FACILITATING THE EXECUTION OF WEB APPLICATIONS IN THE CLOUD

• US 20110302569A1
• Filed: 06/01/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Kunze, Tobias, Roth, Issac
• Granted Patent: US 8,966,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/62 Uninstallation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A facility for executing an application program in a cloud computing environment is described. The facility identifies dependencies of the application program, and identifies support software components that satisfy the identified dependencies. The facility then causes the application to be executed in conjunction with the identified support software components on the nodes of the cloud computing environment on which they were installed.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for executing an application program in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

identifying dependencies of the application program;

identifying support software components that collectively satisfy the identified dependencies;

causing the application to be executed in conjunction with the identified support software components on one or more nodes of the cloud computing environment on which they were installed; and

collecting monitoring data generated by the identified support software components during execution, the monitoring data describing the execution of the identified support software components.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the installed support software components and the generated monitoring data are both stored in the same package.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a display containing visual information aggregated from the generated monitoring data.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the display is generated by code stored in the same package with the installed support software components.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying support software components that satisfy the identified dependencies comprises:

accessing the dependencies specifying abstract features for the application program;

examining attributes of available support software components to identify a set of support software components that collectively provide the abstract features specified by the accessed dependencies; and

creating instances of identified support software components.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the package contains code for collecting and aggregating the monitoring data.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving monitoring data transmitted by one or more other nodes in a cluster;

storing the received monitoring data in the package; and

aggregating the monitoring data generated and exported on all the nodes in the cluster.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein causing the application to be executed in conjunction with the identified support software components comprises:

receiving code designed to be executed by a language runtime component and called by a dynamic web server component;

selecting from among instrumented support components a static web server component;

selecting from among instrumented support components a dynamic web server component suited to the code;

selecting from among instrumented support components a language runtime component suited to the code;

installing the received code and the selected components on a cloud node, together with executable code for;

collecting and correlating monitoring data produced by the instrumentation in the selected components that describes the execution of the selected components;

storing the correlated monitoring data; and

generating reports that are based upon the stored monitoring data; and

executing the installed code, selected components, and executable code on the cloud node.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the support software components are being instrumented to generate data describing the software support component'"'"'s processing of transactions on behalf of the application; and

the package contains code for forming cross-component transaction records by collecting data that relates to the same transaction.

10. A computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method for executing an application program in a cloud computing environment, the method comprising:

identifying dependencies of the application program;

identifying support software components that collectively satisfy the identified dependencies;

causing the application to be executed in conjunction with the identified support software components on one or more nodes of the cloud computing environment on which they were installed; and

collecting monitoring data generated by the identified support software components during execution, the monitoring data describing the execution of the identified support software components.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the installed support software components and the generated monitoring data are both stored in the same package.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises generating a display containing visual information aggregated from the generated monitoring data.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the display is generated by code stored in the same package with the installed support software components.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein identifying support software components that satisfy the identified dependencies comprises:

accessing the dependencies specifying abstract features for the application program;

examining attributes of available support software components to identify a set of support software components that collectively provide the abstract features specified by the accessed dependencies; and

creating instances of identified support software components.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein the package contains code for collecting and aggregating the monitoring data.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving monitoring data transmitted by one or more other nodes in a cluster;

storing the received monitoring data in the package; and

aggregating the monitoring data generated and exported on all the nodes in the cluster.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein causing the application to be executed in conjunction with the identified support software components comprises:

receiving code designed to be executed by a language runtime component and called by a dynamic web server component;

selecting from among instrumented support components a static web server component;

selecting from among instrumented support components a dynamic web server component suited to the code;

selecting from among instrumented support components a language runtime component suited to the code;

installing the received code and the selected components on a cloud node, together with executable code for;

collecting and correlating monitoring data produced by the instrumentation in the selected components that describes the execution of the selected components;

storing the correlated monitoring data; and

generating reports that are based upon the stored monitoring data; and

executing the installed code, selected components, and executable code on the cloud node.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein:

the support software components are being instrumented to generate data describing the software support component'"'"'s processing of transactions on behalf of the application; and

the package contains code for forming cross-component transaction records by collecting data that relates to the same transaction.

19. A system for executing an application program in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device, coupled to the memory, to;

identify dependencies of the application program;

identify support software components that collectively satisfy the identified dependencies;

cause the application to be executed in conjunction with the identified support software components on one or more nodes of the cloud computing environment on which they were installed; and

collect monitoring data generated by the identified support software components during execution, the monitoring data describing the execution of the identified support software components.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the installed support software components and the generated monitoring data are stored in the same package.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further to generate a display containing visual information aggregated from the generated monitoring data.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the display is generated by code stored in the same package with the installed support software components.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the package contains code for collecting and aggregating the monitoring data.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein the processor is to cause the application to be executed in conjunction with the identified support software components by:

receiving code designed to be executed by a language runtime component and called by a dynamic web server component;

selecting from among instrumented support components a static web server component;

selecting from among instrumented support components a dynamic web server component suited to the code;

selecting from among instrumented support components a language runtime component suited to the code;

installing the received code and the selected components on a cloud node, together with executable code for;

collecting and correlating monitoring data produced by the instrumentation in the selected components that describes the execution of the selected components;

storing the correlated monitoring data; and

generating reports that are based upon the stored monitoring data; and

executing the installed code, selected components, and executable code on the cloud node.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein:

the support software components are being instrumented to generate data describing the software support component'"'"'s processing of transactions on behalf of the application; and

the package contains code for forming cross-component transaction records by collecting data that relates to the same transaction.