VIRTUALIZED WORKFLOW PROCESSING

• US 20080201708A1
• Filed: 03/28/2007
• Published: 08/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Carter, Stephen R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,183,524 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/30 Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32

Abstract

Techniques for virtualized workflow processing are presented. A processing state of workflow within a first processing environment is imaged and configured for a second processing environment. The image is received in the second processing environment where it is authenticated and initiated within the second processing environment as a virtual machine.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

packaging a local processing environment associated with workflow processing into a self-contained image;

supplying the self-contained image with a verifiable identity for use in authenticating before the self-contained image is subsequently installed and processed in a remote processing environment;

configuring the self-contained image for the remote processing environment; and

sending the configured self-contained image and its identity to the remote processing environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein packaging further includes maintaining a processing state associated with a workflow in the self-contained image.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising, including a plurality of services and content that are accessible to the workflow and its processing state within the self-contained image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein supplying further includes providing the identity as a temporary access token.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising, receiving the temporary access token from a remote identity service of the remote processing environment and authenticating the temporary access token for the remote identity service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring further includes acquiring operating data from the remote processing environment and using the operating date to perform the configuration of the self-contained image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending further includes having an identity service digitally sign the configured self-contained image.

8. A method, comprising:

acquiring a self-contained image of a workflow;

authenticating the self-contained image via interactions with a remote identity service;

supplying an identity for the self-contained image to use within a local processing environment;

configuring a virtual machine within the local processing environment for the self-contained image; and

initiating the workflow within the virtual machine of the local processing environment.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein authenticating further includes sending a temporary access token acquired from the self-contained image or metadata associated with the self-contained image to the remote identity service to authenticate the self-contained image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein supplying further includes generating the unique identity for the self-contained image to use within the local processing environment in response to the remote identity service validating the temporary access token.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein authenticating further includes verifying a digital signature of the remote identity service included with the self-contained image or the metadata.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein acquiring further includes obtaining the self-contained image from a library or storage in response to a policy or event that triggers the acquisition of the self-contained image and that starts the initiation of the workflow.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein acquiring further includes dynamically obtaining the self-contained image with a request to initiate the workflow from the remote identity service or from another trusted service within a remote processing environment associated with the remote identity service.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein configuring further includes placing the workflow within a previous saved processing state within the virtual machine before the workflow is initiated for use within the local processing environment.

15. A system, comprising:

a virtual workflow packager implemented in a machine-readable medium and to process on a remote machine within a remote processing environment; and

a virtual workflow initiator implemented within a machine-readable medium and to process on a local machine within a local processing environment, wherein the virtual workflow packager is to image a processing state associated with a workflow and assign an identity to the image, and wherein the virtual workflow initiator is to use the identity to validate the image and is to initiate the workflow within the local processing environment as a virtual machine and place the workflow back in the processing state within the virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising, a remote identity service implemented in a machine-accessible medium and to process on a machine within the remote processing environment, and wherein the remote identity service is to supply the identity and is to assist the virtual workflow initiator in validation of the identity over a network.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising, a local identity service implemented in a machine-readable medium and to process on a machine within the local processing environment, and wherein the local identity service interacts with the remote identity service over the network on behalf of the virtual workflow initiator, and wherein the local identity service is to provide a unique local identity for the virtual machine within the local processing environment.

18. The system of claim 15 further comprising, a compliance and auditing service implemented in a machine-readable medium and to process on a machine within the local processing environment, wherein the compliance and auditing service is to use policy to capture and report activities associated with the workflow as it processes within the virtual machine.

19. The system of claim 15 further comprising, an additional virtual workflow packager implemented within a machine-readable medium and to process on a machine within the local processing environment, wherein the additional virtual workflow packager is to repackage the workflow in response to policy, event detection, or request as a new image and is to send the new image to another instance of the virtual workflow initiator located in a different environment over a network.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the virtual workflow initiator is to initiate the workflow in one or more of the following circumstances:

a dynamic request from the virtual workflow packager, a policy evaluation, a schedule constraint, an attempt by a resource within the local processing environment to activate the image, and an event detection.

21. A system, comprising:

a workflow embodied in a machine readable medium and to be accessed and processed on one or more machines and across multiple disparate processing environments; and

a virtual machine implemented in a machine readable medium and to be processed on a machine within a first processing environment, and wherein the workflow is to be extracted from an image and a configuration created in a second processing environment over a network connection, and wherein the workflow is to be initiated within the virtual machine of the first processing environment and restored to a state defined in the configuration.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the virtual machine is started when one of the following occurs:

a policy dictates, a request is made, a resource activates the image, an event is detected, or a schedule dictates.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the virtual machine is authenticated and receives a unique identity for processing within the first processing environment via interactions with a local identity service of the first processing environment and a remote identity service of the second processing environment.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the configuration includes a digital signature of the remote identity service that the local identity service validates.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the image includes a plurality of services usable by the workflow and content consumed by the workflow.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the image is initially activated by a user as an attachment to a message or a posting.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the workflow is to be modified within the first processing environment and re-imaged and configured and then sent to a third disparate processing environment for subsequent processing after the modification.