JP2012078893A - Computer system and management computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system allowing efficient update of a virtualized OS environment that can be freely customized by individual users, so as to reduce terminal management costs.SOLUTION: A guest OS virtual image utilized by an individual user is managed by a server and, when the user starts a user terminal, the virtual image or difference data for update of the virtual image is distributed from the server. When the user shuts down the user terminal, the virtual image or difference data for update of the virtual image is uploaded to the server from the user terminal. On the server, a guest OS is started and an update is performed by using the uploaded virtual image.

Description

  The present invention relates to a computer system and a management computer, for example, to update management of a virtual image of a guest OS in a user terminal to which a virtualization technology is applied.

  In recent years, many companies have introduced virtualization technology to reduce IT costs. Servers and storage occupy most of virtualization, but there are attempts to apply virtualization technology to user terminals.

  As a system in which the virtualization technology is applied to the user terminal, a virtual image (a file storing guest OS data operating on a virtual machine) is distributed to the user terminal and the user terminal is operated. There is a virtual image distribution type user terminal device. This system has the advantages of maintaining the same usability as when an OS is directly installed on a user terminal, and improving management and operability by virtualization.

  As a method for improving the operability of a virtual image, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a virtual image used by a plurality of users is unified, and the unified OS image is updated and distributed. Has been proposed. According to the system of this patent document 1, the virtual image is updated only once for the master image, and it is possible to greatly reduce the operating cost related to the OS update.

JP 2008-084029 A

  The system of Patent Document 1 is not particularly problematic as long as a user who only uses an application uses a guest OS.

  However, when the user wants to change the system settings or perform the software development environment, there is a problem that the part related to the system configuration of the guest OS cannot be changed. This problem is a major limitation for users who want to use the system setting change or software development environment on the terminal.

  In response to such a flow, there is a need for an individual to use an OS environment in which his / her system is set. In addition, there is a need to not perform operation management work other than the purpose of using a terminal, such as updating an OS image, on each individual terminal. This is because the OS image needs to be restarted, the work must be interrupted, and even if the update is performed in the background, a processing load is applied.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, satisfies the above two needs, efficiently updates a virtualized OS environment depending on each user who uses the terminal, and provides a user terminal. The technology for reducing the operation management cost is provided.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a virtual image of a guest OS used by each user is managed by a server, and when the user starts up a user terminal, the virtual image or virtual image is updated. The difference data is distributed. Further, when the user shuts down the user terminal, the virtual image or the difference data for updating the virtual image is uploaded from the user terminal to the server. On the server, the guest OS is activated and updated using the virtual image uploaded from the user terminal. At the time of update, write difference data for the virtual image is extracted.

  That is, in the computer system of the present invention, each of the plurality of user terminals includes a virtual machine monitor, a management OS and a guest OS operating on the virtual monitor, a virtual image constituting the guest OS, and an update of the virtual image. A secondary storage device for storing data.

  On the other hand, the server system performs storage processing for storing a plurality of virtual images and a plurality of update data corresponding to the plurality of virtual images, which constitute each guest OS of a plurality of user terminals, and a virtual image update process. A virtual machine computer that executes and generates an updated virtual image; and a management computer that manages a virtual image update process. Here, the update data is data corresponding to a difference file including difference data between the current virtual image and the latest virtual image.

  Each of the utilization terminals uploads update data to the storage device at a predetermined timing.

  Furthermore, the virtual machine computer uploads the virtual image acquired from the storage device according to the instruction of the management computer, and applies the update data corresponding to the virtual image acquired from the storage device, to thereby update the updated virtual image. Generate. Then, the storage device stores the updated virtual image and the update data corresponding to the virtual image according to the instruction of the management computer.

  In addition, when the utilization terminal is activated, the management computer acquires update data corresponding to the activated utilization terminal from the storage device and transmits the update data to the activated utilization terminal. The using terminal applies the acquired update data, updates the virtual image, and uses it as the updated guest OS.

  According to the present invention, it is possible for individual users to freely customize, and it is possible to automate the update management of the virtualized OS environment, thereby reducing the operating cost of the user terminal.

  Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following embodiments for carrying out the present invention and the accompanying drawings.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the computer system by embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process at the time of starting of a user terminal. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process at the time of shutdown of a user terminal. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the automatic update process of a virtual image. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a virtual machine management table.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that this embodiment is merely an example for realizing the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention. In each drawing, the same reference numerals are assigned to common components.

