First and second manager components that communicate to initialize and/or shut down software components in an ordered sequence

• US 20050278724A1
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Published: 12/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sound View Innovations, LLC (Sound View Innovation Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Kuo-Wei, Buskens, Richard W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,245,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/482 Application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence

Abstract

An apparatus in one example comprises: a first manager component responsible for one or more first software components within one or more first executables of a distributed software application; and a second manager component responsible for one or more second software components within one or more second executables of the distributed software application. The first and second manager components communicate to initialize and/or shut down the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components in an ordered sequence based on one or more dependency relationships among two or more of: the one or more first software components; and/or the one or more second software components.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a first manager component responsible for one or more first software components within one or more first executables of a distributed software application; and

a second manager component responsible for one or more second software components within one or more second executables of the distributed software application;

wherein the first and second manager components communicate to initialize the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components in an ordered sequence based on one or more dependency relationships among two or more of;

the one or more first software components; and

/or

the one or more second software components.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first manager component comprises a first high availability manager component operating in a high availability infrastructure, wherein the second manager component comprises a second high availability manager component operating in the high availability infrastructure;

wherein the first and second high availability manager components are external to the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more first software components comprise a first software component, wherein the one or more second software components comprise a second software component;

wherein the one or more dependency relationships comprise a dependency relationship of the first software component on the second software component;

wherein upon initialization of the second software component, the second manager component sends an indication of the initialization to the first manager component.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein based on the dependency relationship, the first manager component waits for the indication from the second manager component before the first manager component initializes the first software component.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first manager component receives an indication of a need for communication with the second manager component;

wherein the first manager component sends a setup message to the second manager component to initiate setup of a communication session, wherein the setup message comprises an identifier of the communication session;

wherein the second manager component sends a confirmation message to the first manager component to agree to join the communication session.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more first software components comprise a first software component, wherein the one or more second software components comprise a second software component;

wherein the first manager component employs the communication session with the second manager component to request connection information of the second software component from the second manager component;

wherein the second manager component employs the communication session to pass the connection information of the second software component to the first manager component.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first software component comprises management support software and application software;

wherein the first manager component sends one or more portions of the connection information to the management support software of the first software component to instruct the management support software to set up a communication channel between the first software component and the second software component;

wherein the first manager component sends to the second manager component an indication of a successful setup of the communication channel.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more first software components comprise a first software component;

wherein the first manager component employs the communication session with the second manager component to request connection information of a specific software component type from the second manager component;

wherein the second manager component determines which one or more of the one or more second software components are of the specific software component type and are available for access by the first manager component;

wherein the second manager component employs the communication session to pass the connection information of the one or more of the one or more second software components to the first manager component;

wherein the first manager component employs the connection information to setup a communication channel between the first software component and one of the one or more of the one or more second software components of the specific software component type.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first manager component requests connection information of one or more of the one or more second software components from the second manager component;

wherein the second manager component decides at runtime which portion of the connection information to provide to the first manager component and which portion of the connection information to restrict from the first manager component.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first manager component controls a first domain that comprises the one or more first software components, wherein the second manager controls a second domain that comprises the one or more second software components;

wherein the first and second manager components exchange one or more initialization progress messages to coordinate a cross-domain initialization between the first and second domains of the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components according to the ordered sequence.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first manager component sends a failure notification to the second manager component upon failure of a first software component of the one or more first software components;

wherein the second manager component sends an acknowledgement to the first manager component to confirm receipt of the failure notification.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first manager component sends a recovery notification to the second manager component upon recovery of the first software component;

wherein the second manager component sends an acknowledgement to the first manager component to confirm receipt of the recovery notification.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second manager components exchange one or more initialization progress messages to coordinate an initialization of the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components according to the ordered sequence;

wherein during the initialization of the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components, the first manager component sends an initialization progress message of the one or more initialization progress messages to the second manager component;

wherein upon a transmission failure of the initialization progress message, the first manager component attempts to resend the initialization progress message;

wherein if the first manager component determines that the second manager component is unavailable, then the first manager component undoes one or more portions of the initialization to get back to a known state of last successful communication with the second manager component.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distributed software application comprises a call processing software application;

wherein the first and second manager components oversee initialization of the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components for the call processing software application.

