Patent attributes
Target host computing devices are provisioned with a machine image that corresponds to an operating environment, software applications, and associated configurations. The machine image is organized in a manner that allows static portions of the machine image to be maintained in a designated static partition. The machine image is also organized in a manner that allows dynamic portions of the machine image to be maintained in a designed dynamic partition. A host management component identifies updates to the static portion of the machine image and transmits the update information to the host computing devices. In turn, the host computing devices maintain the update in the allocated secondary partitions. Thereafter, the host computing devices causes a switch from a designated primary static partition to the secondary static partition, such as via a kernel switch.