Thin provisioning virtual desktop infrastructure virtual machines in cloud environments without thin clone support

Abstract

Systems and methods for operating a cloud based computing system. The methods comprise: receiving, by a cloud server, a request for accessing Virtual Hard Disk (“VHD”) data associated with a first location in the VHD of a Virtual Machine (“VM”) hosted by a remote computing device; extracting, by the cloud server, at least a first address specifying the first location from the request; translating, by the cloud server, the first address into a second address specifying a second location in a cloud storage where the VHD data is stored; and communicating from the cloud server the second address to the remote computing device for facilitating access to the VHD data stored in the cloud storage.

1 - 23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . A method comprising:
 extracting, by a server, a first address from a request, the request being to access data in a first location in a virtual hard drive of a virtual machine hosted by a remote computing device, the first address comprising a logical address for the data in the first location;   translating, by the server, the first address into a second address specifying a second location in remote computing storage where the data is stored; and   communicating, by the server, the second address to the remote computing device to enable the remote computing device to obtain the data from the second location.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the server, the request, the request including the first address.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  24 , wherein the logical address comprises a logical block address of the data in the first location. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the second address comprises an identifier of the remote computing storage and/or an offset value indicating a least one block located in the remote computing storage where the data is stored. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the second address comprises a remote computing storage pool identifier and an offset value indicating a least one block of the remote computing storage pool where the data is stored. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the translating comprises translating the first address into a row identifier for an entry in a table, wherein the entry contains the second location in the remote computing storage where the data is stored. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein a relational database includes the table. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein one or more blocks of the data in the first location are stored in the remote computing storage as one or more pages. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the server comprises or is comprised in a cloud server. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the remote computing storage comprises or is comprised in one or more remote servers accessed via the internet, and wherein the remote computing storage stores one or more versions of the data for one or more versions of the virtual hard drive. 
     
     
         34 . A system, comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one memory including programming instructions which when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to provide operations comprising:
 extracting a first address from a request, the request being to access data in a first location in a virtual hard drive of a virtual machine hosted by a remote computing device, the first address comprising a logical address for the data in the first location; 
 translating the first address into a second address specifying a second location in remote computing storage where the data is stored; and 
 communicating the second address to the remote computing device to enable the remote computing device to obtain the data from the second location. 
   
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 receiving the request including the first address.   
     
     
         36 . The system of  34 , wherein the logical address comprises a logical block address of the data in the first location. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  34 , wherein the second address comprises an identifier of the remote computing storage and/or an offset value indicating a least one block located in the remote computing storage where the data is stored. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  34 , wherein the second address comprises a remote computing storage pool identifier and an offset value indicating a least one block of the remote computing storage pool where the data is stored. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  34 , wherein the translating comprises translating the first address into a row identifier for an entry in a table, wherein the entry contains the second location in the remote computing storage where the data is stored. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein a relational database includes the table. 
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein one or more blocks of the data in the first location are stored in the remote computing storage as one or more pages. 
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the system comprises or is comprised in a server and/or a cloud server, wherein the remote computing storage comprises or is comprised in one or more remote servers accessed via the internet, and wherein the remote computing storage stores one or more versions of the data for one or more versions of the virtual hard drive. 
     
     
         43 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including program code which when executed by at least one processor causes operations comprising:
 extracting a first address from a request, the request being to access data in a first location in a virtual hard drive of a virtual machine hosted by a remote computing device, the first address comprising a logical address for the data in the first location;   translating the first address into a second address specifying a second location in remote computing storage where the data is stored; and   communicating the second address to the remote computing device to enable the remote computing device to obtain the data from the second location.