Deployment, maintenance and configuration of complex hardware and software systems

• US 20070074203A1
• Filed: 09/27/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Nichols, David, Curtis, Pavel, Shieh, Guo-Wei, Somashekar, Eshwar, Gomber, Puja, Schumaker, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,676,806 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Techniques for deploying, maintaining and configuring complex hardware and software systems are provided. An abstract configuration of the system describes the system'"'"'s desired state. Each component of the system declares the general form of the resources it requires and an abstract representation of the versions of the services it both requires and provides. A configuration process uses the abstract configuration of the system and the descriptions of each of the components in the system to validate that the system can operate effectively, ensures that each component is in the correct state and at the right version, and generates the necessary interconnections for the application components to interoperate with each other.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for deploying a complex system, the method comprising:

determining from a description of a system the referenced application components and the referenced machines;

formulating a list of resources required by the referenced application components;

determining whether the list of resources are referenced in the description of the system; and

upon determining that the list of resources are referenced in the description of the system,

determining whether the referenced machines exist and are the proper type; and

upon determining that the referenced machines exist and are the proper type,

deploying the referenced application components on the referenced machines as specified by the description of the system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the referenced application components on the referenced machines comprises:

for at least one referenced machine,

determining whether the desired application components as specified by the description of the system are already deployed on the machine; and

for each desired application component that is not already deployed on the machine, making an indication to deploy the application component on the machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the referenced application components on the referenced machines comprises installing at least one referenced application component on at least one reference machine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the referenced application components on the referenced machines comprises deleting an improper version of at least one referenced application component on at least one referenced machine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the referenced application components on the referenced machines comprises changing an application component already deployed on at least one referenced machine from a first version to a second version.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one referenced application component is a software component.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one referenced application component is a data resource component.

8. A method in a computing system for deploying a complex system, the method comprising:

receiving as input an abstract configuration of a system, the abstract configuration specifying one or more application components and one or more machines, the abstract configuration further specifying the application components to deploy on each of the machines;

from the application components specified in the abstract configuration, formulating a list of the resources required by the application components; and

validating the existence of the required resources in the abstract configuration of the system.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising determining the existence of the machines specified in the abstract configuration of the system.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising, upon failing to determine the existence of the machines specified in the abstract configuration of the system, generating an error.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising, upon determining that an application component is not deployed on a machine as specified by the abstract configuration of the system, creating an instance of the application component on the machine.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein creating the instance of the application component on the machine comprises installing the application component on the machine.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein creating the instance of the application component on the machine comprises changing the instance of the application component from a first version to a second version.

14. The method of claim 8 further comprising, upon failing to validate the existence of the required resources in the abstract configuration of the system, generating an error.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the application components specified in the abstract configuration of the system is a software application.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the application components specified in the abstract configuration of the system is a data resource.

17. A deployment system for deploying a complex system, the deployment system comprising:

an abstract configuration of a system specifying one or more application components and one or more machines, the abstract configuration further specifying the application components to deploy on each of the machines;

an application component library comprising at least one application component, the application component comprising a deployment descriptor and program components, wherein the deployment descriptor specifies the resources required by the application component, and further wherein the program components are the logic for the application component; and

a configuration component that is operable to read the abstract configuration and

determine the resources required by the application components specified in the abstract configuration; and

determine that the required resources are referenced in the abstract configuration of the system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the configuration component is further operable to determine that the application components specified in the abstract configuration of the system are included in the application component library.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the configuration component is further operable to determine that the machines specified in the abstract configuration of the system exist.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the configuration component is further operable to, upon determining the presence of the application components specified in the abstract configuration of the system in the application component library and the existence of the machines specified in the abstract configuration of the system, deploy the application components on the machines as specified by the abstract configuration of the system.