  In this specification, the information used in the present invention is described in the form of a table, but the representation of tables, lists, queues, DBs (databases), etc., and the data structures of these tables, lists, DBs, queues, etc. It may be expressed in other than. For this reason, in order to show that the information used in the present invention does not depend on the data structure, the table, list, DB, queue, etc. may be simply referred to as “information”.

  Further, in describing the contents of each information, the expressions “identification information”, “identifier”, “name”, “name”, and “ID” are used, but these can be replaced with each other.

  Further, in the processing operation of the present invention thereafter, a part of the function of the processor may be an operation subject (subject), or “program (a program corresponding to a flowchart is stored in a memory (not shown)”, The description may be made with “module” and “SRV (service: concept equivalent to a program) as an operation subject (subject). The program, the module, and the SRV are determined by using a memory by being executed by a processor. In addition, some or all of the programs may be realized by dedicated hardware, and various programs may be installed in each computer by a program distribution server or a storage medium.

<Configuration of computer system>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a computer system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The computer system 10 includes at least one user terminal 100, a management server 101, at least one virtual machine server 102, and at least one storage server 103, which are connected to each other via a network 105. ing. The network 105 is a general network that is currently popular, such as an intranet, the Internet, and a WAN. The management server 101, the virtual machine server 102, and the storage server 103 may be provided as independent devices, or may be provided as an integrated device of at least two of them. The management server 101, the virtual machine server 102, and the storage server 103 can be collectively referred to as a server system. In addition, regarding the computer system 10 according to the present embodiment, a so-called cloud computing environment in which IT resources provided by a data center provider are used over the Internet can be used. In this case, the management server 101 and the virtual machine server 102 are used. Therefore, it can be said that the use of such an environment has a particularly large economic effect (cost reduction effect). In other words, while the introduction of virtualization at user companies has progressed, the so-called cloud computing environment, in which individual user companies use the IT infrastructure built by data center operators using virtualization technology, has also penetrated. It is being done. With this cloud computing, companies can use IT resources such as CPU, memory, and storage on demand and at low cost.

  Each user terminal 100 is, for example, a general PC, and includes a CPU 106, a main memory (RAM) 107, a keyboard, a mouse, and an input / output device 108 such as a display device and a printer, and communication via a network. A network device 109 that controls the operation and a secondary storage device 110 are included. On the user terminal 100, a VMM 111 (Virtual Machine Monitor), a virtual machine 104 operating on the VMM 111, a management OS 112, and a guest OS 113 are provided.

<About VMM and management OS>
The VMM 111 is a software that emulates a plurality of virtual machines 104 (virtually assigned CPUs and memories) on a single physical machine to virtualize a computer and execute a plurality of different OSs in parallel. It is. Note that the VMM 111 and the management OS 112 are installed by the administrator when the user terminal 100 is initially set. Therefore, at this time, the corresponding virtual image is not uploaded to the storage server 103.

  The management OS 112 is an OS that the user of the user terminal 100 does not directly operate. The management OS 112 has functions for managing the power of the guest OS 113 and providing physical hardware resources (CPU 106, RAM 107, etc.) to the guest OS 113. It is. Further, since I / O from the guest OS 113 to the physical device such as the network device 109 or the secondary storage device 110 is performed via the management OS 112, the management OS 112 controls I / O sent from the guest OS 113 to the device. Is possible.

  The guest OS 113 is an OS having a GUI that can be directly operated by the user of the user terminal 100. When the user turns on the power of the user terminal 100, the guest OS 113 appears to be activated first for the user. At this time, internally, the management OS 112 is started before the guest OS 113, and the guest OS 113 is started by the management OS 112. Application software 114 is installed on the guest OS 113, the user of the user terminal 100 can use the application 114, and the created user data 115 can be stored locally. From the guest OS 113, it appears to be stored in the secondary storage device 110, but from the management OS 112, it appears to be stored in an arbitrary area in the virtual image.

  In general, the VMM is used to operate a plurality of guest OSes on one physical machine (PC). However, in this embodiment, the guest OS 113 operating on the user terminal 100 is 1 One for each physical machine. Thus, the main reason for using the VMM 111 that is not used as a normal use terminal for the user terminal 100 is that the secondary storage device 110 is virtualized and the guest OS 113 is not directly installed in the physical secondary storage device 110. This is because it can be handled as a file (virtual image), and further, various operations can be performed before the guest OS 113 is started or after the guest OS 113 is terminated.

