Distributed Pluggable Middleware Services

• US 20080235710A1
• Filed: 03/21/2007
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Giles, James R., Degenaro, Louis R., Wagle, Rohit, Challenger, James R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,276,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals

Abstract

Plug-in configurable middleware is provided for managing distributed applications. The middleware includes at least one core runtime engine configured as a plurality of concurrent instantiations on one or more hosts within a distributed architecture. These hosts can represent separate nodes or a single node within the architecture. Each core runtime engine instance provides the minimum amount of functionality required to support plug-in architecture, that is to support the instantiation of one or more plug-ins within that core runtime engine instance. Each core runtime engine instance is in communication with other concurrent core runtime engine instances and can share the functionality of plug-in instances with the other core runtime engine instances, for example through the use of proxies. A plurality of personalities representing pre-defined functions is defined and one of more of these personalities is associated with each core runtime engine instance. A plurality of pre-defined plug-ins are defined and associated with the personalities. Each plug-in is a unit of function containing runtime code that provides a portion of the function a personality to which the plug-in is associated. The plug-ins are instantiated on the appropriate core runtime instances to provide the function to that core runtime engine instance as defined in the associated personality.

Claims

1. Plug-in configurable middleware for managing distributed applications, the middleware comprising:

at least one core runtime engine capable of a plurality of concurrent instantiations on at least one host, each core runtime engine instance comprising sufficient functionality to support plug-in architecture and each core runtime instance in communication with other concurrent core runtime engine instances;

a plurality of personalities, one or more of the plurality of personalities associated with one or more of the plurality of concurrent core runtime engine instances, and each personality comprising a definition of the function of the core runtime engine instance to which that personality is associated; and

a plurality of pre-defined plug-ins, each plug-in associated with one or more of the plurality of personalities and comprising runtime code that provides at least a portion of the function of each personality to which the plug-in is associated.

2. The middleware of claim 1, further comprising a schema comprising parameters for validating each pre-defined plug-in.

3. The middleware of claim 2, wherein each plug-in comprises an extensible mark-up language document and the schema comprises an extensible mark-up language schema.

4. The middleware of claim 1, wherein each plug-in is utilized by each core runtime engine instance having an associated personality to which the plug-in is associated.

5. The middleware of claim 1, wherein the host comprises computer hardware platforms, virtual machines or combinations thereof.

6. The middleware of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one configuration manager in communication with each one of the plurality of core runtime engine instances, the configuration manager capable of determining an architecture for the distributed middleware and of distributing plug-ins to the core runtime engine instances; and

at least one persistent storage device in communication with the configuration manager and comprising the plurality of plug-ins.

7. The middleware of claim 6, wherein the host further comprises an interface mechanism in communication with the configuration manager to facilitate instantiations of the core runtime engine on the host in accordance with the determined architecture.

8. The middleware of claim 1, wherein each plug-in further comprises a core definition comprising instructions for loading and starting the plug-in, a properties section comprising a set of plug-in properties specific to that plug-in and a dependencies section comprising a description of relationships between that plug-in and another plug-in.

9. The middleware of claim 1, further comprising a plug-in instance management application program interface to facilitate dynamic runtime management of each plug-in.

10. The middleware of claim 9, wherein the dynamic runtime management comprises creating plug-ins, retrieving plug-ins from a persistent storage location, updating plug-ins, deleting plug-ins, loading plug-ins, unloading plug-ins, reloading plug-ins or combinations thereof.

11. The middleware of claim 1, wherein execution of one of the plurality of plug-ins is dependent upon execution of another one of the plurality of plug-ins.

12. The middleware of claim 1, further comprising a proxy associated with a first core runtime engine instance, the proxy associated with a plug-in instance resident on a second core runtime instance and facilitating utilization of the plug-in instance by the first core runtime engine instance.

13. The middleware of claim 12, further comprising a proxy management application program interface to facilitate dynamic runtime management of the proxy.

14. The middleware of claim 13, wherein the dynamic runtime management comprises finding plug-ins, finding proxies, creating a plug-in for a proxy, destroying a proxy for a plug-in, static proxy routing, dynamic proxy routing or combinations thereof.

