection of virtual-drive templates, each of which contains a unique burned-in configuration identifier, (2) receiving, a provision request to provision a virtual drive for a requesting virtual machine, (3) fulfilling the provision request by (A) creating a copy of an appropriate virtual-drive template that matches the specification of the provision request and (B) providing the copy of the appropriate virtual-drive template to the requesting virtual machine, and (4) utilizing, at the requesting virtual machine, the copy of the appropriate virtual-drive template in response to determining that the burned-in configuration identifier of the copy of the appropriate virtual-drive template corresponds to a drive configuration that fulfills the provision request. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Abstract: Compatibility is provided between a high availability clustering system and a virtualization environment. A hardware level hypervisor runs on each host, and VM(s) run on each hypervisor. A shared virtual storage manager runs on each VM, and facilitates sharing virtual storage between VMs. Sharing virtual storage can be performed in the context of a failed application or VM. A shared virtual storage manager VM detects that the application is being failed over from the source VM to the target VM, detaches the virtual storage from the source VM, and attaches it to the target VM. The shared virtual storage manager can also enable sharing of the virtual storage when a monitored application is failed over in response to the failure of a hypervisor. Virtual storage can additionally act as an arbitrator to resolve an occurrence of split brain, when VMs become disconnected.