Choreographed distributed execution of programs

• US 10,380,365 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2016
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Progress Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: Chef Software, Inc. (Progress Software Corporation)
• Inventors: Jacob, Adam B., Dunn, Julian C., Winsor, Jamie, Nichol, Fletcher, Ethier, Alexandre, Smith, Nathan, Keairns, Ryan, Parfitt, David, Timberman, Joshua
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Lynn D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Savenkov, Vadim
• Application Number:
  US15/170,767
• Publication Number:
  US 20170351868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,168 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45541 Bare-metal, i.e. hypervisor runs directly on hardware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/205 involving negotiation or determination of the one or more network security mechanisms to be used, e.g. by negotiation between the client and the server or between peers or by selection according to the capabilities of the entities involved negotiation of communication capabilities H04L69/24

Abstract

Techniques are described for managing creation and/or execution of distributed programs, such as for a group of multiple interrelated programs that are part of a service-oriented architecture or that otherwise interact during execution to provide a desired type of functionality. In at least some situations, the described techniques include performing decentralized choreographed distributed execution of a group of related programs, by using executing supervisor components for some or all such programs to manage execution-related behavior of the programs. The execution-related behavior that is managed by supervisor components for a group of programs may include, for example, managing interactions between the programs, managing run-time dependencies and other relationships between at least some of the programs, managing update strategies for updating some or all of the programs of the group while the group continues to provide functionality (e.g., performing updates in a defined serial or simultaneous manner), etc.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

multiple hardware processors of multiple computer systems; and

one or more memories with stored instructions that, when executed by the multiple hardware processors, cause the multiple computer systems to implement functionality of a plurality of supervisor components that each manages execution of a local software package within the supervisor component and coordinates that managed execution with other supervisor components of the plurality, the managing of the execution by one of the supervisor components including;

determining, by the supervisor component, at least one other software package that is within at least one other supervisor component of the plurality and on which the local software package within the supervisor component has a dependency;

initiating, by the supervisor component, communications with the at least one other supervisor component to monitor information about ongoing execution of the at least one other software package;

executing, within the supervisor component and based at least in part on the monitored information, the local software package;

monitoring, by the supervisor component, ongoing execution of the local software package, and exposing information about the monitored ongoing execution to the other supervisor components; and

updating, by the supervisor component and while one or more other of the supervisor components continue to manage execution of local software packages within the one or more other supervisor components, the local software package within the supervisor component based on a specified predefined update strategy.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein each supervisor component of the plurality is further configured to implement one of multiple predefined update strategies for the local software package within that supervisor component, and wherein the stored instructions further cause the multiple computer systems to implement the functionality of the plurality of supervisor components by, for each of one or more supervisor components of the plurality, updating the local software package within that supervisor component in accordance with the one update strategy configured for that supervisor component.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the multiple predefined update strategies include a one-at-a-time update strategy in which the plurality of supervisor components perform updates of their local software packages in sequence so that only a single supervisor component is performing an update at any time, a specified subset update strategy in which the plurality of supervisor components perform updates of their local software packages in groups so that no more than a specified subset of the plurality of supervisor components are performing an update at any time, a topology-based update strategy in which the plurality of supervisor components perform updates of their local software packages in an order that is based on roles their local software packages play in one or more defined topologies for the plurality of supervisor components, and a stateless update strategy in which each supervisor component updates its local software package without coordination with any other supervisor components.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein two or more supervisor components of the plurality are configured to implement two or more different update strategies of the multiple predefined update strategies, and wherein the updating of the local software package is performed by each of the two or more supervisor components in different manners based on the two or more different update strategies.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein each supervisor component of the plurality is further configured to implement one of multiple predefined topology types for the local software package within that supervisor component, and wherein the stored instructions further cause the multiple computer systems to implement the functionality of the plurality of supervisor components by, for each of at least some supervisor components of the plurality, controlling interactions with other supervisor components of the plurality based on the one topology type configured for that supervisor component.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the multiple predefined topology types include a leader-follower topology in which a group of multiple supervisor components of the plurality manages interactions for the group based at least in part on roles that include at least one supervisor component in the group acting as a leader for the group and that include at least one other supervisor component in the group acting as a follower for the group, and a stand-alone topology in which each supervisor component manages operations of its local software package without coordination with any other supervisor components.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein two or more supervisor components of the plurality are configured to be part of a group implementing the leader-follower topology, and wherein the controlling by the two or more supervisor components of the interactions with other supervisor components of the plurality includes electing the local software package of at least one supervisor component of the group as a leader for the group and further includes designating the local software package of at least one other supervisor component of the group as a follower for the group.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the group includes three or more supervisor components of the plurality, and wherein the controlling by the three or more supervisor components of the interactions with other supervisor components of the plurality further includes, after a previously elected leader for the group becomes unavailable, electing another local software package of a different supervisor component of the group as a new leader for the group.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the controlling by the two or more supervisor components of the interactions with other supervisor components of the plurality further includes, in response to a request received for functionality from the group, selecting the local software package of one of the two or more supervisor components to respond to the request based at least in part on a role of the selected local software package in the leader-follower topology.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising one or more builder components that, when executed by one or more of the multiple hardware processors, cause the one or more processors to, before the managing of the execution of the local software package by each of the supervisor components of the plurality, generate multiple software packages that are used as the local software packages of the plurality of supervisor components, the generating of each of the multiple software packages including:

