Generic method for defining resource configuration profiles in provisioning systems

• US 20050050175A1
• Filed: 08/28/2003
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kalantar, Michael Husayn, King, David George, Fong, Liana Liyow, Greff, Andrew Julius
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,443 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

A generic method and model for capturing and storing configuration profiles for each resource in a provisioning system. As a resource is utilized in a specific environment, the configuration values can be changed as needed to reflect different stages in the life cycle of the resource, such as configuration, and modification.

Claims

1. A method of configuring resources, comprising the computer operated steps of:

receiving a provisioning request for a desired resource from a customer;

accessing a configuration profile template for said desired resource;

if specified, retrieving a previously saved configuration profile corresponding to said desired resource and said customer;

combining information from said provisioning request, said configuration profile template, and said previously saved configuration profile to form a new configuration profile for the current instance of said resource.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forwarding said new configuration profile to an installation program.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising saving said new configuration profile to persistent storage.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising placing the information in said new configuration profile into an order and a format needed by a given installation program to form an installation record and sending said installation record to said installation program.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating said new configuration profile if changes are made to said instance of said resource.

6. A method of provisioning resources, comprising the steps, for each of a plurality of resources, of:

receiving information regarding a resource to be provisioned, said information comprising at least

a resource identifier,

a type code,

a parameter name,

a parameter default value,

an indicator whether one can override said parameter default value, cannot override said parameter default value, or must override said parameter default value, and

an optional indicator where manual intervention is required during provisioning process, with a field containing the intervention instructions when manual intervention is required;

formatting said information into a standard format to form a configuration profile template; and

storing said configuration profile template in a location that is available to a provisioning application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a plurality of configuration profile templates are stored in persistent storage.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating at least one of said configuration parameters of a configuration profile.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising retrieving a configuration profile template and using the information therein to create a configuration profile containing configuration parameters to be used for a given installation of a resource.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising formatting the information contained in a configuration profile into an order and a format required by an installation program to form an installation record and forwarding said installation record to said installation program.

11. A computer program product for implementing a provisioning system in and by a computer system, the computer program product being implemented by a series of instructions and stored on a computer readable medium, the instructions comprising the steps of:

receiving instructions for receiving information regarding a resource to be provisioned, said information comprising at least

a resource identifier,

a type code,

a parameter name,

a parameter default value, and

an indicator whether one can override said parameter default value, cannot override said parameter default value, or must override said parameter default value, and

an optional indicator where manual intervention is required during provisioning process, with a field containing the intervention instructions when manual intervention is required;

formatting instructions for formatting said information into a standard format to form a configuration profile template; and

storing instructions for storing said configuration profile template in a location that is available to a provisioning application.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising storing a plurality of configuration profile templates in persistent storage.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising updating instructions for updating at least one of said configuration parameters of a configuration profile.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising retrieving instructions for retrieving a configuration profile template and using the information therein to create a configuration profile containing configuration parameters to be used for a given installation of a resource.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising formatting instructions for formatting the information contained in a configuration profile into an order and a format required by an installation program to form an installation record and forwarding said installation record to said installation program.

16. A provisioning system comprising:

a plurality of resources offered by a provisioning entity;

a plurality of stored configuration profile templates, each template providing information regarding parameters necessary for installation of a respective one of said plurality of resources;

a plurality of configuration profiles, each of said configuration profiles corresponding to a given installation of a respective resource in a specific environment, wherein at least some of the fields in each of said configuration profiles correspond to fields in a respective configuration profile template; and

a request system for receiving a provisioning request.

17. The provisioning system of claim 16, wherein said configuration profile templates contain one or more parameters with default values and respective configuration profiles contain corresponding parameters with actual values.

18. The provisioning system of claim 16, wherein parameters in said configuration profiles can be text or integer and of any size.

19. The provisioning system of claim 16, wherein each parameter in a configuration profile template contains a parameter name, default value, and an indication of whether one can override said default value, must override said default value, cannot override said default value, or manual intervention.

20. The provisioning system of claim 16, wherein said plurality of configuration profiles are updatable.

21. The provisioning system of claim 16, wherein said configuration profiles are forwarded to an installation program.