<About virtual images>
The virtual image 116 is one image file in which installation data of the guest OS 113 itself or application software 114 installed on the guest OS 113 is stored. The VMM 111 provides the virtual image 116 as a virtual secondary storage device to the virtual machine 104 on which the guest OS 113 operates. The VMM 111 provides the virtual image 116 as a virtual secondary storage device to the virtual machine on which the guest OS 113 operates, so that the disk I / O from the guest OS 113 and the application 114 can be transferred to the virtual image 116. I / O.

  Since the VMM 111 controls the disk I / O, it can acquire and manage the file offset, data length, and binary data of the write data to the virtual image 116. Therefore, it is possible to acquire difference data before and after writing, and in cooperation with a difference module described later, this difference data can be consolidated as one file to create a difference file 117. Using this function, it is possible to manage the virtual image 116 in a state where the guest OS is activated and the difference file 117 written in the virtual image 116 after activation. The virtual image 116 is recognized as a simple file by the management OS 112, but is recognized as the secondary storage device 110 provided by the VMM 111 from the guest OS 113. Therefore, as described above, when a data write request is made from the guest OS 113 to the secondary storage device 110, all the data is written to the virtual image 116, and the difference file 117 is generated. On the other hand, when reading data, the VMM 11 acquires the virtual image 116 and the difference file 117 and configures the user data 115 of the guest OS 113 on the virtual machine 104 and the updated guest OS itself.

<About updating virtual images>
The virtual image update process will become apparent from the description of the flowchart (see FIG. 4), which will be described later, but the outline thereof will be briefly described here.

  For example, as a file format of a virtual image, a VHD format provided by Microsoft Corporation is known. When an arbitrary VMM can recognize the file format of the virtual image, the guest OS can be started from the virtual image on the arbitrary VMM. It is also possible to directly manipulate the virtual image without starting the guest OS. The actual procedure is to mount a virtual image directly on a booted guest OS by mounting it as a volume (drive) other than the system volume (boot volume) on an already booted OS. You can add, delete, and edit files inside. That is, when the VH format is used, a management script 134 described later can be embedded in the guest OS 133 without starting the guest OS. More specifically, a plurality of virtual images (virtual image 119 in FIG. 1) and difference files (difference file 120 in FIG. 1) are mounted on the management server 101 directly from an arbitrary OS (OS 118 in FIG. 1). Edit and embed the management script. Then, the management server 101 configures the guest OS 133 for the virtual machine server 102, and delivers the virtual image 119 and the difference file 120 in which the management script 134 is embedded. Subsequently, an arbitrary guest OS 133 mounts the received virtual image 119 and the difference file 120 and activates the guest OS 133. Since the management script is embedded in the virtual image 119, the guest OS is updated by starting the guest OS 133. As described above, the guest OS 133 can be operated by the administrator.

  Using this function, the storage server 103 is updated with the virtual image 116 or the difference file 117 of the user terminal 100. The management server 101 converts an automatic update script (management script 134) into a virtual image 119 (the virtual image 119 corresponds to a virtual image group of each user terminal 100, and the virtual image 116 corresponds to one of them). Embedded in the virtual machine server 102. The virtual machine server 102 activates the guest OS 133 from the received virtual image 119 and the difference file 120 to perform automatic update, generates a difference file again from the virtual image before update and the virtual image after update, and stores it as a storage Delivered to the server 103. This operation is performed for each virtual image. Then, by distributing the individual difference files to each user terminal 100, the guest OS 113 of the user terminal 100 can be updated.

<About each module on the management OS>
Each module on the management OS 112 will be described. On the management OS 112, a virtual machine management module 121, a virtual image management module 122, a terminal management module 123, and a difference module 124 are installed.

(I) Virtual machine management module 121
The virtual machine management module 121 is a module that performs power management and setting change such as activation and termination of a virtual machine on the user terminal 100 (a guest OS is activated on the virtual machine). When the user turns on the power after the user terminal 100 is turned off, the management OS 112 is started, and then the virtual machine management module 121 causes the virtual machine and the guest OS 113 operating on the virtual machine. Is activated. When the user performs a shutdown operation on the guest OS 113, the virtual machine management module 121 shuts down the virtual machine and the guest OS 113 operating on the virtual machine, and then the management OS 112 is shut down. Cuts out. The management OS 112 reads setting information such as a CPU, memory, network device, and file path to the virtual image, and creates the virtual machine 104 on the VMM 111.

