AUTOMATED DISCOVERY OF A TOPOLOGY OF A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20100030893A1
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pouyer, Timothy Allen, Berg, Daniel Christopher, Kalantar, Michael Husayn, Swanke, John E., Konstantinou, Alexander V., Elder, Michael Damein, Blancett, Brad Lee, Holliday, Chad, Makin, Narinder
• Granted Patent: US 8,849,987 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources

Abstract

This invention provides an extensible means of defining the mechanism to find one or more type(s) or instance(s) of existing resources (files, databases, repositories, etc.) and automating their linkages to the artifacts to be created, based on the customizable matching rules.

Claims

1. A computer program product for modeling and configuration of a data center using a deployment model, the computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code stored therein, the computer-readable program code comprising:

computer-usable program code for discovering a current topology of a data center, the current topology defining existing hardware and/or software resources in the data center; and

computer-usable program code for creating one or more linkages between one or more discovered resources in the data center and one or more resources to be created.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering at least one of characteristics and dependencies of the identified resources.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein discovering dependencies of the identified resources comprises discovering at least one of capabilities, requirements, and relationships.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein discovering requirements comprises discovering at least one of dependency requirements, hosting requirements and member requirements.

5. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein discovering relationships comprises discovering at least one of dependency relationships, hosting relationships, and member relationships.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering the current topology using environment-specific handlers, and wherein the environment-specific handlers further convert the one or more discovered resources to a syntax and/or structure compatible with the deployment model.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering the current topology using customizable filters that define a scope and results of a search such that a definition of the search is not tied to a specific type of resource.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

computer-usable program code for receiving a user selection of one or more discovered resources;

wherein the one or more linkages are created based on the received user selection.

9. A method for modeling and configuration of a data center using a deployment model, the method being implemented by a computer, the method comprising:

discovering, by the computer, a current topology of a data center, the current topology defining existing hardware and/or software resources in the data center; and

creating, by the computer, one or more linkages between one or more discovered resources in the data center and one or more resources to be created.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering at least one of characteristics and dependencies of the identified resources.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein discovering dependencies of the identified resources comprises discovering at least one of capabilities, requirements, and relationships.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein discovering requirements comprises discovering at least one of dependency requirements, hosting requirements and member requirements.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein discovering relationships comprises discovering at least one of dependency relationships, hosting relationships, and member relationships.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering the current topology using environment-specific handlers, and wherein the environment-specific handlers further convert the one or more discovered resources to a syntax and/or structure compatible with the deployment model.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering the current topology using customizable filters that define a scope and results of a search such that a definition of the search is not tied to a specific type of resource.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer, a user selection of one or more discovered resources;

wherein the one or more linkages are created based on the received user selection.

17. A system for modeling and configuration of a data center using a deployment model, the system comprising:

a processor configured for discovering a current topology of a data center, the current topology defining existing hardware and/or software resources in the data center;

the processor further configured for creating one or more linkages between one or more discovered resources in the data center and one or more resources to be created.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering at least one of characteristics and dependencies of the identified resources.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein discovering dependencies of the identified resources comprises discovering at least one of capabilities, requirements, and relationships.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein discovering requirements comprises discovering at least one of dependency requirements, hosting requirements and member requirements.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein discovering relationships comprises discovering at least one of dependency relationships, hosting relationships, and member relationships.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering the current topology using environment-specific handlers, and wherein the environment-specific handlers further convert the one or more discovered resources to a syntax and/or structure compatible with the deployment model.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein discovering the current topology comprises discovering the current topology using customizable filters that define a scope and results of a search such that a definition of the search is not tied to a specific type of resource.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured for receiving a user selection of one or more discovered resources;

and wherein the processor creates the one or more linkages based on the received user selection.