receiving instructions from a customer that specify one or more software applications to include in the software package to be generated and that specify configuration information to use during execution of the one or more software applications; and

generating the software package to include the specified one or more software applications and the specified configuration information and to interact with one or more interfaces of a supervisor component during the execution of the one or more software applications.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the generating of one of the multiple software packages further includes:

providing, to the customer, information about multiple predefined update strategies that are available for use; and

receiving, from the customer, information about one of the multiple predefined update strategies that is selected by the customer for use with the one software package; and

storing information about the selected predefined update strategy as part of the generated one software package,

and wherein managing of execution of the generated one software package by each of one or more of the plurality of supervisor components further includes using the stored information to implement the selected predefined update strategy during the execution of the generated one software package.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the generating of one of the multiple software packages further includes:

providing, to the customer, information about multiple predefined topology types that are available for use; and

receiving, from the customer, information about one of the multiple predefined topology types that is selected by the customer for use with the one software package; and

storing information about the selected predefined topology type as part of the generated one software package,

and wherein managing of execution of the generated one software package by each of one or more of the plurality of supervisor components further includes using the stored information to implement the selected predefined topology type during the execution of the generated one software package.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the generating of one of the multiple software packages further includes:

providing, to the customer, information about multiple predefined security policies that are available for use; and

receiving, from the customer, information about one of the multiple predefined security policies that is selected by the customer for use with the one software package; and

storing information about the selected predefined security policy as part of the generated one software package,

and wherein managing of execution of the generated one software package by each of one or more of the plurality of supervisor components further includes using the stored information to implement the selected predefined security policy during the execution of the generated one software package.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more software applications specified for one of the multiple software packages include a new software application designed to execute within a supervisor component, and wherein the one or more software applications specified for another of the multiple software packages include a legacy software application that is not designed to execute within a supervisor component.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the managing of the execution of the one supervisor component further includes monitoring stored configuration information associated with the local software package for the one supervisor component, and, in response to a change in the stored configuration information that is identified from the monitoring, modifying further execution of the local software package to use the changed configuration information.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the managing of the execution of the one supervisor component further includes using information, which is provided with the local software package for the one supervisor component and is about at least one other supervisor component of the plurality, to establish contact with the at least one other supervisor component and to obtain information about other supervisor components of the plurality, and wherein the monitoring by the one supervisor component of the information about at least one other software package is based at least in part on the obtained information about the other supervisor components.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the managing of the execution of the one supervisor component further includes:

receiving information from a security server for use in performing security operations that include at least one of encryption and decryption; and

using the received information to perform the security operations as part of at least one of decrypting an encrypted version of the local software package for the one supervisor component before the execution of that local software package, encrypting communications sent from the one supervisor component to one or more other supervisor components, decrypting communications received by the one supervisor component from one or more other supervisor components, or decrypting stored data for use by the executing local software package of the one supervisor component.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the managing of the execution of the one supervisor component further includes:

using stored information associated with the local software package for the one supervisor component to identify a predefined callback function that is associated with one or more specified criteria and is specified by a customer; and

in response to satisfaction of the one or more specified criteria during the execution of the local software package, providing information to the customer about the execution of the local software package that is related to the callback function, wherein the callback function corresponds to at least one of health information about a problem during the execution of the local software package, a start of the execution of the local software package, a restart of the execution of the local software package, or a change in configuration used during the execution of the local software package.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the local software package for the one supervisor component is supplied by a customer, and wherein the managing of the execution of the one supervisor component further includes:

using stored information associated with the local software package for the one supervisor component that includes additional customer-specified software to use in monitoring execution of the local software package for the one supervisor component; and

