Abstract: Embodiments associate software applications with computing resource containers based on placement rules. A placement rule indicates that a first software application is to be co-located with a second software application during execution of the first and second software applications, or that the first software application is to be separated from the second software application during execution of the first and second software applications. A target computing resource container is selected based on the placement rule and a computing resource container that is associated with the first software application. The second software application is associated with the target computing resource container, and the placement rule may be provided to the target computing resource container.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of verifying that a reconstructed inventory of a virtualized computer system has been accurately reproduced from an original inventory of a virtualized computer system. A first snapshot and a second snapshot are received, where the first snapshot is a snapshot of the original inventory and the second snapshot is a snapshot of the reconstructed inventory. The first snapshot and the second snapshot are then analyzed to determine that hierarchical relationships, roles and permissions, configuration settings, and/or custom definitions of items in the original inventory match hierarchical relationships of corresponding items in the reconstructed inventory.

Abstract: An anomaly in a shared input/ouput (IO) resource that is accessed by a plurality hosts or clients is detected when a host that is not bound by any QoS policy presents large workloads to a shared IO resource that is also accessed by hosts or clients that are governed by QoS policy. The anomaly detection triggers a response from the hosts or clients as a way to protect against the effect of the anomaly. The response is an increase in window sizes. The window sizes of the hosts or clients may be increased to the maximum window size or in proportion to their QoS shares.

Abstract: For a virtual memory of a virtualized computer system in which a virtual page is mapped to a guest physical page which is backed by a machine page and in which a shadow page table entry directly maps the virtual page to the machine page, reverse mappings of guest physical pages are optimized by removing the reverse mappings of certain immutable guest physical pages. An immutable guest physical memory page is identified, and existing reverse mappings corresponding to the immutable guest physical page are removed. New reverse mappings corresponding to the identified immutable guest physical page are no longer added.

Abstract: General-purpose components are selectively included in a toolkit hosted by hosting provider computing devices. The general-purpose components are software components. The general-purpose components in the toolkit are available over a computer network to end user computing devices. The end user computing devices utilizes general-purpose components in the toolkit to provide system administration solutions. The system administration solutions are web applications hosted by the hosting provider computing devices. The system administration solutions provide an ability to perform administration tasks on on-premises computer systems of the end users. A hosting provider computing device is configured such that the end user computing devices are able to utilize the general-purpose components in the toolkit on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis.

Abstract: A system for authenticating communication network users includes a user-associated user station communicatively coupled to an authenticating station via the communication network. The authenticating station is configured to authenticate the user and receive a first value, representing a first user credential, from the user station. A first key portion is generated based on the first value and a second value that is unknown to the user. The first key portion, along with a second key portion, is used for authenticating credentials of the user for a predefined period of time or for authenticating user credentials for a predefined number of times. The second key portion is generated based on the first key portion. A cookie that includes the second value or a value derived from the second value is generated and transmitted to the user station and then the second value is destroyed.

Abstract: Techniques for creating a fault tolerant system in a virtual machine environment utilize a primary VM and a backup VM. To initialize the fault tolerant system, the backup VM and primary VM start from the same state. To achieve this in one embodiment, the primary VM is suspended and the state of the primary VM is copied to the backup VM. Once the backup VM has received all the primary VM's state, the primary VM is resumed. Subsequent state changes of the primary VM are buffered until the backup VM resumes, connects to the primary VM, and starts consuming the buffered content. Thereafter, synchronization is maintained by the primary VM's writing relevant state changes to a log and the backup VM's reading such relevant state changes from the log.

Abstract: A method is provided for monitoring registered code in a virtual machine of a virtualization system. The method includes instantiating a guest in the virtual machine of the virtualization system and monitoring execution of code registered for monitored execution in an execution context of the guest. The monitoring is performed by the virtualization system and is hidden from computations of the guest.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for an identity broker to authenticate users to a network device, system, or hosted application that uses certain legacy protocols for user authentication. For example, the identity broker may be configured to respond to a user authentication request from a network device formatted as a RADIUS or LDAP message. The identity broker may operate in conjunction with an identity provider to authenticate a user requesting access to a computing resource (e.g., to the network device, system, or hosted application).

Abstract: An apparatus for automatically generating source code files in a file storage unit is disclosed. The apparatus includes a file storage unit that stores the source code files, a code generator unit that generates at least some of the source code files, wherein the code generator unit comprises, and a file unit that monitors the file storage unit to detect changes in the file storage unit and in response send file event notifications. A metadata unit that builds a metadata model relating to the source code files in the file storage unit is also provided. The metadata model comprises a plurality of metadata items, each metadata item comprises a metadata section containing metadata, a key that identifies the metadata item, and one or more dependencies of the metadata items in relation to other of the metadata items. The metadata unit sends metadata notifications according to changes to the dependencies of the metadata items.

