METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING A SOFTWARE APPLIANCE

• US 20090300593A1
• Filed: 05/28/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Faus, Norman Lee, Huff, David P., Kearney, Bryan M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,243 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

A management tool can be included in a software appliance. The management tool can be configured to provide control, management, and maintenance of the software appliance. The management tool can be utilized in order to start/stop, configure, repair, and update a software appliance. The management tool can be configured to provide an interface for management of the software appliance. The interface allows for management of the software appliance and the individual components of the software appliance.

Claims

1. A method of managing software using a management tool, comprising:

providing an interface to manage a software appliance including the management tool, wherein the software appliance comprises at least one application capable of performing a desired functionality and portions of an operating system necessary to provide an execution platform for the at least one application and wherein the interface is provided by the management tool;

receiving management requests from the interface; and

managing the software appliance based on the management requests.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the interface comprises:

displaying, in the interface, a description of the at least one application and a description of the portions of the operation system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the management requests comprises receiving information describing a computing platform implementing the software appliance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the management request comprises receiving a request to provide configuration information to the at least one application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the management request comprises receiving a request to provide configuration information to the portions of the operating system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the management request comprises receiving a request for the management tool to perform at least one of halting the software appliance and initiating the software appliance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the management request comprises receiving a request for the management tool to initiate an update of the software appliance.

8. An apparatus for managing software, the apparatus comprising:

a management engine configured to mange a software appliance based on management requests;

wherein the software appliance comprises at least one application capable of performing a desired functionality and portions of an operating system necessary to provide an execution platform for the at least one application; and

a program interface adapted to receive management requests from an interface.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the management engine is further configured to display, in the interface, a description of the at least one application and a description of the portions of the operation system.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the program interface is further configured to receive information describing a computing platform implementing the software appliance.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the program interface is further configured to receive a request to provide configuration information to the at least one application.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the program interface is further configured to receive a request to provide configuration information to the portions of the operating system.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the program interface is further configured to receive a request for the management tool to perform at least one of halting the software appliance and initiating the software appliance.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the program interface is further configured to receive a request for the management tool to initiate an update of the software appliance.

15. A method of providing software, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a software appliance, the request comprising functionality to be performed by the software appliance;

building the software appliance including a management tool, wherein the software appliance comprises at least one application capable of performing the functionality and portions of an operating system necessary to provide an execution platform for the at least one application and wherein the management tool is configured to generate an interface to manage the software appliance; and

providing the software appliance to an initiator of the request.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein building the software appliance comprises:

locating a recipe for a pre-built software appliance including the management tool in a repository, the recipe comprising instruction for building the appliance.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein building the software appliance comprises:

locating at least one application capable of performing the functionality in a repository;

locating the portions of the operating system necessary to provide execution platform for the at least one application in the repository;

combining the located at least one application and the located portions of the operating system to form the software appliance;

creating the management tool configured to generate the interface to control the software appliance, and

combining the software appliance and the management tool.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the software appliance including the management tool is a binary image of data embodying the software appliance.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein providing the software appliance comprises:

storing the binary image in a repository; and

providing a link to a location of the binary image in the repository.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein providing the software appliance comprises:

transmitting the binary image to the initiator of the request.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein providing the software appliance comprises:

storing the binary image on a computer readable medium.

22. A method for providing software, comprising:

generating a software appliance, the software appliance comprising at least one application capable of performing a desired functionality and portions of an operating system necessary to provide an execution platform for the at least one application.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the software appliance further comprises a management tool to mange the software appliance.