  The virtual image management module 122 manages the difference file (117 or 120) of the virtual image (116 or 119) and needs to update the virtual image 116 (for example, an automatic update flag (FIG. 5)). When the reference) is TRUE, the difference file 120 is downloaded from the storage server 103 and applied to the virtual image 116. Further, when the user uses the guest OS 113, update writing to the virtual image 116 occurs. This writing is stored in the secondary storage device 110 as a difference file 117 by the difference module 124 described later. The virtual image management module 122 also has a function of uploading the stored difference file 117 to the storage server 103 when the guest OS 113 is shut down or the user logs off. If the upload is successful, the “automatic update flag” 506 of the virtual image management table 130 of the management server 101 is set to “TRUE”, and the virtual image 119 is set to be automatically updated.

(Ii) Terminal management module 123
The terminal management module 123 is a module that manages information of the user terminal 100 and performs terminal management in cooperation with the terminal management SRV 127 on the management server 101.

  In the management server 101, the terminal management SRV 127 operates and manages a virtual image management table 130 in which information such as user terminals / virtual images is stored. The terminal management module 123 negotiates information management of user terminals with the management server in cooperation with the terminal management SRV 127. Here, SRV means a service program that always operates on the server.

(Iii) Difference module 124
The difference module 124 cooperates with the VMM 111 to extract a write difference to the virtual image 116 by the guest OS 113 and create a difference file 117. The difference file 117 is a file in which write binary data for update writing to the virtual image 116, a data length, and a file offset are recorded. By uploading this difference file 117 to the storage server 103 and registering it in the difference file name 503 of the virtual image management table of the management server 101, the user can add the user to the virtual image 119 managed by the management server 101. The difference file 117 updated and written on the terminal 100 can be written.

<Management server (management computer)>
The management server 101 is a general server including a CPU (processor), a main storage device, a secondary storage device, a network device, and the like. In the OS 118 of the management server 101, a virtual machine management SRV 125, a virtual image management SRV 126, a job management SRV 128, a terminal management SRV 127, and a script management SRV 129 operate, and a virtual image management table 130 is provided.

  The management server 101 has a function as a controller that manages a plurality of user terminals 100 and a plurality of virtual machine servers 102. Note that the module configurations of the management OS 132 and guest OS 133 on the virtual machine server 102 are the same as those of the management OS 112 and guest OS 113 on the user terminal 100.

(I) Virtual machine management SRV125
The virtual machine management SRV 125 functions to manage a plurality of guest OSs 133 operating on the plurality of virtual machine servers 102 in cooperation with a virtual machine management module (not shown) on the management OS 132 of the plurality of virtual machine servers 102. It is a service with

(Ii) Virtual image management SRV 126
The virtual image management SRV 126 updates the entry information in the virtual image management table 130 after saving to the storage server 103 when the virtual image 116 or the difference file 117 is uploaded from the user terminal device 101. Do. Conversely, when there is a download request for the difference file 120, data is downloaded from the storage server 103 to the user terminal.

(Iii) Terminal management SRV127
The terminal management SRV 127 manages information of the user terminal 100 (including information of FIG. 5) in cooperation with the terminal management module 123 on the user terminal 100. As an initial setting, the administrator registers the machine ID and creates an entry in the virtual image management table 130 via this service.

(Iv) Script management SRV129
The script management SRV 129 is a service having a function of directly embedding an operation desired to be executed by the guest OS 133 as a management script 134 (file) in the virtual image 119. The management script 134 is, for example, a script file known as a startup script in Windows. By describing the script so as to perform automatic update, it is possible to automatically update the OS at the next startup. Become. In addition to automatic updating, the administrator can cause the guest OS to perform an arbitrary operation.

(V) Job management SRV128
The job management SRV 128 is different from the virtual image (group) 119 stored in the storage server 103 in the virtual image (group) 119 in which the automatic update flag of the virtual image management table 130 is registered in the entry “TRUE”. The file (group) 120 is acquired, and the script management SRV 129 is made to embed the management script 134 for automatic update. Thereafter, the job management SRV 128 instructs the virtual machine management SRV 125 to start the guest OS 133 from the virtual image 119 and the difference file 120 on the virtual machine server 102.

(Vi) Virtual image management table 130
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the virtual image management table 130. The virtual image management table 130 includes a machine ID 501, a virtual image name 502, a difference file name 503, a difference file flag 504, a virtual image flag 505, and an automatic update flag 506 as configuration items.

