TENANT RESCUE FOR SOFTWARE CHANGE PROCESSES IN MULTI-TENANT ARCHITECTURES

• US 20120030502A1
• Filed: 07/30/2010
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Laicher, Karolin, Segler, Michael, Rueegg, Andreas Willi, Schmidt, Joerg
• Granted Patent: US 8,522,070 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading

Abstract

A multi-tenant system can be switched to a downtime state to implement a transition from a current state to a target state of a core software platform. During a second phase of the transition an error associated with tenant-specific content of a first customer tenant of the plurality of customer tenants of the multi-tenant system can be identified. The second phase can be suspended for the first customer tenant while continuing the second phase for a remainder of the plurality of customer tenants for which an error has not been identified. After a scheduled duration of the downtime state, the multi-tenant system can be reactivated such that the multi-tenant system includes the remainder of the plurality of customer tenants with the transition implemented and the first customer tenant either with the transition implemented if the error has been corrected or without the transition implemented if the error has not been corrected.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

switching a multi-tenant system that comprises an application server and a data repository to a downtime state to implement a transition from a current state to a target state of a core software platform, the application server providing access for each of a plurality of organizations to one of a plurality of customer tenants, each of the plurality of customer tenants comprising an organization-specific business configuration of the core software platform, the data repository storing core software platform content relating to the operation of the core software platform that is common to all of the plurality of customer tenants and tenant-specific content that relates to the organization-specific business configuration and that is available to only one of the plurality of customer tenants,

identifying, during a second phase of the transition, an error associated with the tenant-specific content of a first customer tenant of the plurality of customer tenants, the second phase comprising modifying, in parallel and subsequent to completion of the first phase, the tenant-specific content of each of the plurality of customer tenants according to dependencies of the tenant-specific content on the core software platform content;

suspending the second phase for the first customer tenant while continuing the second phase for a remainder of the plurality of customer tenants for which an error has not been identified; and

reactivating, after a scheduled duration of the downtime state, the multi-tenant system such that the multi-tenant system comprises the remainder of the plurality of customer tenants with the transition implemented and the first customer tenant either with the transition implemented if the error has been corrected or without the transition implemented if the error has not been corrected.

2. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise completing a first phase of the transition, the first phase comprising modifying the core software platform content prior to the second phase.

3. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise analyzing, in an error analysis copy of the multi-tenant system, the error associated with the tenant-specific content of the first customer tenant.

4. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the transition comprises a lifecycle management event comprising at least one of a business configuration deployment, an application-to-application (A2A) regeneration, or a Fast Search Infrastructure (FSI) load.

5. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise commencing, if the error has not been corrected, a reprocessing of the first customer tenant, the reprocessing comprising performing troubleshooting to correct the error and continuing the second phase for the first customer tenant.

6. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a selection from an administrator of a first subsequence of first sub-phases of the second phase for the first customer tenant and a second subsequence of second sub-phases of the second phase for a second customer tenant for which the second phase has also been suspended; and

executing the first subsequence on the first customer tenant in parallel with the second subsequence on the second customer tenant.

7. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise, importing at least one correction for application to the first customer tenant while the second phase for the first customer tenant has been suspended, the at least one correction addressing the error.

8. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

switching a multi-tenant system that comprises an application server and a data repository to a downtime state to implement a transition from a current state to a target state of a core software platform, the application server providing access for each of a plurality of organizations to one of a plurality of customer tenants, each of the plurality of customer tenants comprising an organization-specific business configuration of the core software platform, the data repository storing core software platform content relating to the operation of the core software platform that is common to all of the plurality of customer tenants and tenant-specific content that relates to the organization-specific business configuration and that is available to only one of the plurality of customer tenants,

identifying, during a second phase of the transition, an error associated with the tenant-specific content of a first customer tenant of the plurality of customer tenants, the second phase comprising modifying, in parallel and subsequent to completion of the first phase, the tenant-specific content of each of the plurality of customer tenants according to dependencies of the tenant-specific content on the core software platform content;

suspending the second phase for the first customer tenant while continuing the second phase for a remainder of the plurality of customer tenants for which an error has not been identified; and

reactivating, after a scheduled duration of the downtime state, the multi-tenant system such that the multi-tenant system comprises the remainder of the plurality of customer tenants with the transition implemented and the first customer tenant either with the transition implemented if the error has been corrected or without the transition implemented if the error has not been corrected.

