Method and apparatus for policy-based change management in a service delivery environment

• US 20070294420A1
• Filed: 06/15/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mohindra, Ajay, Naik, Vijay K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,950,007 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5022 by giving priorities, e.g. assigning classes of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service

Abstract

A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer usable program code are provided for maintaining a computer network. Resources and services affected by a change to a resource are identified in response to receiving a request for the change. A determination of an optimal time for the change is made based on a policy associated with the service. The change is deployed with a deployment engine.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for maintaining a computer network, the computer implemented method comprising:

responsive to receiving a request for a change to a resource, identifying resources and services affected by the change;

determining an optimal time for the change based on a policy associated with the services;

deploying the change with a deployment engine.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer network is a grid-based infrastructure of computing devices.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the change is requested in a federated system.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the services are a set of high-level services, wherein the set of high-level services is executed by an enterprise.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the identifying step further comprises:

retrieving an object dependency graph for the at least one high-level service.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the retrieving step further comprises:

determining if the change will affect a node of the object dependency graph; and

responsive to a determination that the change will affect the node, retrieving the object dependency graph associated with the node.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the determining step further comprises:

retrieving policies associated with each of the at least one high-level service.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the policies are retrieved from a policy database.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the identifying step further comprises:

identifying the at least one high-level services represented by a root of the object dependency graph;

scanning a service and state repository to identify the object dependency graph; and

determining whether the change can be implemented according to the policies.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

making the change consistent with policies, wherein the change is made by the deployment engine.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the making step further comprises:

configuring and deploying the change to resources.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

invoking a workflow to make the change, wherein the deployment engine executes the workflow to make the change.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying step and determining step are performed by a change management coordinator;

and

wherein the change is received from a system administrator or another change management coordinator.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the change is any of a hardware change, a software change, and a configuration change.

15. A change management system comprising:

a change management coordinator interface for receiving a request from an administrator or other change management coordinators;

a change management coordinator wherein the change management coordinator identifies resources and services affected by a change to a resource in response to receiving a request for the change, determines an optimal time for the change based on a policy associated with a service and stored in a policy database within the change management coordinator, and schedules and coordinates the change with a deployment engine.

16. The change management system of claim 15, wherein the change management coordinator receives the change from another change management coordinator or a system administrator through a change management coordinator interface,

wherein the change management coordinator identifies resources and services affected by retrieving an object dependency graph associated with the resources and services stored within a services and state repository operably connected to a processor,

wherein the policy is retrieved from the policy database operably connected to the processor.

17. The change management system of claim 15, wherein the change management coordinator invokes a workflow to be implemented by the deployment engine for making the change.

18. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for maintaining a computer network, said computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code responsive to receiving a request for a change to a resource for, identifying resources and services affected by the change;

computer usable program code for determining an optimal time for the change based on a policy associated with the services; and

computer usable program code for deploying the change with a deployment engine.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

computer usable program code for invoking a workflow to make the change, wherein the deployment engine executes the workflow to make the change.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer usable program code for identifying the resources and services uses an object dependency graph and identifies the services using a uniform resource identifier.