  The machine ID 501 is identification information that identifies a plurality of user terminals 100. The virtual image name 502 is a name (identification information) for specifying the virtual image 116 used in each user terminal 100. The difference file name 503 is a name (identification information) for specifying the difference file 117 generated by each user terminal 100.

  The difference file flag 504 is information indicating whether or not the corresponding difference file has been updated on the storage server 103. If the flag is TRUE, there is an update, and if it is FALSE, it indicates that no update has been made.

  The virtual image flag 505 is information indicating whether a virtual image exists on the storage server 103. If the virtual image 116 is uploaded to the storage server 103 even once, the flag is TRUE regardless of the number of updates. Therefore, when the flag is FALSE, it indicates that the virtual image 116 has not been uploaded to the storage server 103 at all. After the flag becomes TRUE, there is no need to upload the virtual image 116 to the storage server 103, and only the difference file 117 is transmitted and received between the user terminal 100 and the storage server 103.

  The automatic update flag 506 is a flag for determining whether or not the management server 101 executes automatic update. When this flag is TRUE, it indicates that there is a difference file to be updated.

<Virtual machine server>
When the guest OS 133 started on the virtual machine server 102 is started, the management script 134 is executed and automatic update is executed. At this time, the difference file 120 after the automatic update is executed is acquired by the difference module and the VMM 131 on the management OS 132. At this time, the difference file 120 is applied to the virtual image 119. However, the difference file 120 is not discarded because it is transferred to the user terminal 100 and applied to the virtual image 116. This process is executed for all entries whose table automatic update flag in FIG. 5 is “TRUE” among the virtual images of the entries registered in the virtual image management table 130.

  The virtual machine server 102 is a server having a CPU, a main storage device, a secondary storage device, a network device, an input / output device, and the like, and a VMM 131, a management OS 132, and a plurality of guest OSs 133 operate. The virtual machine server 102 is a server that mounts the virtual image 119 and starts the guest OS 133 in cooperation with the job management SRV 128 of the management server 101, and updates and updates the guest OS instead of the user terminal 100.

  The management OS 132 has the same function as the management OS 112 on the user terminal 100. Note that the management OS on the virtual machine server 102 that executes the processing is managed according to instructions from the virtual image management SRV 126, the virtual machine management SRV 125, and the terminal management SRV 127 of the management server 101. This is because a plurality of virtual machine servers 102 are integrated and managed from the service program on the management server 101. Further, the difference module on the management OS 132 saves write data from the guest OS in the difference file 120 on the storage server 103.

<Storage server>
The storage server 103 is a server that acquires the virtual image 116 and the difference file 117 uploaded from the user terminal 100 and stores them as a virtual image group 119 and a difference file group 120 used in each user terminal 100.

  The virtual machine server 102 activates the guest OS 133 from the virtual image group 119 and the difference file group 120 stored in the storage server 103 and executes a virtual image update operation.

<User terminal activation processing>
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining processing when the user terminal 100 is activated. It is assumed that the administrator installs the VMM 111, the management OS 112, and the guest OS 113 in the user terminal 100, and user terminal information is registered in advance in the virtual image management table 130 on the management server 101. When this activation is in the initial stage, the virtual image 119 and the difference file 120 are not yet saved on the storage server 103.

  When the user turns on the user terminal 100 (S201), the management OS 112 is activated (S202).

  Next, when the virtual image management module 122 on the management OS 112 makes an inquiry about the “difference file flag” 504 to the virtual image management SRV 126 of the management server 101, the virtual image management SRV 126 refers to the virtual image management table 130. The result is returned (S203). The “difference file flag” is “TRUE” when automatic update is executed by the management server 101 and the difference file 120 is updated, and “FALSE” when it is not updated.

  Then, the virtual image management module 122 determines whether a difference file exists in the storage server 103 based on the received inquiry result (S204).

  When the inquiry result is “TRUE” (Yes in S204), since the difference file 120 for the guest OS 113 exists on the storage server 103, the virtual image management module 122 passes the virtual image management SRV 126 through the virtual image management SRV 126. The difference file name 503 of the image management table 130 is acquired (S205), and the difference file 120 is downloaded from the storage server 103 (S206).

  Thereafter, the virtual image management module 122 applies the downloaded difference file 120 to the virtual image 116 (S207).

  In addition, the virtual image management module 122 notifies the virtual image management SRV 126 of the management server 101 that the application of the difference file 120 has been completed. Then, the virtual image management SRV 126 sets the “difference file flag” 504 of the virtual image management table 130 to “FALSE” (S208).