9. A system as in claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise completing a first phase of the transition, the first phase comprising modifying the core software platform content prior to the second phase.

10. A system as in claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise analyzing, in an error analysis copy of the multi-tenant system, the error associated with the tenant-specific content of the first customer tenant.

11. A system as in claim 8, wherein the transition comprises a lifecycle management event comprising at least one of a business configuration deployment, an application-to-application (A2A) regeneration, or a Fast Search Infrastructure (FSI) load.

12. A system as in claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise commencing, if the error has not been corrected, a reprocessing of the first customer tenant, the reprocessing comprising performing troubleshooting to correct the error and continuing the second phase for the first customer tenant.

13. A system as in claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a selection from an administrator of a first subsequence of first sub-phases of the second phase for the first customer tenant and a second subsequence of second sub-phases of the second phase for a second customer tenant for which the second phase has also been suspended; and

executing the first subsequence on the first customer tenant in parallel with the second subsequence on the second customer tenant.

14. A system as in claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise, importing at least one correction for application to the first customer tenant while the second phase for the first customer tenant has been suspended, the at least one correction addressing the error.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

switching a multi-tenant system that comprises at least one processor, an application server implemented on the at least one processor, and a data repository to a downtime state to implement a transition from a current state to a target state of a core software platform, the application server providing access for each of a plurality of organizations to one of a plurality of customer tenants, each of the plurality of customer tenants comprising an organization-specific business configuration of the core software platform, the data repository storing core software platform content relating to the operation of the core software platform that is common to all of the plurality of customer tenants and tenant-specific content that relates to the organization-specific business configuration and that is available to only one of the plurality of customer tenants,

identifying, during a second phase of the transition, an error associated with the tenant-specific content of a first customer tenant of the plurality of customer tenants, the second phase comprising modifying, in parallel and subsequent to completion of the first phase, the tenant-specific content of each of the plurality of customer tenants according to dependencies of the tenant-specific content on the core software platform content;

suspending the second phase for the first customer tenant while continuing the second phase for a remainder of the plurality of customer tenants for which an error has not been identified; and

reactivating, after a scheduled duration of the downtime state, the multi-tenant system such that the multi-tenant system comprises the remainder of the plurality of customer tenants with the transition implemented and the first customer tenant either with the transition implemented if the error has been corrected or without the transition implemented if the error has not been corrected.

16. A computer-implemented method as in claim 15, further comprising completing a first phase of the transition, the first phase comprising modifying the core software platform content prior to the second phase.

17. A computer-implemented method as in claim 15, further comprising analyzing, in an error analysis copy of the multi-tenant system, the error associated with the tenant-specific content of the first customer tenant.

18. A computer-implemented method as in claim 15, wherein the transition comprises a lifecycle management event comprising at least one of a business configuration deployment, an application-to-application (A2A) regeneration, or a Fast Search Infrastructure (FSI) load.

19. A computer-implemented method as in claim 15, further comprising commencing, if the error has not been corrected, a reprocessing of the first customer tenant, the reprocessing comprising performing troubleshooting to correct the error and continuing the second phase for the first customer tenant.

20. A computer-implemented method as in claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a selection from an administrator of a first subsequence of first sub-phases of the second phase for the first customer tenant and a second subsequence of second sub-phases of the second phase for a second customer tenant for which the second phase has also been suspended; and

executing the first subsequence on the first customer tenant in parallel with the second subsequence on the second customer tenant.