15. A method, comprising the steps of:

performing, by a first manager component, one or more management operations on a first software component within a first executable of a distributed software application;

performing, by a second manager component, one or more management operations on a second software component within a second executable of the distributed software application, wherein the first software component comprises a dependency relationship on the second software component; and

exchanging one or more initialization progress messages between the first and second manager components to cause the second manager component to initialize the second software component before the first manager component initializes the first software component based on the dependency relationship.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of exchanging the one or more initialization progress messages between the first and second manager components to cause the second manager component to initialize the second software component before the first manager component initializes the first software component based on the dependency relationship comprises the steps of:

sending, upon initialization of the second software component by the second manager component, an initialization progress message of the one or more initialization progress messages to indicate to the first manager component that the second software component has been initialized; and

waiting for the initialization progress message from the second manager component that indicates that the second software component has been initialized before the first manager component initializes the first software component.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the distributed software application comprises a plurality of software components, wherein the plurality of software components comprises the first software component, the second software component, and one or more other software components;

wherein the step of exchanging the one or more initialization progress messages between the first and second manager components to cause the second manager component to initialize the second software component before the first manager component initializes the first software component based on the dependency relationship comprises the steps of;

establishing an ordered sequence for initialization of the plurality of software components based on one or more dependency relationships among the plurality of software components;

exchanging the one or more initialization progress messages between the first and second manager components to initialize each of the plurality of software components according to the ordered sequence.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a high availability infrastructure in communication with a distributed software application that comprises a plurality of software components within a plurality of executables;

wherein the high availability infrastructure comprises a first manager component responsible for one or more first software components of the plurality of software components, wherein the high availability infrastructure comprises a second manager component responsible for one or more second software components of the plurality of software components;

wherein the first and second manager components exchange initialization progress messages to coordinate an initialization of the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components in an ordered sequence based on one or more dependency relationships among the plurality of software components.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a first manager component responsible for a first software component within a first executable of a distributed software application; and

a second manager component responsible for a second software component within a second executable of the distributed software application;

wherein the first software component comprises a dependency relationship on the second software component;

wherein based on the dependency relationship, the second manager component waits for an indication from the first manager component that the first software component has been shut down before the second manager component shuts down the second software component.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first manager component comprises a first high availability manager component operating in a high availability infrastructure, wherein the second manager component comprises a second high availability manager component operating in the high availability infrastructure;

wherein the first and second high availability manager components are external to the first and second software components.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first and second manager components are responsible for a plurality of software components of the distributed software application, wherein the plurality of software components comprise the first software component, the second software component, and one or more additional software components;

wherein one or more of the first and second manager components establish an ordered sequence for shutdown of the plurality of software components based on one or more dependency relationships among the plurality of software components.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first and second manager components exchange shutdown progress messages to coordinate a shutdown of the plurality of software components according to the ordered sequence.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein based on the dependency relationship, the first and second software components agree to shut down the first software component before shutting down the second software component;

wherein upon receipt of an indication that the distributed software application is ready for a shutdown of the first software component, the first manager component shuts down the first software component;

wherein the first manager component sends a shutdown progress message to the second manager component to indicate that the first software component has been shut down;

wherein upon receipt of the shutdown progress message, the second software component shuts down the second software component.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein prior to shutting down the first software component, the first manager component instructs a first executable manager to stop monitoring the first executable;

wherein prior to shutting down the second software component, the second manager component instructs a second executable manager to stop monitoring the second executable.

25. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein to begin shutdown of the first software component, the first manager component deactivates the first software component;

wherein the first manager component sends a shutdown progress message to the second manager component to notify the second manager component that the first software component has been deactivated;

wherein upon receipt of the shutdown progress message, the second manager component deactivates the second software component to begin shutdown of the second software component.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein after the first and second software components have been deactivated, the first and second manager components terminate the first and second software components to complete shutdown of the first and second software components.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the shutdown progress message comprises a first shutdown progress message;

wherein upon termination of the first software component, the first manager component sends a second shutdown progress message to the second manager component to notify the second manager component that the first software component has been terminated;

wherein upon receipt of the second shutdown progress message, the second manager component terminates the second software component to complete shutdown of the first and second software components.

wherein based on the dependency relationship, the second manager component waits for receipt of the second shutdown progress message before terminating the second software component.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein upon termination of the first software component and any other software components of the first executable, the first manager component instructs a first executable manager to terminate the first executable;

wherein upon termination of the second software component and any other software components of the second executable, the second manager component instructs a second executable manager to terminate the second executable.

29. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first and second software components comprise management support software and application software;

wherein to deactivate the first software component, the first manager component sends a first deactivation message to the management support software of the first software component to instruct the first software component to not take on new tasks;

wherein to deactivate the second software component, the second manager component sends a second deactivation message to the management support software of the second software component to instruct the second software component to not take on new tasks;

wherein to terminate the first software component, the first manager component sends a first termination message to the management support software of the first software component to instruct the first software component to stop running;

wherein to terminate the second software component, the second manager component sends a second termination message to the management support software of the second software component to instruct the second software component to stop running.

30. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first and second manager components are responsible for a plurality of software components of the distributed software application, wherein the plurality of software components comprises the first and second software components;

wherein the first and second manager components exchange one or more shutdown progress messages to coordinate a shutdown of the plurality of software components according to an ordered sequence based on one or more dependency relationships among the plurality of software components;

wherein during the shutdown of the plurality of software components, the first manager component sends a shutdown progress message, of the one or more shutdown progress messages, to the second manager component;

wherein upon a transmission failure of the shutdown progress message, the first manager component attempts to resend the shutdown progress message;

wherein if the first manager component determines that the second manager component is unavailable, then the first manager component pauses the shutdown until communication is reestablished with the second manager component.

31. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first manager component controls a first domain that comprises one or more first software components of the distributed software application, wherein the second manager controls a second domain that comprises one or more second software components of the distributed software application;

wherein the first and second manager components exchange one or more shutdown progress messages to coordinate a cross-domain shutdown, between the first and second domains, of the distributed software application according to an ordered sequence based on one or more dependency relationships among the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components.

32. A method, comprising the steps of:

performing, by a first manager component, one or more management operations on a first software component within a first executable of a distributed software application;

performing, by a second manager component, one or more management operations on a second software component within a second executable of the distributed software application, wherein the first software component comprises a dependency relationship on the second software component; and

exchanging one or more shutdown progress messages between the first and second manager components to cause the first manager component to shut down the first software component before the second manager component shuts down the second software component based on the dependency relationship.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of exchanging the one or more shutdown progress messages between the first and second manager components to cause the first manager component to shut down the first software component before the second manager component shuts down the second software component based on the dependency relationship comprises the steps of:

sending, upon shutdown of the first software component by the first manager component, an shutdown progress message of the one or more shutdown progress messages to indicate to the second manager component that the first software component has been shut down; and

waiting for the shutdown progress message from the first manager component that indicates that the first software component has been shut down before the second manager component shuts down the second software component.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of exchanging the one or more shutdown progress messages between the first and second manager components to cause the first manager component to shut down the first software component before the second manager component shuts down the second software component based on the dependency relationship comprises the steps of:

deactivating the first software component to begin shutdown of the first software component;

sending a shutdown progress message of the one or more shutdown progress messages to the second manager component to notify the second manager component that the first software component has been deactivated;

deactivating the second software component upon receipt of the shutdown progress message to begin shutdown of the second software component;

terminating the first and second software components once the first and second software components have been deactivated to complete shutdown of the first and second software components.

35. An apparatus, comprising:

a high availability infrastructure in communication with a distributed software application that comprises a plurality of software components within a plurality of executables;

wherein the high availability infrastructure comprises a first manager component responsible for one or more first software components of the plurality of software components, wherein the high availability infrastructure comprises a second manager component responsible for one or more second software components of the plurality of software components;

wherein the first and second manager components exchange shutdown progress messages to coordinate a shutdown of the one or more first software components and the one or more second software components in an ordered sequence based on one or more dependency relationships among the plurality of software components.