Abstract: Systems and methods are described for improved error logging during system boot and shutdown. A hardware initialization firmware on a computing device can include a logging module. When errors occur during early system booting or late system shutdown, the firmware can create error logs. The logging module can receive the error logs and prioritize them according to a set of rules. The logging module can select error logs of the highest priority up to a predetermined maximum amount. The logging module can modify the error logs using a shorthand form and write them to nonvolatile random-access memory. The firmware can initialize runtime services and launch an operating system. A system logger on the operating system can retrieve the error logs, save them to a file, and erase them from the memory.

Abstract: An image of a virtualization software in a plurality of hosts is installed or upgraded by performing the steps of: in response to a user input, generating a software specification that specifies a base image and an add-on image; retrieving metadata of the base image and metadata of the add-on image; generating a desired image of the virtualization software based on the metadata of the base image and the metadata of the add-on image; and instructing each of the hosts to install the desired image of the virtualization software or upgrade a current image of the virtualization software to the desired image of the virtualization software.

Abstract: A recommendation engine evaluates different combinations of available versions of different software images that make up a virtualization software to be installed in a host computer, and recommends one or more of the valid combinations for installation or upgrade. Upon acceptance of the recommended image, a software specification that expresses the desired state of the virtualization software is updated to include versions of the different software images that are in the recommended valid combination.

Abstract: A desired image of a virtualization software is deployed in hosts that are located in a remote data center which is connected to a central data center over a first network having a lower bandwidth than that of a second network over which the hosts in the remote data center communicate with each other. The method of deploying the virtualization software in the hosts includes: upgrading the virtualization software in a first host of the plurality of hosts using portions of the desired image that are transmitted from the central data center to the remote data center over the first network; and upgrading the virtualization software in a second host of the plurality of hosts using portions of the desired image that are transmitted from the first host to the second host over the second network, without retransmitting the portions from the central data center to the remote data center.

Abstract: An image of a virtualization software and firmware in a plurality of hosts are upgraded by performing the steps of: validating a desired image of the virtualization software by extracting dependencies and conflicts defined in metadata of all payloads of the desired image of the virtualization software, and confirming there are no violations of the extracted dependencies and conflicts; performing a pre-check of the desired image of the virtualization software against a current image of the virtualization software and a pre-check of the desired version of the firmware against a current version of the firmware; and upon determining from results of the pre-check that the virtualization software can be upgraded to the desired image and the firmware can be upgraded to the desired version, upgrading the current image of the virtualization software to the desired image and upgrading the current version of the firmware to the desired version.

Abstract: A method of validating a desired image of a virtualization software and a firmware package to be installed in a plurality of hosts against a hardware compatibility list (HCL) includes: acquiring hardware inventory of the hosts to determine hardware devices installed therein; for each of the hardware devices, searching for firmware and driver thereof in the HCL; for each driver included in the desired image that corresponds to one of the hardware devices, determining whether or not the driver is compatible according to the HCL; for each firmware included in the firmware package that corresponds to one of the hardware devices, determining whether or not the firmware is compatible according to the HCL; and validating the desired image of the virtualization software and the firmware package to be installed in the hosts if each of the hardware device has a compatible driver and a compatible firmware.

Abstract: A virtualized computing system includes a plurality of hosts, each of which is configured with a virtualization software for supporting execution of virtual machines therein. A method of managing a configuration of a system service in the virtualized computing system includes: upon receiving an API call to operate on a configuration object for the system service that is backed by a configuration schema of the system service, updating a database in accordance with the configuration schema to update or store the configuration of the system service, so that the system service executes with the configuration stored in the database.

Abstract: A desired image of a virtualization software is deployed in hosts that are located in a remote data center which is connected to a central data center over a first network having a lower bandwidth than that of a second network over which the hosts in the remote data center communicate with each other. The method of deploying the virtualization software in the hosts includes: upgrading the virtualization software in a first host of the plurality of hosts using portions of the desired image that are transmitted from the central data center to the remote data center over the first network; and upgrading the virtualization software in a second host of the plurality of hosts using portions of the desired image that are transmitted from the first host to the second host over the second network, without retransmitting the portions from the central data center to the remote data center.

Abstract: An image of a virtualization software in a plurality of hosts is installed or upgraded by performing the steps of: in response to a user input, generating a software specification that specifies a desired state of the virtualization software; based on the software specification, preparing a desired image of the virtualization software and storing the desired image of the virtualization software in a storage location accessible to the hosts; and instructing each of the hosts to install the desired image of the virtualization software or upgrade a current image of the virtualization software to the desired image of the virtualization software.

Abstract: An image of a virtualization software and firmware in a plurality of hosts are upgraded by performing the steps of: in response to a user input, generating a software specification that specifies a desired state of the virtualization software and a desired state of the firmware; based on the software specification, preparing a desired image of the virtualization software that includes software components of a desired version of the firmware; and from a virtual machine management server that is programmed to deploy virtual machines in the hosts, coordinating an upgrade to the desired image of the virtualization software and the desired version of the firmware in the hosts by (1) instructing a hardware support manager to upgrade the hosts to the desired version of the firmware, and (2) instructing each of the hosts to upgrade to the desired image of the virtualization software.