15. A method for managing a computer application within a distributed environment, the method comprising:

defining a plurality of personalities, each personality comprising a pre-defined function;

associating at least one plug-in with each personality, each plug-in comprising runtime code that provides at least a portion of the function of the personality to which the plug-in is associated;

instantiating a core runtime engine on one or more hosts within the distributed environment, each core runtime engine instance comprising sufficient functionality to support plug-in architecture and each core runtime instance in communication with other concurrent core runtime engine instances;

associating at least one of the plurality of personalities with each one of the plurality of core runtime engine instances, each personality providing the pre-defined functionality associated with that personality to the core runtime engine instance to which that personality is associated; and

instantiating plug-ins on the core runtime engine instances in accordance with the associations between the personalities and the core runtime engine instances.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising using a schema comprising parameters to validate each plug-in.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

expressing each plug-in in extensible mark-up language; and

expressing the schema in extensible mark-up language.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing a description for each plug-in comprising a core definition comprising instructions for loading and starting each the plug-in, a properties section comprising a set of plug-in properties specific to that plug-in and a dependencies section comprising a description of relationships between that plug-in and another other plug-in.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising using a configuration manager in communication with each core runtime engine instance to determine an architecture for the distributed environment and to instantiate plug-ins on the appropriate core runtime engine instances.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising using an interface mechanism in communication with the configuration manager to facilitate instantiations of the core runtime engine on the host in accordance with the determined architecture.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising designating each plug-in as either a non-shared plug-in for sharing a given instance of that plug-in with only one additional plug-in or a shared plug-in for sharing the given plug-in instance with two or more additional plug-ins.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising using a plug-in instance management application program interface to facilitate dynamic runtime management of each plug-in.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the dynamic runtime management comprises plug-in definition creation, plug-in definition retrieval, plug-in definition updating, plug-in definition deletion, plug-in instance loading, plug-in instance unloading, plug-in instance reloading or combinations thereof.

24. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining dependencies among the plurality of plug-ins and instantiating plug-ins in accordance with the dependencies.

25. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

deploying a proxy on a first core runtime engine instance;

associating the proxy a plug-in instance on a second core runtime instance; and

using the proxy to facilitate utilization of the plug-in instance by the first core runtime instance.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising using a proxy application program interface to facilitate dynamic runtime management of the proxy.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the dynamic runtime management comprises finding plug-ins, finding proxies, creating a plug-in for a proxy, destroying a proxy for a plug-in, static proxy routing, dynamic proxy routing or combinations thereof.

28. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of personalities collectively comprise a job control system and the pre-defined functions comprise a dispatcher, a submit agent, a node controller, an optimizer, a dispatcher shadow, a resource manager or combinations thereof.

29. A computer-readable medium containing a computer-readable code that when read by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for managing a computer application within a distributed environment, the method comprising:

defining a plurality of personalities, each personality comprising a pre-defined function;

associating at least one plug-in with each personality, each plug-in comprising runtime code that provides at least a portion of the function of the personality to which the plug-in is associated;

instantiating a core runtime engine on one or more hosts within the distributed environment, each core runtime engine instance comprising sufficient functionality to support plug-in architecture and each core runtime instance in communication with other concurrent core runtime engine instances;

associating at least one of the plurality of personalities with each one of the plurality of core runtime engine instances, each personality providing the pre-defined functionality associated with that personality to the core runtime engine instance to which that personality is associated; and

instantiating plug-ins on the core runtime engine instances in accordance with the associations between the personalities and the core runtime engine instances.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises providing a description for each plug-in comprising a core definition comprising instructions for loading and starting each the plug-in, a properties section comprising a set of plug-in properties specific to that plug-in and a dependencies section comprising a description of relationships between that plug-in and another other plug-in.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises designating each plug-in as either a non-shared plug-in for sharing a given instance of that plug-in with only one additional plug-in or a shared plug-in for sharing the given plug-in instance with two or more additional plug-ins.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises determining dependencies among the plurality of plug-ins and instantiating plug-ins in accordance with the dependencies.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises:

deploying a proxy on a first core runtime engine instance;

associating the proxy a plug-in instance on a second core runtime instance; and

using the proxy to facilitate utilization of the plug-in instance by the first core runtime instance.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the method further comprises using a proxy application program interface to facilitate dynamic runtime management of the proxy, the dynamic runtime management comprising finding plug-ins, finding proxies, creating a plug-in for a proxy, destroying a proxy for a plug-in, static proxy routing, dynamic proxy routing or combinations thereof.

35. A plug-in configurable middleware for managing distributed applications, the middleware comprising:

at least one core runtime engine capable of a plurality of concurrent instantiations on at least one host, each core runtime time engine instance comprising sufficient functionality to support plug-in architecture and each core runtime instance in communication with other concurrent core runtime instances; and

a plurality of pre-defined plug-ins, one or more of the plurality of plug-ins associated with one or more of the plurality of concurrent core runtime engine instances and each plug-in comprising runtime code that provides at least a portion of an additional function to the core runtime engine to which that plug-in is associated.