International Business Machines Corporation

Matthew J Sheard

Rohith Kottamangalam Ashok

Hugh Edward Hockett

Matt Richard Hogstrom

Michael S Law

Aaron J Quirk

Roy Frank Brabson

Ivan M Heninger

Michael John Burr

Douglas Alan Larson

Thomas M Brey

Raymond J Harrington

Wolfgang Segmuller

Gerald Francis McBrearty

Erik John Burckart

Vinit Jain

Aaron Kyle Shook

Lap Thiet Huynh

Katherine Barabash

Darryl Edward Gardner

Mickael Maison

Systems and methods for managing mirroring communication between virtual network clients in a distributed overlay virtual network are provided. The method comprises utilization of controlled overlay virtualization infrastructure to facilitate communication between mirrored network clients. The system comprises a source mirrored network client hosted on a first physical port, a target mirrored network client hosted on a second physical port, a first overlay termination point, a second overlay termination point and a network controller. For a set of mirrored network clients, a logical mirror virtual network address is reserved. The controller is extended to contain mapping between the logical mirror network address and a set of virtual network addresses of mirrored clients. The network controller translates the logical mirror virtual network address to a set of destination virtual network addresses of mirrored clients and allows the modified packets to be sent to a set of second virtual network clients.

Application level mirroring in distributed overlay virtual networks

A method, data storage device and computer program product for efficiently configuring different types of hardware components. A Universal Serial Bus (USB) key is preloaded with multiple profiles, where each profile contains a configuration file(s) associated with a particular type of hardware component. Upon plugging the USB key into a hardware component, the USB key recognizes the type of hardware component based on the properties of the hardware component available on the USB interface. The USB key identifies a profile containing the configuration file(s) associated with the recognized type of hardware component. The USB key then presents the configuration file(s) contained in the identified profile to the connected hardware component. Such a process may be repeated for configuring another type of hardware component. In this manner, the user is able to efficiently configure different types of hardware by having the USB key function as multiple USB keys.

Universal serial bus (USB) key functioning as multiple USB keys so as to efficiently configure different types of hardware

A method, system and computer program product for optimizing quality of service settings for virtual machine deployment and migration. A first network (e.g., user network) is provided that is dedicated to running user workloads deployed on virtual machines. A second network (e.g., cloud management network), isolated from the first network, is also provided that is dedicated to virtual machine deployment and migration. As a result of the first and second networks not being shared, the administrative server utilizes unique quality of service settings for virtual machine deployment and migration supported by the second network that would otherwise not be possible if the first and second networks were shared.

Implementing a private network isolated from a user network for virtual machine deployment and migration and for monitoring and managing the cloud environment

A method, system and computer program product for minimizing workload migrations during cloud maintenance operations. Upon receiving an indication that a scheduled maintenance operation is to be performed, a cloud controller uploads the maintenance binaries associated with the scheduled maintenance operation and analyzes the maintenance binaries so as to evaluate the requirements of the maintenance packages and dependencies associated with the scheduled maintenance operation. A matrix is then generated by the cloud controller to identify the classes of hardware that will be disrupted by the scheduled maintenance operation based on the analysis. The workloads running on the classes of hardware identified in the matrix will then be consolidated prior to the scheduled maintenance operation. By consolidating the workloads onto a fewer number of hardware components, a fewer number of workload migrations will need to be performed during the cloud maintenance operation.

Minimizing workload migrations during cloud maintenance operations

A method, system and computer program product for optimizing storage system behavior in a cloud computing environment. An Input/Output (I/O) operation data is appended with a tag, where the tag indicates a class of data for the I/O operation data. Upon the storage controller reviewing the tag appended to the I/O operation data, the storage controller performs a table look-up for the storage policy associated with the determined class of data. The storage controller applies a map to determine a storage location for the I/O operation data in a drive device, where the map represents a logical volume which indicates a range of block data that is to be excluded for being stored on the drive device and a range of block data that is to be considered for being stored on the drive device. In this manner, granularity of storage policies is provided in a cloud computing environment.

Optimizing storage system behavior in virtualized cloud computing environments by tagging input/output operation data to indicate storage policy

A method, system and computer program product for managing and deploying physical and virtual environments across multiple hardware platforms. A single unit, referred to herein as a cloud construction block, contains both the hardware and software components used to build a cloud computing environment. By having such a single unit contain both the hardware and software components needed to build a cloud computing environment, the user no longer needs to purchase and integrate different hardware and software components. Furthermore, the cloud construction block contains modular pieces of hardware, such as compute hardware, memory hardware, storage hardware and network hardware, that are integrated with management software configured to manage both the hardware and the cloud computing environment in a seamlessly integrated package. Since there is a single management system, the management software allows the user to manage the modular pieces of hardware via a single user interface.

Unified cloud computing infrastructure to manage and deploy physical and virtual environments

A method, system and computer program product for efficiently configuring different types of hardware components. A computing device is connected to a hardware component to be configured. The computing device detects the type of the hardware component upon being connected to the hardware component. The computing device then identifies a profile from among multiple profiles associated with the detected type of hardware component, where each profile contains a configuration file(s) for configuring its associated type of hardware component. Upon identifying the profile associated with the connected hardware component, the computing device emulates a Universal Serial Bus (USB) key presenting the configuration file(s) contained in the identified profile to the detected hardware component. Such a process may be repeated for configuring another type of hardware component. In this manner, the user is able to efficiently configure different types of hardware by having the computing device emulate multiple USB keys.

Emulating multiple universal serial bus (USB) keys so as to efficiently configure different types of hardware

The system of the present invention allows the recipient in a call to interrupt a voicemail message if the caller is still in the voicemail session with the recipient's voicemail box. The system has a Voicemail Session Monitor and an Interrupt Handler. In the method of the present invention, the voicemail connection is monitored by the recipient's phone and interrupted when the line is picked up, connecting the two parties if the calling party accepts the invitation. The receiving party is offered an invitation to accept the interrupt or to allow the calling user to stay in the voicemail system.

System and method for voicemail interruption

A method, system and computer program product for dynamically building a set of compute nodes to host a user's workload. An administrative server receives workload definitions that include the types of workloads that are to be run in a cloud group as well as a number of instances of each workload the cloud group should support. These workload definitions are used to determine the virtual machine demands that the cloud group will place on the cloud environment. The administrative server further receives the demand constraints, placement constraints and license enforcement policies. The administrative server identifies a set of compute nodes to host the user's workload based on the virtual machines demands, the demand constraints, the placement constraints and the license enforcement policies. In this manner, a set of compute nodes is dynamically built for consideration in forming a cloud group without the user requiring knowledge of the cloud's composition.

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Morrisville, NC, United States of America

Matthew J Sheard