SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE SERVICE CONFIGURATION OF APPLICATION SERVER ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20090070792A1
• Filed: 09/11/2008
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Cable, Larry
• Granted Patent: US 8,490,120 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/332
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

A system and method for dynamic, application dependency implicit, service configuration of application server environments. A dynamic and implicit mechanism can be provided using technologies such as OSGi and the Java Module System, that then reduce the need for external application server configuration. An application server so implemented can be enabled to dynamically/lazily load the required services implementations on demand, at the time an application is deployed and/or initialized at runtime, and to subsequently release any such resources consumed when they are no longer required.

Claims

1. A system for the dynamic, application dependency implicit, service configuration of application server environments, comprising:

a collection of APIs that are provided as named API bundles or modules, and that expose a set of Java language types;

a compiler for compiling an application that is configured to use a subset of the APIs, against the API bundles or modules;

a packager for packaging the resulting application class files in another bundle or module;

a deployment tool for deploying the packaged application into an application server that includes a runtime to control component service dependency lifecycles; and

wherein the application server initializes the application for execution, and as individual application classes are loaded by the runtime, the runtime resolves the application'"'"'s dependencies on the public APIs and/or components of the application server platform.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the means for packaging the resulting application class files in another bundle or module, further comprises packaging the appropriate meta-data describing those dependencies, either as a list of dependent Java language types, or by direct reference to the list of defining/containing standard modules or bundles.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the runtime to control component service dependency lifecycle comprises one or either of the OSGi or the Java Module System runtimes.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the runtime comprises a Java Virtual Machine, and wherein the Java Virtual Machine invokes the class loading machinery of either OSGi or the Java Module System, to resolve the application'"'"'s dependencies on the public APIs and/or components of the application server platform.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein when invoked the system of OSGi or the Java Module System determines in which bundle or module a particular type reference resides, and if that reference, bundle or module has not previously been referenced then the system loads that bundle or module, initializes it according to their lifecycle models, and satisfies the class loading reference.

6. A method for the dynamic, application dependency implicit, service configuration of application server environments, comprising the steps of:

providing a collection of APIs that are provided as named API bundles or modules, and that expose a set of Java language types;

enabling compiling an application that is configured to use a subset of the APIs, against the API bundles or modules;

enabling packaging the resulting application class files in another bundle or module; and

deploying the packaged application into an application server that includes a runtime to control component service dependency lifecycles;

wherein the application server initializes the application for execution, and as individual application classes are loaded by the runtime, the runtime resolves the application'"'"'s dependencies on the public APIs and/or components of the application server platform.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the packaging the resulting application class files in another bundle or module, further comprises packaging the appropriate meta-data describing those dependencies, either as a list of dependent Java language types, or by direct reference to the list of defining/containing standard modules or bundles.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the runtime to control component service dependency lifecycle comprises one or either of the OSGi or the Java Module System runtimes.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the runtime comprises a Java Virtual Machine, and wherein the Java Virtual Machine invokes the class loading machinery of either OSGi or the Java Module System, to resolve the application'"'"'s dependencies on the public APIs and/or components of the application server platform.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein when invoked the system of OSGi or the Java Module System determines in which bundle or module a particular type reference resides, and if that reference, bundle or module has not previously been referenced then the system loads that bundle or module, initializes it according to their lifecycle models, and satisfies the class loading reference.

11. A computer readable medium, including instructions stored thereon which when read and executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the steps of:

providing a collection of APIs that are provided as named API bundles or modules, and that expose a set of Java language types;

compiling an application that is configured to use a subset of the APIs, against the API bundles or modules;

packaging the resulting application class files in another bundle or module; and

deploying the packaged application into an application server that includes a runtime to control component service dependency lifecycles;

wherein the application server initializes the application for execution, and as individual application classes are loaded by the runtime, the runtime resolves the application'"'"'s dependencies on the public APIs and/or components of the application server platform.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein packaging the resulting application class files in another bundle or module, further comprises packaging the appropriate meta-data describing those dependencies, either as a list of dependent Java language types, or by direct reference to the list of defining/containing standard modules or bundles.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the runtime to control component service dependency lifecycle comprises one or either of the OSGi or the Java Module System runtimes.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the runtime comprises a Java Virtual Machine, and wherein the Java Virtual Machine invokes the class loading machinery of either OSGi or the Java Module System, to resolve the application'"'"'s dependencies on the public APIs and/or components of the application server platform.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein when invoked the system of OSGi or the Java Module System determines in which bundle or module a particular type reference resides, and if that reference, bundle or module has not previously been referenced then the system loads that bundle or module, initializes it according to their lifecycle models, and satisfies the class loading reference.