VIRTUAL SOLUTION COMPOSITION AND DEPLOYMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20100306772A1
• Filed: 06/01/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pershing, John A., ARNOLD, WILLIAM C., Konstantinou, Alexander V., Snible, Edward C., Eilam, Tamar, Kalantar, Michael H., Totok, Alexander A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,281,307 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

A method and information processing system are provided for creating a virtual part and for composing and deploying a virtual solution with one or more virtual parts. The virtual part includes: a virtual image including a set of compatible software components; a set of configurability points, each configurability point defining at least one parameter of the virtual part that is configurable; a set of virtual ports, wherein each virtual port indicates at least one of a set of virtual parts required by the virtual part and a set of virtual parts that are compatible with the virtual part; and a set of configuration scripts adapted to reconfigure the virtual image.

Claims

1. A virtual part for composing a virtual solution, the virtual part comprising:

a virtual image comprising a set of compatible software components;

a set of configurability points, wherein each configurability point in the set of configurability points defines at least one parameter of the virtual part that is configurable during virtual solution composition, wherein virtual solution composition comprises associating at least a first virtual part to operate with at least a second virtual part;

a set of virtual ports, wherein each virtual port within the set of virtual ports indicates at least one of

a set of virtual parts required by the virtual part comprising the set of virtual ports, and

a set of virtual parts that are compatible with the virtual part; and

a set of configuration operations adapted to reconfigure the virtual image based on at least one of

a virtual part associated with the virtual part comprising the set of configuration operations, and

an operating environment associated with the virtual part comprising the configuration operations.

2. The virtual part of claim 1, further comprising:

a set of product sections, wherein each product section comprises a set of configuration data associated with one of the software components of the virtual image.

3. The virtual part of claim 2, wherein each configurability point in the set of configurability points indicates configuration data within a product section of the set of product sections that is configurable.

4. The virtual part of claim 1, wherein the set of virtual ports comprises at least one of a client virtual port and a server virtual port, that comprises properties that are configured based on at least one other virtual port connected to the at least one of a client virtual port and a server virtual port.

5. The virtual part of claim 1, wherein the set of virtual ports comprises at least one service virtual port that comprises an individual non-divisible connectivity specification, and wherein the at least one service virtual port comprises a set of properties that are propagated to each virtual port connected to the at least one service virtual port.

6. A method, on an information processing system, for creating a virtual part used for composing a virtual solution, the method comprising:

receiving a user'"'"'s selection of at least one virtual image;

associating a set of configurability points with the virtual image;

setting a set of parameters of a virtual part as configurable during virtual solution composition, wherein virtual solution composition comprises associating at least a first virtual part to operate with at least a second virtual part;

generating a set of virtual ports, wherein each virtual port within the set of virtual ports indicates at least one of a set of virtual parts required by a virtual part comprising the set of virtual ports and a set of virtual parts that are compatible with the virtual part;

receiving a set of configuration operations, wherein the set of configuration operations are adapted to reconfigure the virtual image based on at least one of a virtual part associated with the virtual part comprising the set of configuration operations and an operating environment associated with the virtual part comprising the configuration operations; and

generating a virtual part comprising at least the virtual image, the set of configurability points, the set of virtual ports, and the configuration operations.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

generating a set of product sections within the virtual part, wherein each product section comprises a set of configuration data associated with one of the software components of the virtual image.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each configurability point in the set of configurability points indicates configuration data within a product section of the set of product sections that is configurable.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

defining at least one virtual port within the set of virtual ports as a client virtual port that comprises properties that are configured based on at least one other virtual port connected to the at least one client virtual port.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

defining at least one virtual port within the set of virtual ports as a service virtual port that comprises an individual non-divisible connectivity specification, and wherein the at least one service virtual port comprises a set of properties that are propagated to each virtual port connected to the at least one service virtual port.

11. A method, with an information processing system, for composing a virtual solution, the method comprising:

receiving a user'"'"'s selection of a first virtual part and at least a second virtual part, wherein a virtual part comprises at least;

a virtual image comprising a set of software components,

a set of configurability points, wherein each configurability point within the set of configurability points defines at least one parameter of the virtual part comprising the set of configurability points that is configurable,

a set of virtual ports, wherein each virtual port within the set of virtual ports indicates at least one of a set of virtual parts required by the virtual part comprising the set of virtual ports and a set of virtual parts that are compatible with the virtual part, and

a set of configuration operations adapted to reconfigure the virtual image;

prompting, in response to receiving the user'"'"'s selection, for a set of parameter values for at least one of the first and second virtual parts based on the set of configurability points;

receiving the set of parameter values from at least one of

the user, and

the other one of the first virtual part and the second virtual part;

reconfiguring the virtual image within the at least one of the first and second virtual parts based on the received set of parameter values and the set of configuration operations; and

generating, in response to reconfiguring the virtual image, a virtual solution model comprising the first virtual part, the second virtual part, and the virtual image that has been reconfigured.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the generated virtual solution model is cloud-independent and admits realization in more than one kind of infrastructure cloud.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the virtual solution model comprises links between the set of virtual ports of the first virtual part and the set of virtual ports of the second virtual part.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the links are created in the virtual solution model by user input received though wizard interaction from a user or auto-suggested during wizard interaction with the user.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the set of virtual ports of the first virtual part and the set of virtual ports of the second virtual part negotiate a consistent configuration between them when linked together in the virtual solution model.

16. A system for composing virtual solutions, comprising:

memory for storing at least one virtual image, a first virtual part, and at least a second virtual part;

a processor, communicatively couple with the memory; and

a user interface, communicatively coupled with the processor and the memory, for displaying information to a user and for receiving user input from the user, the processor being adapted to;

receiving a user'"'"'s selection of a first virtual part and at least a second virtual part, wherein a virtual part comprises at least;

a virtual image comprising a set of software components,

a set of configurability points, wherein each configurability point within the set of configurability points defines at least one parameter of the virtual part comprising the set of configurability points that is configurable,

a set of virtual ports, wherein each virtual port within the set of virtual ports indicates at least one of a set of virtual parts required by the virtual part comprising the set of virtual ports and a set of virtual parts that are compatible with the virtual part, and

a set of configuration operations adapted to reconfigure the virtual image;

prompting, in response to receiving the user'"'"'s selection, for a set of parameter values for at least one of the first and second virtual parts based on the set of configurability points;

receiving the set of parameter values;

reconfiguring the virtual image within the at least one of the first and second virtual parts based on the received set of parameter values and the set of configuration operations; and

generating, in response to reconfiguring the virtual image, a virtual solution model comprising the first virtual part, the second virtual part, and the virtual image that has been reconfigured.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the virtual solution model comprises links between the set of virtual ports of the first virtual part and the set of virtual ports of the second virtual part.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the links are created in the virtual solution model by user input received though wizard interaction from a user or auto-suggested during wizard interaction with the user.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the set of virtual ports of the first virtual part and the set of virtual ports of the second virtual part negotiate a consistent configuration between them when linked together in the virtual solution model.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising a virtual solution interactive environment that users interact with via the user interface for composing virtual solutions.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the virtual solution interactive environment comprises a tool that includes at least one of an application(s), a website, a web application, and a mashup, and that is used for composing virtual solutions.