System and method for application deployment service

• US 20070011328A1
• Filed: 05/19/2005
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Ananthan
• Granted Patent: US 7,660,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

A transactional distribution infrastructure enables multiple participants to work together to deploy changes to an executing context. Embodiments can prepare new changes to executing applications based on a copy of the running context or domain rather than the actual running domain. Performing the changes on a copy of the running domain rather than on the actual running domain allows the changes to be examined, therefore providing an opportunity to detect errors and prevent the changes from causing failures on the domain.

Claims

1. A method for deploying changes to a domain, the method comprising:

receiving at least one change to a copy of an application context executing on at least one target server managed by an administration server; and

deploying the at least one change to the application context executing on the at least one target server in the domain, thereby enabling the at least one change to be examined to detect errors that would cause failures in the domain prior to deploying the at least one change on the application context executing at least one target server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving at least one change to a copy of an application context executing on at least one target server managed by an administration server further comprises:

performing the at least one change on a copy of the application context rather than the application context executing in the domain.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the at least one change to the application context executing on the at least one target server in the domain further comprises:

using a multiple-phase commit process implementing a transactional framework between the administration server and the at least one target server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein using a multiple-phase commit process implementing a transactional framework between the administration server and the at least one target server further comprises:

receiving an acknowledgement from each component of the at least one target server indicating that the component is ready to accept the change, prior to sending a command to commit the at least one change to each component of the at least one target server.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

discontinuing deployment of the at least one change if a failed acknowledgement is received from any component of the at least one target server.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

testing the at least one change prior to deploying the at least one change on the application context executing at least one target server.

7. A machine-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for deploying changes to a domain, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

receiving at least one change to a copy of an application context executing on at least one target server managed by an administration server; and

deploying the at least one change to the application context executing on the at least one target server in the domain, thereby enabling the at least one change to be examined to detect errors that would cause failures in the domain prior to deploying the at least one change on the application context executing at least one target server.

8. The machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions for receiving at least one change to a copy of an application context executing on at least one target server managed by an administration server include instructions for carrying out the step of:

performing the at least one change on a copy of the application context rather than the application context executing in the domain.

9. The machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions for deploying the at least one change to the application context executing on the at least one target server in the domain include instructions for carrying out the step of:

using a multiple-phase commit process implementing a transactional framework between the administration server and the at least one target server.

10. The machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for using a multiple-phase commit process implementing a transactional framework between the administration server and the at least one target server include instructions for carrying out the step of:

receiving an acknowledgement from each component of the at least one target server indicating that the component is ready to accept the change, prior to sending a command to commit the at least one change to each component of the at least one target server.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

discontinuing deployment of the at least one change if a failed acknowledgement is received from any component of the at least one target server.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

testing the at least one change prior to deploying the at least one change on the application context executing at least one target server.

13. An administration server for deploying changes to a domain, the administration server comprising:

a processor; and

one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of;

receiving at least one change to a copy of an application context executing on at least one target server; and

deploying the at least one change to the application context executing on the at least one target server in the domain, thereby enabling the at least one change to be examined to detect errors that would cause failures in the domain prior to deploying the at least one change on the application context executing at least one target server.

14. A method for receiving changes to be deployed in a domain, the method comprising:

receiving at least one change to an application context being executed;

determining whether deployment of the at least one change to the application context being executed would produce any negative affects;

signaling an administration server whether the deployment of the at least one change to the application context being executed would produce any negative affects; and

committing the at least one change to the application context being executed, if a commit signal is received from the administration server responsive to the signaling.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

discontinuing deployment of the at least one change to the application context if a fail signal is received from the administration server.

16. A machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for receiving changes to be deployed in a domain, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

receiving at least one change to an application context being executed;

determining whether deployment of the at least one change to the application context being executed would produce any negative affects;

signaling an administration server whether the deployment of the at least one change to the application context being executed would produce any negative affects; and

committing the at least one change to the application context being executed, if a commit signal is received from the administration server responsive to the signaling.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

discontinuing deployment of the at least one change to the application context if a fail signal is received from the administration server.

18. A target server for receiving changes to be deployed in a domain, the target server comprising:

a processor; and

one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of;

receiving at least one change to an application context being executed;

determining whether deployment of the at least one change to the application context being executed would produce any negative affects;

signaling an administration server whether the deployment of the at least one change to the application context being executed would produce any negative affects; and

committing the at least one change to the application context being executed, if a commit signal is received from the administration server responsive to the signaling.

19. A method for performing a deployment change, comprising:

receiving a deployment request;

registering a first deployment subsystem and a first configuration subsystem with a first deployment module, the a first deployment subsystem, first configuration subsystem and first deployment module located at an administration server;

generating a deployment job entry at an administration server;

forwarding the deployment job entry to a managed server;

acknowledging the deployment request by a second deployment subsystem and a second configuration subsystem, the second deployment subsystem and the second configuration subsystem located at the managed server; and

performing the deployment request at the managed server.