Patent ID: 8739175

Claim:
A method comprising: at a virtual instance of a machine provided within a first virtualization service executing in a first cloud hosted by a first virtualization provider, determining that an overflow request from a client computer system is suitable for being processed at a virtual instance of a machine provided within a second virtualization service executing in a second cloud hosted by a second virtualization provider; using an offload manager executing within the first virtualization service, rerouting the overflow request to the virtual instance of the machine provided within the second virtualization service hosted by the second virtualization provider, the first virtualization service to launch a cloud bursting service, to offload the overflow request, on the virtual instance of the machine provided within the first virtualization service by accessing a first read-only boot image from a network storage location accessible by the first virtualization service, a second read-only boot image to launch a request service to receive the overflow request on the virtual instance of the machine provided within the second virtualization service, the second virtualization service accessing the second read-only boot image from a network storage location accessible by the second virtualization service; receiving, using a response service executing within the first virtualization service, from the virtual instance of the machine provided within the second virtualization service by the second virtualization service, a result of processing of the overflow request within the second virtualization service hosted by the second virtualization provider, the result of the processing being stored to the first cloud hosted by the first virtualization provider by the second virtualization service; and preparing the received result of the processing of the overflow request for communicating to the client computer system by formatting the received result on an output queue of the first virtualization service that causes the received result to be indistinguishable as to which virtualization service processed the overflow request.