Patent ID: 9218193
Filing Date: 2015-12-22
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A virtualization data processing system configured for distributed virtual machine (VM) image management in a cloud computing environment, the system comprising: a host computer comprising memory and at least one processor and configured for communicative coupling to a plurality of different peer hosts in a cloud computing environment; a hypervisor executing in the memory of the host computer and managing a plurality of different VMs; a local cache of the hypervisor storing different portions of a VM image; and, a torrent-style client coupled to the hypervisor, the client comprising program code enabled upon execution in the memory to respond to a request in the hypervisor for VM image data from one of the VMs by determining whether or not the requested VM image data is present in either the local cache of the hypervisor or in a cache of a hypervisor of any of the different peer hosts, to retrieve the requested VM image data from a VM image seed in a remote data store in the cloud computing environment only when it is determined that the VM image data neither is present in the local cache of the hypervisor nor is present in the cache of the hypervisor of any of the different peer hosts, and to cache in the local cache of the hypervisor the VM image data retrieved from the cache of the hypervisor of any of the different peer hosts in response to a determination that the VM image data had been previously retrieved from the cache of the hypervisor of any of the different peer hosts a threshold number of times.