Remote Auto Provisioning and Publication of Applications

• US 20090100448A1
• Filed: 10/15/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Baker, James H. III, Wang, Huei Chung, Bernardi, Ara, Brockway, Tad Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 8,196,137 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/330
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/549 Remote execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Techniques for auto provisioning and publication of applications are described. The auto provisioning process enables automatic installation of applications having their respective file packages pre-stored in the server. Subsequently, publication of these applications is conducted automatically. By employing such an automatic process, the latency involved in provisioning and publication of remote applications is reduced, thereby making the process more efficient.

Claims

1. A server computer comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory configured to the processors;

a virtualization coordinator in the memory, to identified a collection of files related to an application; and

a provisioning module in the memory that is provided with instructions by the virtualization coordinator to install the collection of files on the server.

2. The server computer of claim 1, wherein the virtualization coordinator identifies the location of the collection of files.

3. The server computer of claim 1, wherein the virtualization coordinator initiates provisioning and publication of the application to remote users.

4. The server computer of claim 1, wherein the provisioning module installs the collection of files for use by remote users.

5. The server computer of claim 1 further comprising a publishing module that publishes that the application is available for users.

6. The server computer of claim 5, wherein the publishing module adds the application to a list of other applications available to users.

7. The server computer of claim 1 further comprising a runtime module that is instructed by the virtualization coordinator to collect the collection of files and store them in the server computer as a new file package.

8. The server computer of claim 1 further comprising a control management module that controls operation of the virtualization coordinator.

9. A method comprising:

identifying arrival of files associated with an application;

pre-caching the application for local use by remote users; and

provisioning the application for remote devices used by the remote users.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the identifying is performed by periodically monitoring a predefined location.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the pre-caching includes gathering a collection of files associated with the application and storing the files as a new file package.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the provisioning includes installing the application on a remote server that is accessible by the users.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein provisioning includes setting user rights and policies associated with the application.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising transferring files associated with the application to a predefined location, wherein the identifying includes identifying files at the predefined location.

15. A method comprising:

constructing data to generating a request for publication of an application;

generating to remote users, the request for publication based on the data;

determining a pre-existing list of applications available to the remote users;

updating the list of applications with the application; and

publishing the updated list of applications.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the constructing data includes data from one or more of the following:

application name, application path, application icon, and RDP files.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the generating includes collecting the data for publishing and publishing the application based on the data.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining includes identifying applications that previously existed and appending any new applications to the list.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the publishing is to a web page.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the users access the web page to use the applications.