Abstract: Techniques of deferred container deployment are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, at a computing device, a container image corresponding to the container. The container image includes a first set of files identified by symbolic links individually directed to a file in the host filesystem on the computing device and a second set of files identified by hard links. The method also includes in response to receiving the container image, at the computing device, storing the received container image in a folder of the host filesystem on the computing device without resolving the symbolic links of the first set of the files until runtime of the requested container.

Abstract: A layered composite boot device, and a corresponding layered composite file system, can be implemented by a boot manager. Requests directed to the layered composite boot device and file system, can be serviced from a primary device and file system that are encapsulated by the layered composite boot device and file system. The primary device and file system can correspond to a virtualized file system within a container environment, thereby enabling changes within the container environment to affect early stages of operating system booting in the container environment. Should such requests not be serviceable from the primary layers, the composite device and file system can comprise secondary layers that can correspond to a container host connection and the host file system, providing fallback to existing data if changes within the container environment were not made, thereby enabling booting to proceed in a traditional manner.

Abstract: A layered composite boot device, and a corresponding layered composite file system, can be implemented by a boot manager. Requests directed to the layered composite boot device and file system, can be serviced from a primary device and file system that are encapsulated by the layered composite boot device and file system. The primary device and file system can correspond to a virtualized file system within a container environment, thereby enabling changes within the container environment to affect early stages of operating system booting in the container environment. Should such requests not be serviceable from the primary layers, the composite device and file system can comprise secondary layers that can correspond to a container host connection and the host file system, providing fallback to existing data if changes within the container environment were not made, thereby enabling booting to proceed in a traditional manner.

Abstract: A layered composite boot device, and a corresponding layered composite file system, can be implemented by a boot manager. Requests directed to the layered composite boot device and file system, can be serviced from a primary device and file system that are encapsulated by the layered composite boot device and file system. The primary device and file system can correspond to a virtualized file system within a container environment, thereby enabling changes within the container environment to affect early stages of operating system booting in the container environment. Should such requests not be serviceable from the primary layers, the composite device and file system can comprise secondary layers that can correspond to a container host connection and the host file system, providing fallback to existing data if changes within the container environment were not made, thereby enabling booting to proceed in a traditional manner.

Abstract: Techniques of deferred container deployment are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, at a computing device, a container image corresponding to the container. The container image includes a first set of files identified by symbolic links individually directed to a file in the host filesystem on the computing device and a second set of files identified by hard links. The method also includes in response to receiving the container image, at the computing device, storing the received container image in a folder of the host filesystem on the computing device without resolving the symbolic links of the first set of the files until runtime of the requested container.

Abstract: Restoring a state of stored configuration data. A mapping request may be made for a portion of a backing page file to a second portion of address space. The backing page file includes discrete units of configuration data that are stored in a specific relationship to each other as defined by one or more offset values. A first base address for at least one of the discrete units of configuration data defines a first portion of address space having a preferred address space address. One of the discrete units of configuration data may be restored in the second portion of address space. The restoration may comprise aligning a pointer based on a relationship between a second base address of the second portion of process address space and the one or more offset values. A state of the one of the discrete units of configuration data may be restored.

Abstract: Restoring a state of stored configuration data. A mapping request may be made for a portion of a backing page file to a second portion of address space. The backing page file includes discrete units of configuration data that are stored in a specific relationship to each other as defined by one or more offset values. A first base address for at least one of the discrete units of configuration data defines a first portion of address space having a preferred address space address. One of the discrete units of configuration data may be restored in the second portion of address space. The restoration may comprise aligning a pointer based on a relationship between a second base address of the second portion of process address space and the one or more offset values. A state of the one of the discrete units of configuration data may be restored.