Abstract: A runtime system using thread-shared code caches is provided which avoids brute-force all-thread-suspension and monolithic global locks. In one embodiment, medium-grained runtime system synchronization reduces lock contention. The system includes trace building that combines efficient private construction with shared results, in-cache lock-free lookup table access in the presence of entry invalidations, and a delayed deletion algorithm based on timestamps and reference counts. These enable reductions in memory usage and performance overhead.

Abstract: A system and related method of operation for migrating the memory of a virtual machine from one NUMA node to another. Once the VM is migrated to a new node, migration of memory pages is performed while giving priority to the most utilized pages, so that access to these pages becomes local as soon as possible. Various heuristics are described to enable different implementations for different situations or scenarios.

Abstract: A checkpointing fault tolerance network architecture enables a backup computer system to be remotely located from a primary computer system. An intermediary computer system is situated between the primary computer system and the backup computer system to manage the transmission of checkpoint information to the backup VM in an efficient manner. The intermediary computer system is networked to the primary VM through a first connection and is networked to the backup VM through a second connection. The intermediary computer system identifies updated data corresponding to memory pages that have been less frequently modified by the primary VM and transmits such updated data to the backup VM through the first connection. In such manner, the intermediary computer system holds back updated data corresponding to more frequently modified memory pages, since such memory pages may be more likely to be updated again in the future.

Abstract: A method and system is provided for initializing files such as, for example and without limitation, pre-allocated files or raw device mapping (RDM) files, by delaying initializing file blocks. In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, file blocks are associated with corresponding indicators to track un-initialized blocks.

Abstract: A source virtual machine (VM) hosted on a source server is migrated to a destination VM on a destination server without first powering down the source VM. After optional pre-copying of the source VM's memory to the destination VM, the source VM is suspended and its non-memory state is transferred to the destination VM; the destination VM is then resumed from the transferred state. The source VM memory is either paged into the destination VM on demand, or is transferred asynchronously by pre-copying and write-protecting the source VM memory, and then later transferring only the modified pages after the destination VM is resumed. The source and destination servers preferably share common storage, in which the source VM's virtual disk is stored; this avoids the need to transfer the virtual disk contents.

Abstract: A provisioning server automatically configures a virtual machine (VM) according to user specifications and then deploys the VM on a physical host. The user may either choose from a list of pre-configured, ready-to-deploy VMs, or he may select which hardware, operating system and application(s) he would like the VM to have. The provisioning server then configures the VM accordingly, if the desired configuration is available, or it applies heuristics to configure a VM that best matches the user's request if it isn't. The invention also includes mechanisms for monitoring the status of VMs and hosts, for migrating VMs between hosts, and for creating a network of VMs.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and techniques for facilitating access to content stored remotely, for example, as part of a virtual machine infrastructure or elsewhere in a networked environment, using a uniform mechanism are provided. Example embodiments provide an Enhanced Virtual Desktop Management Server/System with a Content Abstraction Layer which enables users to access their data stored as part of a virtual machine environment, or replicated otherwise on a network, using a generic API. The API can be incorporated into a web browser or other third party interface to provide access to the users' data without needing to remote a bitmap representation of a virtual desktop display. Accordingly, users can access their data, applications, and settings regardless of the type of access device and regardless of whether the corresponding virtual desktop is running in the data center, provisioned in the datacenter but running on a client device, or not running at all.

Abstract: Virtual machines are managed in centralized manner. Files that are shared by multiple virtual machines are stored in a central storage unit and a management program is executed on one or more of these files on a per file basis. The management program is executed on a file if an IO operation is issued for that file. A namespace map is used to provide a mapping of filenames used by the different virtual machines to filenames used by the central storage unit.

Abstract: A method is described for coalescing input/output (IO) interrupts to a virtual machine (VM) running on a host computer. At a virtualization layer of the host computer that supports execution of the VM receives an IO interrupt in response to a completion of an IO request of the VM, wherein a transmission of the IO request by the VM to an IO device bypasses the virtualization layer. The virtualization layer then determines whether the VM has responded to a most recently delivered IO interrupt to the VM by the virtualization layer, and drops the IO interrupt if the VM has not responded to the most recently delivered IO interrupt, thereby failing to deliver the IO interrupt to the VM.

Abstract: A computing device employs a cooperative memory management technique to dynamically balance memory resources between host and guest systems running therein. According to this cooperative memory management technique, memory that is allocated to the guest system is dynamically adjusted up and down according to a fairness policy that takes into account various factors including the relative amount of readily freeable memory resources in the host and guest systems and the relative amount of memory allocated to hidden applications in the host and guest systems.