using information from the additional customer-specified software during the monitored execution of the local software package as part of further execution of the local software package.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of supervisor components are inter-connected in a mesh structure in which at least one supervisor component of the plurality is connected to at least one other supervisor component of the plurality only indirectly via at least one further intermediate supervisor component of the plurality, and wherein the initiating communications is performed by each of the plurality of supervisor components with at least one other supervisor component using a gossip protocol and the mesh structure.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein communications between the plurality of supervisor components includes using a publish-subscribe model, wherein the initiating communications of is performed by each of the plurality of supervisor components with at least one other supervisor component to monitor information about at least one other software package and includes subscribing to information from the at least one other supervisor component, and wherein the exposing of the information is performed by each of the plurality of supervisor components to other supervisor components and includes publishing the information to be exposed.

22. The system of claim 1 further comprising an additional supervisor component that, when executed by at least one of the multiple hardware processors, causes that at least one processor to manage execution of one or more first local software packages within the additional supervisor component by:

initiating communications with one or more other supervisor components of the plurality to monitor information about one or more local software packages of the one or more other supervisor components, without exposing information about the one or more first local software packages of the additional supervisor component to any other supervisor components of the plurality;

or

exposing information about the one or more first local software packages of the additional supervisor component to other supervisor components of the plurality, without performing communications with any other supervisor components of the plurality to monitor information about any local software packages of the other supervisor components.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of software components are configured to operate within multiple different execution environments that include one or more online program execution environments, one or more types of virtual machines, one or more types of virtualized containers, and one or more types of bare metal computer hardware systems, and wherein at least two supervisor components of the plurality perform the managing of the execution of their local software packages by operating within at least two different execution environments of the multiple different execution environments.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that configure one or more computing systems to perform a method, the method comprising:

executing, by the one or more computing systems, multiple supervisor components in a coordinated manner to perform decentralized distributed execution of a plurality of inter-related software packages, wherein each of the supervisor components manages execution of one or more local software packages of the plurality within the supervisor component; and

for each of the executing multiple supervisor components,

determining, by the executing supervisor component, configuration information for use in the local execution of the one or more local software packages within the supervisor component, wherein the configuration information indicates one of multiple predefined types of topologies to use in managing first interactions between the multiple supervisor components, and further indicates one of multiple predefined types of update strategies to use in managing second interactions between the multiple supervisor components as part of updating at least one of the one or more local software packages for the supervisor component during the executing of the multiple supervisor components; and

executing, by the executing supervisor component and based at least in part on the determined configuration information, the one or more local software packages within the supervisor component, the executing including performing the first and second interactions and further including updating, while the decentralized distributed execution continues for at least some of the multiple supervisor components other than the supervisor component, at least one of the one or more local software packages within the supervisor component based on the indicated one predefined type of update strategy for the supervisor component.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the stored contents include software instructions that, when executed, further configure at least one computing system to, before the executing of the multiple supervisor components, generate one or more software packages that are the one or more local software packages for at least one of the multiple supervisor components by:

presenting, by a builder component executing on the at least one computing system, information to a customer about the multiple predefined types of update strategies, and receiving information from the customer about a selection of one predefined type of update strategy for use with the one or more software packages;

presenting, by the builder component, additional information to the customer about the multiple predefined types of topologies, and receiving information from the customer about a selection of one predefined type of topology for use with the one or more software packages; and

storing information about the selected one predefined type of update strategy and about the selected one predefined type of topology as part of the generated one or more software packages.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the one or more computing systems include multiple computing systems,

wherein the multiple predefined types of topologies include a leader-follower topology in which the multiple supervisor components are part of a group and in which interactions for the group are managed based at least in part on roles that include at least one supervisor component in the group acting as a leader for the group and that include at least one other supervisor component in the group acting as a follower for the group, and a stand-alone topology in which each supervisor component manages operations of its one or more local software packages without coordination with any other supervisor components, and

wherein the multiple predefined types of update strategies include a one-at-a-time update strategy in which the multiple supervisor components perform updates of their local software packages in sequence so that only a single supervisor component is performing an update at any time, a specified subset update strategy in which the multiple supervisor components perform updates of their local software packages in groups so that no more than a specified subset of the multiple supervisor components are performing an update at any time, a topology-based update strategy in which the multiple supervisor components perform updates of their local software packages in an order that is based on roles that those local software packages play in one or more defined topologies for the multiple supervisor components, and a stateless update strategy in which each supervisor component updates its one or more local software packages without coordination with any other supervisor components.