AUTOMATION OF VIRTUAL MACHINE INSTALLATION BY SPLITTING AN INSTALLATION INTO A MINIMAL INSTALLATION AND CUSTOMIZATION

摘要

A server computing system receives a request to instantiate a virtual machine in a cloud. The request is associated with a template that specifies the operating system and software packages to be installed on the virtual machine. The system splits the installation of the virtual machine into creating a minimal operating system installation, customizing the minimal installation, and generating a disk image of the customized minimal installation. The system creates a minimal installation of the specified operating system, executes the minimal operating system in a virtual machine guest, and customizes the minimal installation of the operating system as specified in the template. The system generates a virtual machine disk image of the customized minimal installation that is a cloud generic virtual machine disk image an is configurable to instantiate the virtual machine in clouds provided by different cloud providers.