Apparatus And Method For Configuring And Enabling Virtual Applications
Patent No. US11748132 (titled "Apparatus And Method For Configuring And Enabling Virtual Applications") was filed by Novacloud Licensing Llc on Apr 17, 2020.
What is this patent about?
’132 is related to the field of virtual application management in cloud environments. Modern cloud deployments often involve complex virtual applications (VNFs) comprised of multiple virtual machines (VMs). Configuring and monitoring these applications requires significant manual effort, including setting up network connectivity, access permissions, and managing dependencies. This manual process is prone to errors and delays, especially in secure enterprise cloud environments.
The underlying idea behind ’132 is to automate the configuration and monitoring of virtual applications by injecting a special-purpose VM, called an injection virtual appliance , directly into the virtual application's deployment. This injection appliance contains instructions tailored to the specific virtual application, enabling it to self-configure and monitor its health without relying on external centralized systems or manual intervention.
The claims of ’132 focus on a method, a computing device, and a non-transitory machine-readable medium that perform the steps of generating configuration and monitoring instructions, modifying an injection virtual appliance image to include these instructions, modifying the virtual application deployment descriptor to include the injection virtual appliance, modifying the virtual application virtual appliance image to include injection data such as a security key for encrypted communication , and deploying the virtual application with the injected appliance in the cloud environment. The injection appliance then uses the instructions to set the license activation key and activate the virtual application.
In practice, the system uses a virtual application injection component to automate the process. This component subscribes to a structured communication medium (e.g., an email system) to receive configuration data for the virtual application. Based on this data, it generates specific instructions for configuring and monitoring the application. These instructions are then embedded into an injection virtual appliance image, which is referenced in the virtual application's deployment descriptor. When the application is deployed, the injection appliance automatically configures and monitors the application according to the embedded instructions, reporting the results back to the injection component.
This approach differs significantly from traditional methods that rely on external, centralized programs to configure and monitor virtual applications. By injecting a dedicated appliance directly into the application's resource group, ’132 eliminates the need for manual network configuration and access permission setup. This distributed approach reduces human error, lowers costs, and accelerates deployment timelines, while also addressing communication and security concerns by leveraging the same networking protocols and channels as the virtual application itself.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the late 2010s when ’132 was filed, virtual applications were typically implemented using virtual machines deployed in cloud environments, at a time when each virtual application needed to be individually configured and monitored, and when configuration and monitoring were commonly performed by external centralized computer programs via predefined interfaces.
Novelty and Inventive Step
The examiner approved the application because the prior art did not teach or fairly suggest combining the following elements: instructions including activation instructions for setting a license activation key and activating the virtual application; modifying a virtual application deployment descriptor to indicate that the injection virtual appliance is to be injected into the virtual application, wherein the virtual application deployment descriptor includes a reference to an image of a virtual application virtual appliance; modifying the image of the virtual application virtual appliance to include injection data that is usable to facilitate configuring and monitoring of the virtual application, wherein the injection data includes a security key that enables encrypted communications between the virtual application virtual appliance and the injection virtual appliance; and causing the virtual application, with the injection virtual appliance, to be deployed in the cloud environment using the modified virtual application deployment descriptor, wherein when the virtual application is deployed, the injection virtual appliance sets the license activation key for the virtual application and activates the virtual application in accordance with the activation instructions.
Claims
This patent contains 20 claims, of which claims 1, 11, and 17 are independent. The independent claims are directed to a method, a computing device, and a non-transitory machine-readable medium, respectively, all relating to configuring and monitoring a virtual application in a cloud environment using an injection virtual appliance. The dependent claims generally elaborate on and refine the elements and steps recited in the independent claims.
Key Claim Terms New
Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.
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Date
Description
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US11748132
- Application Number
- US16851566
- Filing Date
- Apr 17, 2020
- Status
- Granted
- Expiry Date
- Jan 18, 2039
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents