Automation of information technology system development

• US 20060150143A1
• Filed: 12/14/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Andreev, Dmitry, Grunin, Galina, Vilshansky, Gregory, Greenstein, Paul G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A method and associated computer program product for developing an Information Technology (IT) system. An abstract IT structure for the IT system is provided. A virtual IT structure for the IT system is generated from the abstract IT structure by a translator. A real IT structure for the IT system is generated from the virtual IT structure.

Claims

1. A method for developing an Information Technology (IT) system, said method comprising:

providing an abstract IT structure for the system being developed;

generating a virtual IT structure from the abstract IT structure; and

generating a real IT structure from the virtual IT structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the virtual IT structure comprises:

translating an instance X of the IT structure to an interim IT structure instance X′

that is less abstract than is X; and

if X′

is not the virtual IT structure then repeatedly performing additional steps X until X′

is the virtual IT structure or until said translating detects an error condition, said additional steps comprising setting X=X′ and

again performing said translating X to X′

.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said translating X to X′

comprises;

translating an abstract IT structure element E of X to at least one subclass of E to form a new instance of E denoted as E_NEW;

substituting E_NEW for E in X; and

reinstantiating X after said substituting, said reinstantiated X being X′

.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual IT structure is denoted as X, and wherein said generating the real IT structure comprises:

translating the virtual IT structure X into a delivery-bound virtual IT structure XDB; and

deploying the delivery-bound IT virtual structure XDB in an IT delivery environment, resulting in formation of said real IT structure that is adapted to operate in the IT delivery environment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said translating the virtual IT structure X into the delivery-bound virtual IT structure XDB comprises:

invoking an addElement( ) method to add at least one additional IT structure A to the composition of X to form a primitive composition of XDB;

assigning a name to each element of the primitive composition of XDB; and

if at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB requires access to the Internet then assigning an IP address to the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein if the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB requires access to the Internet through at least one firewall of the IT delivery environment then said translating X into XDB further comprises updating rules of the at least one firewall to permit the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB to access the Internet.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein invoking the addElement( ) method comprises:

first determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of X and aborting if said first determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X; and

second determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of A and aborting if said second determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said first determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency De of an element E in the composition of X has an exclusion with a class Y to which A belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said De has said exclusion with Y then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said second determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency Da of an element A in the composition of A has an exclusion with a class Z to which an element E in the composition of X belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said Da has said exclusion with Z then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A

10. A method for translating an instance X of an abstract Information Technology (IT) structure of a project to a virtual IT structure, said method comprising:

translating X to an interim IT structure instance X′

that is less abstract than is X; and

if X′

is not the virtual IT structure then repeatedly performing additional steps X until X′

is the virtual IT structure or until said translating detects an error condition, said additional steps comprising setting X=X′ and

again performing said translating X to X′

.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said translating X to X′

comprises;

translating an abstract IT structure element E of X to at least one subclass of E to form a new instance of E denoted as E_NEW;

substituting E_NEW for E in X; and

re-instantiating X after said substituting, said re-instantiated X being X′

.

12. A method for delivery binding a virtual Information Technology (IT) structure X into a delivery-bound virtual IT structure XDB, said method comprising:

invoking an addElement( ) method to add at least one additional IT structure A to the composition of X to form a primitive composition of XDB;

assigning a name to each element of the primitive composition of XDB; and

if at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB requires access to the Internet then assigning an 1P address to the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein if the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB requires access to the Internet through at least one firewall of the IT delivery environment then said translating X into XDB further comprises updating rules of the at least one firewall to permit the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB to access the Internet.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein invoking the addElement( ) method comprises:

first determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of X and aborting if said first determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X; and

second determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of A and aborting if said second determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said first determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency De of an element E in the composition of X has an exclusion with a class Y to which A belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said De has said exclusion with Y then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said second determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency Da of an element A in the composition of A has an exclusion with a class Z to which an element E in the composition of X belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said Da has said exclusion with Z then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A

17. A method for reverse-specifying at least one Information Technology (IT) structure, said method comprising:

providing information relating to an IT entity selected from the group consisting of an IT delivery environment and an IT system instance; and

generating a real IT structure from the information relating to the IT entity.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said providing information comprises gathering the information relating to the IT entity, and wherein said gathering is performed by at least one IT agent.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating a virtual IT structure from the real IT structure.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said generating the virtual IT structure comprises:

providing rules relating to a delivery binding process associated with the IT entity; and

removing constraints imposed on the real IT structure to form the virtual IT structure, said constraints being derived from said rules.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the IT entity is the IT delivery environment.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the IT entity is the IT system instance.

23. A method for adding an Information Technology (IT) structure A to an IT structure X, said method comprising:

first determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of X and aborting if said first determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X;

second determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of A and aborting if said second determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A; and

adding A to X if said first determining and said second determining determines that adding A to X does not violates any dependency of X and A, respectively.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said first determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency De of an element E in the composition of X has an exclusion with a class Y to which A belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said De has said exclusion with Y then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein said second determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency Da of an element A in the composition of A has an exclusion with a class Z to which an element E in the composition of X belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said Da has said exclusion with Z then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A

26. The method of claim 23, wherein A is an abstract IT structure, and wherein X is selected from the group consisting of an abstract IT structure, a virtual IT structure, and a real IT structure.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein A is a virtual IT structure, and wherein X is selected from the group consisting of an abstract IT structure, a virtual IT structure, and a real IT structure.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein A is a real IT structure, and wherein X is selected from the group consisting of an abstract IT structure, a virtual IT structure, and a real IT structure.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein prior to said first determining and said second determining the method further comprises:

ascertaining that an unsatisfied dependency exists in X; and

providing A such that a subsequent addition of A to X will remove said unsatisfied dependency.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein a composition of X comprises an IT structure B prior to adding A to X, and wherein after adding A to X the method further comprises establishing a relationship between A and B.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein a composition of X comprises one or more interfaces prior to adding A to X, and wherein said establishing comprises establishing the relationship between A and B using at least one interface of said one or more interfaces.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the composition of X is a primitive composition of X.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the composition of X is not a primitive composition of X.

34. A method for comparing an Information Technology (IT) structure instance X with IT structure Y, said method comprising matching elements of X and Y and/or matching relationships of X and Y,

said matching elements of X and Y comprising matching the elements of a primitive composition XC of X to the elements of a primitive composition YC of Y to determine whether an element mismatch exists, wherein said element mismatch exists if at least one element of XC does not exist in YC or at least one element of YC does not exist in XC, and if said matching the elements determines that said element mismatch exists then determining any elements of XC existing in YC and any elements of YC not existing in XC;

and

said matching relationships of X and Y comprising matching the relationships XR of X to the relationships YR of Y to determine whether a relationship mismatch exists, wherein said relationship mismatch exists if at least one relationship of XR does not exist in Y or at least one relationship of YR does not exist in X, and if said matching the relationships determines that said relationship mismatch exists then determining any relationships of XR existing in Y and any relationships of YR not existing in X.

35. The method of claim 34, said method comprising matching elements of X and Y.

36. The method of claim 35, said method further comprising if said matching the elements determines that said element mismatch exists then reporting said any elements of XC existing in YC and said any elements of YC not existing in XC.

37. The method of claim 34, said method comprising matching relationships of X and Y.

38. The method of claim 37, said method further comprising if said matching the relationships determines that said relationship mismatch exists then reporting said any relationships of XR existing in Y and said any relationships of YR not existing in X.

39. The method of claim 34, said method comprising matching elements of X and Y and matching relationships of X and Y.

40. The method of claim 39, said method further comprising:

if said matching the elements determines that said element mismatch exists then reporting said any elements of XC existing in YC and said any elements of YC not existing in XC; and

if said matching the relationships determines that said relationship mismatch exists then reporting said any relationships of XR existing in Y and said any relationships of YR not existing in X.

41. The method of claim 34, further comprising before matching elements of X and Y and/or matching relationships of X and Y:

providing an IT entity selected from the group consisting of an IT delivery environment and an IT system instance; and

reverse-specifying X from the IT entity.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the IT entity is the IT delivery environment.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the IT entity is the IT system instance.

44. A method for deleting an Information Technology (IT) structure A from an IT structure X, said method comprising:

determining a composition C of X;

generating a list of relationships R of the elements of C that involve A;

generating a list of dependencies D of the elements of C on A, excluding any dependency of A on A;

if a <

force>

option was selected then removing A from C; and

if the <

force>

option was not selected and (R is not null or (D is not null and D is not null and a replacement IT structure in C satisfying each dependency in D has not been found)) then exiting without removing A from C, else removing A from C.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the <

force>

option is not available for being selected.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein the <

force>

option is available for being selected and was selected.

47. The method of claim 44, wherein the <

force>

option is available for being selected and was not selected.

48. The method of claim 44, wherein R is not null and the <

force>

option was selected, and wherein the method further comprises removing all relationships existing in R from a list of X'"'"'s relationships and dissolving all of said relationships existing in R.

49. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for developing an Information Technology (IT) system, said method comprising:

providing an abstract IT structure for the system being developed;

generating a virtual IT structure from the abstract IT structure; and

generating a real IT structure from the virtual IT structure.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein generating the virtual IT structure comprises:

translating an instance X of the IT structure to an interim IT structure instance X′

that is less abstract than is X; and

if X′

is not the virtual IT structure then repeatedly performing additional steps X until X′

is the virtual IT structure or until said translating detects an error condition, said additional steps comprising setting X=X′ and

again performing said translating X to X′

.

51. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein said translating X to X′

comprises;

translating an abstract IT structure element E of X to at least one subclass of E to form a new instance of E denoted as E_NEW;

substituting E_NEW for E in X; and

reinstantiating X after said substituting, said reinstantiated X being X′

.

52. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the virtual IT structure is denoted as X, and wherein said generating the real IT structure comprises:

translating the virtual IT structure X into a delivery-bound virtual IT structure XDB; and

deploying the delivery-bound IT virtual structure XDB in an IT delivery environment, resulting in formation of said real IT structure that is adapted to operate in the IT delivery environment.

53. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein said translating the virtual IT structure X into the delivery-bound virtual IT structure XDB comprises:

invoking an addElement( ) method to add at least one additional IT structure A to the composition of X to form a primitive composition of XDB;

assigning a name to each element of the primitive composition of XDB; and

if at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB requires access to the Internet then assigning an IP address to the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB.

54. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein if the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB requires access to the Internet through at least one firewall of the IT delivery environment then said translating X into XDB further comprises updating rules of the at least one firewall to permit the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB to access the Internet.

55. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein invoking the addElement( ) method comprises:

first determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of X and aborting if said first determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X; and

second determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of A and aborting if said second determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A.

56. The computer program product of claim 55, wherein said first determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency De of an element E in the composition of X has an exclusion with a class Y to which A belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said De has said exclusion with Y then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X.

57. The computer program product of claim 55, wherein said second determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency Da of an element A in the composition of A has an exclusion with a class Z to which an element E in the composition of X belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said Da has said exclusion with Z then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A

58. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for translating an instance X of an abstract Information Technology (IT) structure of a project to a virtual IT structure, said method comprising:

translating X to an interim IT structure instance X′

that is less abstract than is X; and

if X′

is not the virtual IT structure then repeatedly performing additional steps X until X′

is the virtual IT structure or until said translating detects an error condition, said additional steps comprising setting X=X′ and

again performing said translating X to X′

.

59. The computer program product of claim 58, wherein said translating X to X′

comprises;

translating an abstract IT structure element E of X to at least one subclass of E to form a new instance of E denoted as E_NEW;

substituting E_NEW for E in X; and

re-instantiating X after said substituting, said re-instantiated X being X′

.

60. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for delivery binding a virtual Information Technology (IT) structure X into a delivery-bound virtual IT structure XDB, said method comprising:

invoking an addElement( ) method to add at least one additional IT structure A to the composition of X to form a primitive composition of XDB;

assigning a name to each element of the primitive composition of XDB; and

if at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB requires access to the Internet then assigning an IP address to the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB.

61. The computer program product of claim 60, wherein if the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB requires access to the Internet through at least one firewall of the IT delivery environment then said translating X into XDB further comprises updating rules of the at least one firewall to permit the at least one element of the primitive composition of XDB to access the Internet.

62. The computer program product of claim 60, wherein invoking the addElement( ) method comprises:

first determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of X and aborting if said first determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X; and

second determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of A and aborting if said second determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A.

63. The computer program product of claim 62, wherein said first determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency De of an element E in the composition of X has an exclusion with a class Y to which A belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said De has said exclusion with Y then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X.

64. The computer program product of claim 62, wherein said second determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency Da of an element A in the composition of A has an exclusion with a class Z to which an element E in the composition of X belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said Da has said exclusion with Z then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A

65. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for reverse-specifying at least one Information Technology (IT) structure, said method comprising:

providing information relating to an IT entity selected from the group consisting of an IT delivery environment and an IT system instance; and

generating a real IT structure from the information relating to the IT entity.

66. The computer program product of claim 65, wherein said providing information comprises gathering the information relating to the IT entity, and wherein said gathering is performed by at least one IT agent.

67. The computer program product of claim 65, further comprising generating a virtual IT structure from the real IT structure.

68. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein said generating the virtual IT structure comprises:

providing rules relating to a delivery binding process associated with the IT entity; and

removing constraints imposed on the real IT structure to form the virtual IT structure, said constraints being derived from said rules.

69. The computer program product of claim 65, wherein the IT entity is the IT delivery environment.

70. The computer program product of claim 65, wherein the IT entity is the IT system instance.

71. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for adding an Information Technology (IT) structure A to an IT structure X, said method comprising:

first determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of X and aborting if said first determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X;

second determining whether adding A to X violates any dependency of A and aborting if said second determining determines that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A; and

adding A to X if said first determining and said second determining determines that adding A to X does not violates any dependency of X and A, respectively.

72. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein said first determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency De of an element E in the composition of X has an exclusion with a class Y to which A belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said De has said exclusion with Y then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of X.

73. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein said second determining comprises ascertaining whether a dependency Da of an element A in the composition of A has an exclusion with a class Z to which an element E in the composition of X belongs, and wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said Da has said exclusion with Z then determining that adding A to X violates said any dependency of A

74. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein A is an abstract IT structure, and wherein X is selected from the group consisting of an abstract IT structure, a virtual IT structure, and a real IT structure.

75. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein A is a virtual IT structure, and wherein X is selected from the group consisting of an abstract IT structure, a virtual IT structure, and a real IT structure.

76. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein A is a real IT structure, and wherein X is selected from the group consisting of an abstract IT structure, a virtual IT structure, and a real IT structure.

77. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein prior to said first determining and said second determining the method further comprises:

ascertaining that an unsatisfied dependency exists in X; and

providing A such that a subsequent addition of A to X will remove said unsatisfied dependency.

78. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein a composition of X comprises an IT structure B prior to adding A to X, and wherein after adding A to X the method further comprises establishing a relationship between A and B.

79. The computer program product of claim 78, wherein a composition of X comprises one or more interfaces prior to adding A to X, and wherein said establishing comprises establishing the relationship between A and B using at least one interface of said one or more interfaces.

80. The computer program product of claim 78, wherein the composition of X is a primitive composition of X.

81. The computer program product of claim 78, wherein the composition of X is not a primitive composition of X.

82. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for comparing an Information Technology (IT) structure instance X with IT structure Y, said method comprising matching elements of X and Y and/or matching relationships of X and Y,

said matching elements of X and Y comprising matching the elements of a primitive composition XC of X to the elements of a primitive composition YC of Y to determine whether an element mismatch exists, wherein said element mismatch exists if at least one element of XC does not exist in YC or at least one element of YC does not exist in XC, and if said matching the elements determines that said element mismatch exists then determining any elements of XC existing in YC and any elements of YC not existing in XC;

and

said matching relationships of X and Y comprising matching the relationships XR of X to the relationships YR of Y to determine whether a relationship mismatch exists, wherein said relationship mismatch exists if at least one relationship of XR does not exist in Y or at least one relationship of YR does not exist in X, and if said matching the relationships determines that said relationship mismatch exists then determining any relationships of XR existing in Y and any relationships of YR not existing in X.

83. The computer program product of claim 82, said method comprising matching elements of X and Y.

84. The computer program product of claim 83, said method further comprising if said matching the elements determines that said element mismatch exists then reporting said any elements of XC existing in YC and said any elements of YC not existing in XC.

85. The computer program product of claim 82, said method comprising matching relationships of X and Y.

86. The computer program product of claim 85, said method further comprising if said matching the relationships determines that said relationship mismatch exists then reporting said any relationships of XR existing in Y and said any relationships of YR not existing in X.

87. The computer program product of claim 82, said method comprising matching elements of X and Y and matching relationships of X and Y.

88. The computer program product of claim 87, said method further comprising:

if said matching the elements determines that said element mismatch exists then reporting said any elements of XC existing in YC and said any elements of YC not existing in XC; and

if said matching the relationships determines that said relationship mismatch exists then reporting said any relationships of XR existing in Y and said any relationships of YR not existing in X.

89. The computer program product of claim 82, further comprising before matching elements of X and Y and/or matching relationships of X and Y:

providing an IT entity selected from the group consisting of an IT delivery environment and an IT system instance; and

reverse-specifying X from the IT entity.

90. The computer program product of claim 89, wherein the IT entity is the IT delivery environment.

91. The computer program product of claim 89, wherein the IT entity is the IT system instance.

92. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for deleting an Information Technology (IT) structure A from an IT structure X, said method comprising:

determining a composition C of X;

generating a list of relationships R of the elements of C that involve A;

generating a list of dependencies D of the elements of C on A, excluding any dependency of A on A;

if a <

force>

option was selected then removing A from C; and

if the <

force>

option was not selected and (R is not null or (D is not null and D is not null and a replacement IT structure in C satisfying each dependency in D has not been found)) then exiting without removing A from C, else removing A from C.

93. The computer program product of claim 92, wherein the <

force>

option is not available for being selected.

94. The computer program product of claim 92, wherein the <

force>

option is available for being selected and was selected.

95. The computer program product of claim 92, wherein the <

force>

option is available for being selected and was not selected.

96. The computer program product of claim 92, wherein R is not null and the <

force>

option was selected, and wherein the method further comprises removing all relationships existing in R from a list of X'"'"'s relationships and dissolving all of said relationships existing in R.