  Then, the virtual machine management module 121 mounts the virtual image 116 on the virtual machine 104 and starts the guest OS 113 (S209).

  On the other hand, when the inquiry result is “FALSE” (No in S204), the difference file 117 on the user terminal 100 is the same as that included in the difference file group 120 on the storage server 103 (automatic update of the virtual image is performed). Therefore, the virtual image management module 122 applies the difference file 117 to the virtual image 116 (S210), and the virtual machine management module 121 starts the guest OS (S209). In some cases, the upload of the difference file 117 to the storage server 103 is not performed every time the user terminal 100 is shut down (for example, the upload of the difference file is executed once a week). In this case, the difference file 117 included in the use terminal 100 is different from the corresponding difference file included in the difference file group 120 of the storage server 103.

  As described above, the user can use the guest OS of the virtual image that has executed the latest update.

<Processing when the terminal is shut down>
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining processing when the user terminal is shut down.

  When the user executes shutdown on the guest OS 113, the guest OS 113 is shut down after executing the process and file close processing on the guest OS 113 (S301).

  When detecting the shutdown of the guest OS 113, the management OS 112 instructs the virtual image management module 122 to upload and save the difference file 117 to the storage server 103 (S302). As described above, when the difference file is not uploaded at each shutdown, the management OS 112 determines whether or not it is a predetermined timing of uploading, and if it is, the virtual OS management module 122 Command upload.

  After the transfer of the difference file 117 is completed, the virtual image management module 122 inquires of the virtual image management SRV 126 on the management server 101 and acquires the “virtual image flag” 505 (S303). If the “virtual image flag” 505 is “TRUE”, it means that the virtual image 116 has already been stored on the storage server 103. If “FALSE”, the virtual image is still stored in the storage server 103. This means that it is not stored in the server 103.

  When the “virtual image flag” 505 is “TRUE” (Yes in S304), the virtual image management module 122 does not transfer the virtual image 116, and the process proceeds to S306.

  On the other hand, when the “virtual image flag” 505 is “FALSE” (No in S304), the virtual image management module 122 transfers and stores the virtual image 116 to the storage server 103 (S305).

  Thereafter, the virtual image management SRV 126 sets the “automatic update flag” 506 of the virtual image management table to “TRUE” (S306). This “automatic update flag” 506 is information for determining whether or not to automatically update the virtual image on the server side.

  When the above operation is completed, the CPU 106 ends the management OS and turns off the power of the user terminal (S307).

<Virtual image automatic update processing>
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the virtual image automatic update processing. This process is periodically executed at a predetermined timing.

  First, the job management SRV 128 of the management server 101 searches the virtual image management table 130 and acquires information for the number of entries (number of terminals used) (S401). The processing from S402 to S415 is repeated by the number of entries.

  The job management SRV 128 determines whether or not the “automatic update flag” 506 is TRUE for the processing target user terminal 100 (S402). If the “automatic update flag” 506 is FALSE, the process for the entry is terminated, and the process proceeds to the next entry. If the “automatic update flag” 506 is TRUE, the process proceeds to S403.

  Then, the job management SRV 128 acquires the “virtual image name” 502 and “difference file name” 503 whose flag is “TRUE” from the virtual image management table 130, and further, the virtual image 119 group of the storage server 103, The corresponding virtual image and difference file are acquired from the difference file group 120 (S403), and mounted on an arbitrary drive of the OS 118 of the management server 101 (S404).

  In addition, when the job management SRV 128 notifies the script management SRV 129 that it has been mounted, the script management SRV 129 stores the management script 134 (script for automatic OS update) in the startup script in the virtual image 119 (S405). . The management script 134 is described so as to be deleted once it is executed.

  When the management script 134 is embedded, the job management SRV 128 once unmounts the virtual image 119 from the OS 118 of the management server 101 (S406), and mounts it on an arbitrary virtual machine on the virtual machine server 102 (S407).

  Thereafter, the job management SRV 128 instructs the virtual machine server 102 to activate the guest OS 133 (S408).

  When the guest OS 133 is activated, automatic update is executed once (S409). At this time, the difference file 120 is updated by a difference module (not shown) installed in the management OS 132 on the virtual machine server 102 (S410).

  When the automatic update is completed, the management OS 132 instructs the virtual machine server 102 to shut down the guest OS 133 (S411), and unmounts the virtual image from the virtual machine on the virtual machine server 102 (S412).

  When the above is completed, the virtual image management SRV 126 of the management server 101 sets the “automatic update flag” 506 of this entry to “FALSE” (S413), and sets the “difference file flag” 504 to “TRUE” (S414). ).

