System and method for deploying software based on matching provisioning requirements and capabilities

• US 20070220509A1
• Filed: 02/24/2006
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grabarnik, Genady, Shwartz, Larisa, Surendra, Maheswaran, Ayachitula, Naga
• Application Number:
  US11/361,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20070220509A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product for provisioning software on at least one node in a plurality of computational nodes in a distributed information processing system are disclosed. The method includes accepting a plurality of requirements associated with a software product. The plurality of requirements is expanded into multiple sets of installation requirements. At least one set of installation requirements in the multiple sets of installation requirements is minimized to produce at least one minimized set of installation requirements. At least one installation topology is determined using Rough Set Theory for the software product based on the at least one minimized set of installation requirements. The at least one installation topology is compared to a set of capabilities included on at least one computational node to determine a respective set of missing resources for the at least one computational node.

Claims

1. A method for provisioning software on at least one node in a plurality of computational nodes in a distributed information processing system, the method on an information processing system comprising:

accepting a plurality of requirements associated with a software product;

expanding the plurality of requirements into multiple sets of installation requirements;

minimizing at least one set of installation requirements in the multiple sets of installation requirements to produce at least one minimized set of installation requirements;

determining at least one installation topology for the software product based on the at least one minimized set of installation requirements, the at least one installation topology including one set of installation requirements within the multiple set of installation requirements; and

comparing the at least one installation topology to a set of capabilities included on at least one computational node to determine a respective set of missing resources for the at least one computational node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the expanding the plurality of requirements, the minimizing at least one set of installation requirements, and the determining at least one installation topology is based on Rough Set Theory.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of requirements includes at least one of one or more software requirements, and one or more hardware requirements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the minimizing further includes:

determining that the at least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements includes redundant requirements;

removing, in response to the determining that redundant requirements exist, at least one of the redundant requirements from the at least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements;

determining that at the least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements includes conflicting requirements; and

eliminating, in response to the determining that conflicting requirements exist, the at least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements from consideration for determining the at least one installation topology.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing further comprises determining at least one cost function for installing the software product for each of the at least one installation topology.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one cost function is dependent upon at least one of:

a number of nodes required for installation of the software product according to the at least one installation topology;

a time quantity for installation of the software product according to the at least one installation topology;

a licensing cost for installing the software product on the at least one computational node according to the at least one installation topology;

CPU utilization estimated for the respective installation topology; and

Required program storage space estimated for the respective installation topology.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based on the comparing, whether the software product is installable on a single computational node;

identifying, in response to the software product being installable on a single computational node, a computational node with a lowest cost function to install the software product on; and

identifying, in response to the software product not being installable on a single computational node, a plurality of computational nodes with the lowest cost function to install the software product on.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the accepting comprises arranging the requirements into a hierarchy based upon resource dependencies.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

creating at least one first decision table associated with the software product, the at least one first decision table including a set of requirements in a top-most level of the hierarchy; and

creating at least one second decision table associated with a respective requirement in at least one lower level of the hierarchy, the at least one second decision table including a first entry identifying the respective requirement associated with the at least one second decision table and at least one second entry identifying at least one dependent requirement of the respective requirement and a respective ordinal representation associate with each dependent requirement of the respective requirement being the ordinal representation indicative of the dependent requirement and higher level requirements in the hierarchy.

10. A system for provisioning software on at least one node in a plurality of computational nodes in a distributed information processing system, system comprising:

a requirement analyzer for accepting a plurality of requirements associated with the at least one software product, the requirement analyzer expanding the plurality of requirements into multiple sets of installation requirements and minimizing at least one set of installation requirements in the multiple sets of installation requirements;

an installation topology generator for determining at least one installation topology for the at least one software product based on the at least one minimized set of installation requirements, the at least one installation topology including one set of installation requirements within the multiple set of installation requirements; and

a capability comparator for comparing the at least one installation topology to a set of capabilities included on at least one of a plurality of computational nodes to determine a respective set of missing resources for that at least one computational node; and

a comparator for comparing the at least one installation topology to a set of capabilities included on at least one computational node to determine a respective set of missing resources for the at least one computational node.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the requirement analyzer further determines that the at least one set of installation requirements includes redundant requirements;

removes, in response to the determining that redundant requirements existing, at least one of the redundant requirements from the at least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements;

determines that at the least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements includes conflicting requirements; and

eliminates, in response to the determining that conflicting requirements exist, the at least one set of installation requirements from consideration for determining the at least one installation topology.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the requirement analyzer arranges the requirements into a hierarchy based upon resource dependencies.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

at least one first decision table associated with the software product, the at least one first decision table including a set of requirements in a top-most level of the hierarchy; and

creating at least one second decision table associated with a respective requirement in at least one lower level of the hierarchy, the at least one second decision table including a first entry identifying the respective requirement associated with the at least one second decision table and at least one second entry identifying at least one dependent requirement of the respective requirement and a respective ordinal representation associate with each dependent requirement of the respective requirement being the ordinal representation indicative of the dependent requirement and higher level requirements in the hierarchy.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the capability comparator further:

determines, based on the comparing, whether the software product is installable on a single computational mode;

identifies, in response to the software product being installable on a single computational node, a computational node with a lowest cost function to install the software product on; and

identifies, in response to the software product not being installable on a single computational node, a plurality of computational nodes with the lowest cost function to install the software product on.

15. A computer program product for provisioning software on at least one node in a plurality of computational nodes in a distributed information processing system, the computer program product comprising instructions for:

accepting a plurality of requirements associated with a software product;

expanding the plurality of requirements into multiple sets of installation requirements;

minimizing at least one set of installation requirements in the multiple sets of installation requirements to produce at least one minimized set of installation requirements;

determining at least one installation topology for the software product based on the at least one minimized set of installation requirements, the at least one installation topology including one set of installation requirements within the multiple set of installation requirements; and

comparing the at least one installation topology to a set of capabilities included on at least one computational node to determine a respective set of missing resources for the at least one computational node.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions for minimizing further include instructions for:

determining that the at least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements includes redundant requirements;

removing, in response to the determining that redundant requirements exist, at least one of the redundant requirements from the at least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements;

determining that at the least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements includes conflicting requirements; and

eliminating, in response to the determining that conflicting requirements exist, the at least one of the multiple sets of installation requirements from consideration for determining the at least one installation topology.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising instructions for:

determining, based on the comparing, whether the software product is installable on a single computational node;

identifying, in response to the software product being installable on a single computational node, a computational node with a lowest cost function to install the software product on; and

identifying, in response to the software product not being installable on a single computational node, a plurality of computational nodes with the lowest cost function to install the software product on.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions for comparing further comprises instructions for determining at least one cost function for installing the software product according to the at least one installation topology.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions for accepting comprise instructions for arranging the requirements into a hierarchy based upon resource dependencies.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising instructions for:

creating at least one first decision table associated with the software product, the at least one first decision table including a set of requirements in a top-most level of the hierarchy; and

creating at least one second decision table associated with a respective requirement in at least one lower level of the hierarchy, the at least one second decision table including a first entry identifying the respective requirement associated with the at least one second decision table and at least one second entry identifying at least one dependent requirement of the respective requirement and a respective ordinal representation associate with each dependent requirement of the respective requirement being the ordinal representation indicative of the dependent requirement and higher level requirements in the hierarchy.