Granted Patent B2

US 8,661,439 · App. 13/692,818 · Granted Feb 25, 2014

Abstract

Claims (48)

1. A method for supporting Wake-on-LAN (WOL) for selectively powering on a virtual machine, powered off and having no network connectivity, to a local area network (LAN), the method comprising:

employing at least one processor for:

(a1) introducing a proxy module into the LAN, acting as a proxy for the virtual machine, the virtual machine being managed by a virtual machine manager;

(b1) configuring the proxy module, comprising identifying an assigned unique address of the virtual machine;

(c1) receiving, at the proxy module, a power-on message in the LAN, the power-on message including a unique address of the virtual machine;

(d1) sending, by the proxy module, a command to the virtual machine manager to power on the virtual machine provided the assigned unique address matches with the unique address in the power-on message.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the assigned unique address in a database.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the storing the assigned unique addresses further comprises:

receiving a command for registering the virtual machine for enabling the Wake-on LAN on the virtual machine, the command including the assigned unique address of the virtual machine; and

recording the assigned unique address of the virtual machine in the database.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising disabling the Wake-on LAN on the virtual machine in response to an un-registering command.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the disabling the Wake-on LAN on the virtual machine comprises:

receiving the un-registering command for the virtual machine, the un-registering command including the assigned unique address of the virtual machine; and

removing the assigned unique address of the virtual machine from the database.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the unique address is a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step (d1) further comprises:

selecting a power-on command depending on a virtualization platform on which the virtual machine is running; and

sending the selected power-on command to the virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising running the virtual machine and the proxy module on a hypervisor.

9. A system for supporting Wake-on-LAN (WOL) for selectively powering on a virtual machine, powered off and having no network connectivity, to a local area network (LAN), the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory device having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by the processor, causing the processor to:

(a1) form a proxy module in the LAN, acting as a proxy for the virtual machine, the virtual machine being managed by a virtual machine manager;

(b1) configure the proxy module to identify an assigned unique address of the virtual machine;

(c1) receive, at the proxy module, a power-on message in the LAN, the power-on message including a unique address of the virtual machine;

(d1) send, by the proxy module, a command to the virtual machine manager to power on the virtual machine provided the assigned unique address matches with the unique address in the power-on message.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a database stored in the memory device storing the assigned unique address.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to:

receive a command for registering the virtual machine for enabling the Wake-on LAN on the virtual machine, the command including the assigned unique address of the virtual machine; and

record the assigned unique address of the virtual machine in the database.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to disable the Wake-on LAN on the virtual machine in response to an un-registering command.

13. The system of claim 12 , the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to:

receive the un-registering command for the virtual machine, the un-registering command including the assigned unique address of the virtual machine; and

remove the assigned unique address of the virtual machine from the database.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the assigned unique address is a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the virtual machine.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to:

select a power-on command depending on a virtualization platform on which the virtual machine is running; and

send the selected power-on command to the virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a hypervisor for running the virtual machine and the proxy module on the hypervisor.

17. A system for supporting Wake-on-LAN (WOL) for selectively powering on a virtual machine, powered off and having no network connectivity, to a local area network (LAN), the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory device having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by the processor, causing the processor to form:

a proxy module in the LAN, acting as a proxy for the virtual machine, the virtual machine being managed by a virtual machine manager; and

the proxy module being configured to:

identify an assigned unique address of the virtual machine;

receive a power-on message in the LAN, the power-on message including a unique address of the virtual machine; and

send a command to the virtual machine manager to power on the virtual machine provided the assigned unique address matches with the unique address in the power-on message.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the assigned unique address is a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the virtual machine.

Assignments (19)