  Finally, a virtual image management module (not shown) on the virtual machine server 102 applies the difference file to the virtual images and combines them (S415). At this time, however, the difference file is not deleted and remains stored in the difference file group 120. This is because when the user terminal 100 is activated, the corresponding difference file included in the difference file group 120 is downloaded and used to update the virtual image 116 on the user terminal 100.

  If another entry remains, the process proceeds to S401, and the job management SRV 128 performs the same operation on the other entry.

<Summary>
The processing in the computer system 10 according to the present embodiment is summarized as follows.

  Initially, the guest OS 113 is not set in the user terminal 100. For example, the same virtual image is distributed to each user terminal 100 or installed by each user. At this point, the virtual image does not exist on the server side including the storage system. In each usage terminal 100, the virtual image is changed by each user, and a difference file 117 is generated. Therefore, if the virtual image 116 is updated, the guest OS 113 is different in each user terminal 100.

  When the use terminal 100 is shut down (when it is time to upload a difference file), the difference file 116 is uploaded to the storage server 103. In the first time (when the virtual image is not in the storage server 103), not only the difference file 117 but also the virtual image 116 is uploaded. However, the virtual image itself can be uploaded only once at the first time, and only the difference file can be uploaded from the next time. As a result, the communication load is reduced and rapid processing can be expected.

  On the other hand, when the difference file 117 is uploaded on the server side (management server 101, virtual machine server 102, storage server 103 side), the virtual machine server 102 executes virtual image update processing at a predetermined timing, and updates The virtual image and the difference file that have been set are stored in the storage server 103. The updated virtual image and the virtual image in the user terminal 100 become the same virtual image by reflecting the difference file corresponding to the virtual image in the user terminal 100.

  That is, the computer system according to the present invention includes a plurality of user terminals and a server system that manages a virtual image of the guest OS used in the plurality of user terminals. The server system executes a virtual image update process, a storage device that stores a plurality of virtual images and a plurality of update data corresponding to the plurality of virtual images, which constitute each guest OS of a plurality of user terminals. A virtual machine computer that generates an updated virtual image, and a management computer that manages a virtual image update process. Here, the update data is a difference file including difference data between the current virtual image and the latest virtual image.

  The virtual machine computer generates an updated virtual image by applying update data corresponding to the virtual image acquired from the storage apparatus to the virtual image acquired from the storage apparatus. The storage device stores the updated virtual image and update data corresponding to the virtual image. When the usage terminal is activated, the management computer acquires update data corresponding to the activated usage terminal from the storage device and transmits the update data to the activated usage terminal. In this way, each user terminal can use a unique OS environment without executing an OS image update process.

  When the user terminal is activated, update data (difference file) is received, and the updated guest OS is configured by applying the received update data to the virtual image stored in the secondary storage device of the user terminal To do. If the updated guest OS further changes, it is stored in the secondary storage device as new update data. For example, when the user terminal is shut down, the update data is uploaded to the server system side. By doing so, the guest OS can be updated by exchanging only the difference file, so that the resource usage in the network of the computer system can be reduced and the processing load on the use terminal or the server system can be suppressed. become able to.

  Further, the management computer embeds a management script for executing the automatic update operation in the virtual image to be updated, and delivers the virtual image in which the management script is embedded to the virtual machine computer. The virtual machine computer starts the guest OS that is the target of the update process, automatically starts the update process, and applies the update data corresponding to the virtual image to the virtual image in which the management script is embedded. Update processing is executed to generate an updated virtual image. By doing so, it is possible to realize automatic update of the virtual image.

  Furthermore, the management computer determines whether or not update processing is necessary for all virtual images used in a plurality of use terminals based on the presence or absence of update data, and sequentially executes update processing for all virtual images that require update processing. To do. By doing so, the automatic update process can be executed for the virtual image without omission.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  In addition, each configuration, function, processing unit, processing unit, and the like described in the embodiments may be realized in hardware by designing a part or all of them with, for example, an integrated circuit. Further, each of the above-described configurations, functions, etc. may be realized by software by the processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function. Information such as programs, tables, and files for realizing each function is stored in a recording or storage device such as a memory, hard disk, or SSD (Solid State Drive), or in a recording or storage medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD. be able to.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, control lines and information lines are those that are considered necessary for explanation, and not all control lines and information lines on the product are necessarily shown. All the components may be connected to each other.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... User terminal, 102 ... Management server, 103 ... Virtual machine server, 104 ... Storage server, 105 ... Network, 106 ... CPU, 107 ... RAM, 108 ... I / O device, 109 ... Network device, 110 ... Secondary storage Device 111 ... VMM 112 ... Management OS 113 ... Guest OS 114 ... Application 115 ... User Data 116 ... Virtual Image 117 ... Differential File 118 ... OS 119 ... Virtual Image 120 ... Differential File 121 ... Virtual machine management module, 122 ... Virtual image management module, 123 ... Terminal management module, 124 ... Difference module, 125 ... Virtual machine management SRV, 126 ... Virtual image management SRV, 127 ... Terminal management SRV, 128 ... Job management SRV, 129 ... Su Script management SRV, 130 ... virtual image management table, 131 ... VMM, 132 ... management OS, 133 ... guest OS, 134 ... management script

Claims (7)

A plurality of user terminals, and a server system that manages a virtual image of a guest OS used in the plurality of user terminals,
Each of the plurality of user terminals stores a virtual machine monitor, a management OS and a guest OS operating on the virtual monitor, a virtual image configuring the guest OS, and update data of the virtual image. A storage device,
The server system includes a storage device for storing a plurality of virtual images and a plurality of update data corresponding to the plurality of virtual images, which constitute each guest OS of the plurality of user terminals, and update processing of the virtual images A virtual machine computer that generates an updated virtual image, and a management computer that manages the update process of the virtual image,
The update data is a difference file including difference data between the current virtual image and the latest virtual image,
Each of the use terminals uploads the update data to the storage device at a predetermined timing,
The virtual machine computer generates the updated virtual image by applying the update data corresponding to the virtual image acquired from the storage device and uploaded to the virtual image acquired from the storage device,
The storage device stores the updated virtual image and the update data corresponding to the virtual image,
The management computer acquires the update data corresponding to the activated utilization terminal from the storage device when the utilization terminal is activated, and transmits the update data to the activated utilization terminal. Computer system to do. In claim 1,
The activated user terminal receives the update data, configures the updated guest OS by applying the received update data to the virtual image held in the secondary storage device, and A computer system characterized in that a change to a guest OS that has been made is stored in the secondary storage device as new update data. In claim 1,
The management computer embeds a management script for executing an automatic update operation in a virtual image to be subjected to the update process, and passes the virtual image in which the management script is embedded to the virtual machine computer,
The virtual machine computer starts a guest OS that is an object of update processing and automatically starts the update processing, and the update data corresponding to the virtual image is embedded in the virtual image in which the management script is embedded. The computer system is characterized in that the update process is executed by applying the method to generate the updated virtual image. In claim 3,
The management computer determines whether or not the update process is necessary based on the presence or absence of the update data for all virtual images used in the plurality of use terminals, and performs the update process for all virtual images that need to be updated. A computer system characterized by sequentially executing. A management computer connected to a plurality of user terminals for managing update processing of a virtual image of a guest OS used in the plurality of user terminals,
A processor and a memory;
The processor is
Managing the reading and writing of the update data to a storage device that stores a plurality of virtual images and a plurality of update data corresponding to the plurality of virtual images, constituting each guest OS of the plurality of user terminals,
Managing the update process of the virtual image in the virtual machine computer that generates the updated virtual image;
The update data is a difference file including difference data between the current virtual image and the latest virtual image,
When there is a request for uploading the update data from the plurality of use terminals, the update data is written to the storage device,
At a predetermined timing, the virtual machine computer is caused to generate the updated virtual image by applying update data corresponding to the acquired virtual image to the virtual image acquired from the storage device,
Storing the updated virtual image and the update data corresponding to the virtual image in the storage device;
A management computer characterized in that, when the user terminal is activated, the update data corresponding to the activated user terminal is acquired from the storage device and transmitted to the activated user terminal. In claim 5,
The processor is
Embed a management script for executing an automatic update operation in the virtual image to be subjected to the update process, and pass the virtual image in which the management script is embedded to the virtual machine computer,
For the virtual machine computer, the guest OS that is the target of the update process is started to automatically start the update process, and the virtual image in which the management script is embedded corresponds to the virtual image. A management computer that executes the update process by applying update data to generate the updated virtual image. In claim 6,
The processor determines whether or not the update process is necessary based on the presence or absence of the update data for all virtual images used in the plurality of use terminals, and performs the update process for all virtual images that need to be updated. A management computer characterized by being executed sequentially.

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