METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DYNAMICALLY CREATING AND MODIFYING RESOURCE TOPOLOGIES AND EXECUTING SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT FLOWS

• US 20080201715A1
• Filed: 07/05/2006
• Published: 08/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Breiter, Gerd, Rost, Steffen, Maass, Ruediger, Spatzier, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,650,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups

Abstract

The present invention replaces the prior art Systems Management Flow execution environments with a new Order Processing Environment. The Order Processing Environment consists of an Order Processing Container (“Container” in short), a Relationship Registry, and a Factory Registry. The Factory Registry supports creation of new resource instances. The Relationship Registry stores relationships between resources. The Container gets as input an Order and a start point address for the first resource. The Order is a document (e.g., XML) which includes a number of Tasks for each involved resource without arranging those tasks in a sequence. This differentiates Orders from workflow descriptions used by standard workflow engines. Each Task includes at least all input parameters for executing the Task. The sequence of the Task execution is derived by the Container by using the Relationship Registry which reflects all current Resource Topologies.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically creating and/or modifying the resource topologies including the state of the contained resources, wherein said method is being executed in an order processing environment, wherein said order processing environment includes at least an order processing container and relationship registry, and an order which is being processed by said order processing container, wherein said order includes a number of resource specific tasks without arranging those in a sequence, wherein said tasks provide actions for creating and/or modifying resource topologies, wherein said each task is assigned at least input parameters for execution of said task and optionally includes topology information which describes a new set of relationships and resources that are to be created or deleted, wherein said method comprises the steps of:

a) providing access to an order by said order processing container,

b) providing said order to a first instantiated resource which forms part of a resource topology to be created or to be modified by said order,

c) deriving the assigned task from said order by said first resource,

c) reading the input parameters from said assigned task by said first resource,

d) executing said task by using said assigned parameters by said first resource,

e) returning said order to said order processing container by said first resource,

f) querying said relationship registry for resources which have a relationship to said first resource by said order processing container,

g) providing said order to one of said resources which have a relationship to said first resource,

h) repeating said steps b)-f) for said resource determined by step g).

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said order processing environment further includes a factory registry providing resource specific resource factories for creating new resource instances, said method comprises the further steps if topology information is available for said task:

after receiving said order from each called resource deriving resources to be created from topology information assigned to said called resources,

querying said factory registry for resource specific resource factories by said order processing container,

instructing said resource specific resource factory for creating new resource instances by said order processing container,

connecting said new resource instances to said resource topology by said order processing container.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein each resource being part of the resource topology and being part of the order processing provides an interface for communication with said order processing container and means for interpreting said orders.

4. A method according claim 1, wherein said order includes information for creation or determination of the start point for order processing.

6. A computer program product stored on computer usable medium comprising readable program means for causing a computer to perform the method of claim 1, when said computer program is executed on a computer.

5. A method according to claim, wherein said order processing container provides methods for creating and deleting topologies which can be accessed directly by said instantiated resources.

7. A system for dynamically creating and/or modifying the resource topologies including the state of the contained resources, wherein said method is being executed in an order processing environment, wherein said order processing environment includes at least an order processing container and relationship registry, and an order which is being processed by said order processing container, wherein said order includes a number of resource specific tasks without arranging those in a sequence, wherein said tasks provides actions for creating and/or modifying resource topologies, wherein said each task is assigned at least input parameters for execution of said task and optionally includes topology information which describes a new set of relationships and resources that are to be created or deleted, wherein said system comprises the means of:

a) means for providing access to an order by said order processing container,

b) means for providing said order to a first instantiated resource which forms part of a resource topology to be created or to be modified by said order,

c) means for deriving the assigned task from said order by said first resource,

c) means for reading the input parameters from said assigned task by said first resource,

d) means for executing said task by using said assigned parameters by said first resource,

e) means for returning said order to said order processing container by said first resource,

f) means for querying said relationship registry for resources which have a relationship to said first resource by said order processing container,

g) means for providing said order to one of said resources which have a relationship to said first resource,

h) means for repeating said methods executed by said means b)-f) for said resource determined by said means g).

8. A system according to claim 7, wherein said order processing environment further includes a factory registry providing resource specific resource factories for creating new resource instances, and said order further comprises topology information for at least one of said task:

means for deriving resources to be created from topology information assigned to said called resources after receiving said order from each called resource,

means for querying said factory registry for resource specific resource factories by said order processing container,

means for instructing said resource specific resource factory for creating new resource instances by said order processing container,

means for connecting said new resource instances to said resource topology by said order processing container.

9. A system according to claim 7, wherein each resource being part of the resource topology and being part of the order processing provides an interface for communication with said order processing container and means for interpreting said orders.

10. A system according claim 7, wherein said order includes information for creation or determination of the start point for order processing.

11. A computer program for execution in a data processing system for creating and/or modifying the resource topologies including the state of the contained resources, wherein said computer program is being executed in an order processing environment, wherein said order processing environment includes at least an order processing container and relationship registry, and an order which is being processed by said order processing container, wherein said order includes a number of resource specific tasks without arranging those in a sequence, wherein said tasks provides actions for creating and/or modifying resource topologies, wherein said each task is assigned at least input parameters for execution of said task and optionally includes topology information which describes a new set of relationships and resources that are to be created or deleted, wherein said computer programs performs the steps of:

a) providing access to an order by said order processing container,

b) providing said order to a first instantiated resource which forms part of a resource topology to be created or to be modified by said order,

c) deriving the assigned task from said order by said first resource,

c) reading the input parameters from said assigned task by said first resource,

d) executing said task by using said assigned parameters by said first resource,

e) returning said order to said order processing container by said first resource,

f) querying said relationship registry for resources which have a relationship to said first resource by said order processing container,

g) providing said order to one of said resources which have a relationship to said first resource,

h) repeating said steps b)-f) for said resource determined by step g).