Rolling upgrade of distributed software with automatic completion

• US 20050267951A1
• Filed: 05/17/2004
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Joshi, Sameer, Chatterjee, Surojit, Creighton, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 7,360,208 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating an automatic rolling upgrade of distributed software. In a set of computing devices (e.g., a cluster), each node executes the distributed program, but different nodes may operate any number of different versions of the program. During a rolling upgrade of the software, the nodes all operate according to a specified acting version of the software. A node attempting the join the cluster may be required to have a software version at least equal to the acting version. When all nodes have been upgraded to a version newer than the current acting version, the acting version is reset to the lowest software version installed on a node. The rolling upgrade completes automatically when all nodes run at a specified software version (e.g., the most recent) or have the same version installed.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating a rolling upgrade of a distributed software program executing on multiple computers, wherein a plurality of different versions of the software are installed on the multiple computers, the method comprising:

operating the software at an acting version on each of the multiple computers, wherein said acting version matches the lowest version of the software installed on the computers;

upgrading the software on a first computer from the acting version to a first version, wherein the first computer is the only computer having the acting version installed;

updating the acting version to the first version; and

automatically operating the software at the updated acting version on each of the multiple computers; and

automatically terminating the rolling upgrade when the acting version matches the highest version of the software installed on any of the multiple computers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to said operating:

identifying the version of the software installed on each of the multiple computers; and

selecting the lowest identified version of the software as the acting version.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

repeating said identifying and said selecting;

each time a computer is added to the multiple computers; and

each time a computer is removed from the multiple computers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a version of the software installed on a new computer not included in the multiple computers;

comparing said identified version to the acting version; and

if said identified version matches or is newer than the acting version, adding the new computer to the multiple computers.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

comparing said identified version to a lowest supported version of the software.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

if said identified version is older than the acting version, downgrading the acting version.

7. A computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of facilitating a rolling upgrade of a distributed software program executing on multiple computers, wherein a plurality of different versions of the software are installed on the multiple computers, the method comprising:

operating the software at an acting version on each of the multiple computers, wherein said acting version matches the lowest version of the software installed on the computers;

upgrading the software on a first computer from the acting version to a first version, wherein the first computer is the only computer having the acting version installed;

updating the acting version to the first version; and

automatically operating the software at the updated acting version on each of the multiple computers; and

automatically terminating the rolling upgrade when the acting version matches the highest version of the software installed on any of the multiple computers.

8. A computer-implemented method of facilitating a rolling upgrade of distributed software, comprising:

installing multiple versions of the distributed software on a group of nodes;

identifying the lowest version of the distributed software installed on a node in the group of the nodes;

setting the identified lowest version as the acting version of the distributed software;

operating the software at said acting version on each node in the group of nodes;

if a new node attempts to join the group of nodes, determining if a version of the distributed software installed on the new node is greater than or equal to said acting version;

repeating said identifying;

each time a node is added to the group;

each time a node leaves the group; and

each time the distributed software is upgraded on a node in the group of nodes;

automatically terminating the rolling upgrade when the acting version matches a predetermined version of the distributed software.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

if the version of the distributed software installed on the new node is less than said acting version, rejecting the new node.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

if the version of the distributed software installed on the new node is less than said acting version, downgrading said acting version.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

if the version of the distributed software installed on the new node is less than said acting version, automatically upgrading the version of the distributed software installed on the new node.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the rolling upgrades may extend for an indefinite period of time.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein said installing comprises installing three or more versions of the distributed software on nodes in the group of nodes.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying a lowest supported version of the software, wherein said lowest supported version is the oldest version of the software that can be said acting version.

15. A computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of facilitating a rolling upgrade of distributed software, comprising:

installing multiple versions of the distributed software on a group of nodes;

identifying the lowest version of the distributed software installed on a node in the group of the nodes;

setting the identified lowest version as the acting version of the distributed software;

operating the software at said acting version on each node in the group of nodes;

if a new node attempts to join the group of nodes, determining if a version of the distributed software installed on the new node is greater than or equal to said acting version;

repeating said identifying;

each time a node is added to the group;

each time a node leaves the group; and

each time the distributed software is upgraded on a node in the group of nodes;

automatically terminating the rolling upgrade when the acting version matches a predetermined version of the distributed software.

16. A group of computing devices configured to execute distributed software, the group comprising:

multiple computing devices, each computing device comprising an installed version of the distributed software;

an acting version of the distributed software, wherein the acting version matches the lowest version of the distributed software installed on one of the multiple computing devices;

a lowest supporting version of the distributed software; and

a shared storage area configured to store identities of said acting version of the distributed software and the versions of the software installed on each of the multiple computing devices;

wherein each of the multiple computing devices executes the distributed software at said acting version regardless of said installed version.

17. The group of computing devices of claim 16, wherein said acting version is updated each time the lowest version of the distributed software installed on a computing device is upgraded.

18. The group of computing devices of claim 16, further comprising synchronization services executing on each of the multiple computing devices.

19. The group of computing devices of claim 16, wherein the multiple computing devices comprise a Real Application Cluster (RAC) and said shared storage area comprises an Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR).