Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Sergey Royt

Robert M Fries

Venkatasubrahmanyan Raman

Natalya V Varava

Disclosed are techniques for using known update technologies to automatically identify the updates installed on a physical machine prior to facsimile creation, to locate the update packages from an update server, and to download them to the machine performing the facsimile creation. The use of update technologies enables precise identification of the updates that affect the defined set of files requiring replacement, and thus minimizes the number of updates that need to be downloaded. In addition, the desired set of replacement files are extracted and cached to allow for their reuse during subsequent facsimile creations using either the same or different physical or virtual machine as the source. Downloading the minimal set of updates and caching them for reuse eliminates the redundant downloads of updates and results in a shorter time for facsimile creation.

Management of software and operating system updates required for the process of creating a virtual machine facsimile of an existing physical or virtual machine

A virtualization mechanism may create a virtual representation of a group of physical computers and the physical connections between the computers. The mechanism may comprise a discovery tool for determining a topology of connected physical computers and selecting the elements to virtualize, a device virtualization tool that may create virtual versions of the physical computers, and a connection virtualization tool that may create virtual connections between the virtual computers. The virtual devices and virtual connections may then be operated virtually. In many cases, optimized versions of the virtual devices and virtual connections may be performed.

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Sergey Royt