Abstract: An image of a virtualization software in a plurality of hosts is installed or upgraded by performing the steps of: in response to a user input, generating a software specification that specifies a base image and an add-on image; retrieving metadata of the base image and metadata of the add-on image; generating a desired image of the virtualization software based on the metadata of the base image and the metadata of the add-on image; and instructing each of the hosts to install the desired image of the virtualization software or upgrade a current image of the virtualization software to the desired image of the virtualization software.

Abstract: A virtualized computing system includes a plurality of hosts, each of which is configured with a virtualization software for supporting execution of virtual machines therein. A method of managing a configuration of a system service in the virtualized computing system includes upon receiving an application program interface (API) call to operate on a configuration object for a system service that is backed by a configuration schema of the system service, updating a database in accordance with the configuration schema to update or store the configuration of the system service. The system service executes with a configuration that is a combination of a default configuration that is defined in a default configuration schema of the system service and the configuration stored in the database.

Abstract: A hypervisor exchange, e.g., an upgrade, can include consolidating resident virtual machines into a single host virtual machine, exchanging an old hypervisor with a new (upgraded) hypervisor, and disassociating the virtual resident virtual machines by migrating them to the new hypervisor. The consolidating can involve migrating the resident virtual machines from the old hypervisor to a guest hypervisor on the host virtual machine. The exchange can involve: 1) suspending the host virtual machine before the exchange; and 2) resuming the host virtual machine after the exchange; or migrating the host virtual machine from a partition including the old hypervisor to a partition hosting the new hypervisor. Either way, an exchange (upgrade) is achieve without requiring a bandwidth consuming migration over a network to a standby machine.

Abstract: An example method of authenticating software executing in a computer system includes verifying first software executing on the computer system, the software including a hypervisor, verifying second software executing in a virtual machine (VM) managed by the hypervisor, generating a binding key having public and private portions, signing an object to identifies the VM using the private portion of the binding key, and verifying a signature of the object using a public portion of the binding key.

Abstract: An example method of authenticating software executing in a computer system includes: receiving, from the computer system over a network at a server computer, a trusted platform module (TPM) quote, an event log, and a metadata database, the TPM quote provided by a TPM in the computer system, the event log including first checksums for the software executing in the computer system, and the metadata database including second checksums of binary files stored in packages from which the software is installed; establishing a root of trust in the computer system at the server computer based on the TPM quote and the event log; and determining, at the server computer in response to establishing the root of trust, integrity of the software executing in the computer system by comparing the first checksums with the second checksums.

Abstract: In a process for hot-swapping operating systems, an original operating system (OS) instance is executing on and controlling hardware of a computer. The original OS instance generates updated launch code that defines a division of the hardware into a source logical partition and a target logical partition. The original OS instance quiesces processes hardware of the target logical partition so that the original OS instance and an application running thereon are contained by the source logical partition. The original OS instance launches the updated OS instance so that it executes on the target logical partition. The application is moved from the source logical partition to the target logical partition. The original OS instance terminates. The updated OS instance claims hardware freed by the termination.

Abstract: A hypervisor-exchange process includes: suspending, by an “old” hypervisor, resident virtual machines; exchanging the old hypervisor for a new hypervisor, and resuming, by the new hypervisor, the resident virtual machines. The suspending can include “in-memory” suspension of the virtual machines until the virtual machines are resumed by the new hypervisor. Thus, there is no need to load the virtual machines from storage prior to the resuming. As a result, any interruption of the virtual machines is minimized. In some embodiments, the resident virtual machines are migrated onto one or more host virtual machines to reduce the number of virtual machines being suspended.

Abstract: A computer system is securely booted by executing a boot firmware to locate a boot loader and verify the boot loader using a first key that is associated with the boot firmware. Upon verifying the boot loader, computer system executes the boot loader to verify a system software kernel and a secure boot verifier using a second key that is associated with the boot loader. The secure boot verifier is then executed to verify the remaining executable software modules to be loaded during boot using a third key that is associated with the secure boot verifier. During boot, state data files of the computer system are mounted in a namespace that is isolated from the namespaces in which the executable software modules are mounted.

Abstract: A computer system is rebooted upon crash without running platform firmware and without retrieving all of the modules included in a boot image from an external source and reloading them into system memory. The reboot process includes the steps of stopping and resetting all of the processing units, except one of the processing units that detected the crash event, selecting the one processing unit to execute a reboot operation, and executing the reboot operation to reboot the computer system.

Abstract: An example method of authenticating software executing in a computer system includes: receiving, from the computer system over a network at a server computer, a trusted platform module (TPM) quote, an event log, and a metadata database, the TPM quote provided by a TPM in the computer system, the event log including first checksums for the software executing in the computer system, and the metadata database including second checksums of binary files stored in packages from which the software is installed; establishing a root of trust in the computer system at the server computer based on the TPM quote and the event log; and determining, at the server computer in response to establishing the root of trust, integrity of the software executing in the computer system by comparing the first checksums with the second checksums.