SINGLE, LOGICAL, MULTI-TIER APPLICATION BLUEPRINT USED FOR DEPLOYMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF MULTIPLE PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS IN A CLOUD ENVIRONMENT

• US 20130232480A1
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Published: 09/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: WINTERFELDT, David, MANGTANI, Komal, JALAGAM, Sesh, NAGARAJA, Vishwas
• Granted Patent: US 9,047,133 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5066 Algorithms for mapping a plurality of inter-dependent sub-tasks onto a plurality of physical CPUs mappping at compile time, see G06F8/451
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

A deployment system enables a developer to define a logical, multi-tier application blueprint that can be used to create and manage (e.g., redeploy, upgrade, backup, patch) multiple applications in a cloud infrastructure. In the application blueprint, the developer models an overall application architecture, or topology, that includes individual and clustered nodes (e.g., VMs), logical templates, cloud providers, deployment environments, software services, application-specific code, properties, and dependencies between top-tier and second-tier components. The application can be deployed according to the application blueprint, which means any needed VMs are provisioned from the cloud infrastructure, and application components and software services are installed.

Claims

1. A method of deploying an application having multiple application components, the method comprising:

generating a topology of virtual computing resources and application components executing thereon for supporting execution of the application;

defining one or more dependencies between the application components in the topology; and

deploying the application in a cloud environment by provisioning cloud computing resources and installing the application components in the cloud computing resources according to the topology.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of defining further comprises:

defining a dependency between a first application component executing on a first virtual computing resource and a second application component executing on a second virtual computing resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the topology further comprises:

defining a dependency between a first application component executing on a first virtual computing resource and a second application component executing on the first virtual computing resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the topology further comprises:

defining a configuration property of a first application component that references a value of a configuration property of a second application component.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to generating the topology, generating a catalog of virtual computing resources that includes definitions of the virtual computing resources and mapping each of the definitions to a definition of a virtual machine that may be provisioned in the cloud environment.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to generating the topology, generating a catalog of application components that includes definitions of the application components, each of the definitions referencing installation scripts for deploying the application components and one or more configuration properties.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to generating the topology, generating a catalog of deployment environments that includes definitions of virtual machines that may be provisioned in the deployment environments.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the topology further comprises:

responsive to user input, assembling items from a catalog of a plurality of predefined application components configured to provide a software infrastructure for the application and a plurality of predefined virtual computing resources available in the cloud environment.

9. The method of method of claim 1, wherein the step of deploying comprises:

in response to user input, selecting one of a plurality of deployment environments;

determining cloud computing resources of the selected deployment environment that are mapped to the topology of virtual computing resources; and

provisioning the cloud computing resources and deploying the application components on the provisioned cloud computing resources according to dependencies defined in the topology.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed in a computing device, deploy an application having multiple application components, by performing the steps of:

generating a topology of virtual computing resources and application components executing thereon for supporting execution of the application;

defining one or more dependencies between the application components in the topology; and

deploying the application in a cloud environment by provisioning cloud computing resources and installing the application components in the cloud computing resources according to the topology.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions for defining further comprise instructions for:

defining a dependency between a first application component executing on a first virtual computing resource and a second application component executing on a second virtual computing resource.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions for generating the topology further comprise instructions for:

defining a dependency between a first application component executing on a first virtual computing resource and a second application component executing on the first virtual computing resource.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions for generating the topology further comprise instructions for:

defining a configuration property of a first application component that references a value of a configuration property of a second application component.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that, when executed in the computing device, perform the steps of:

prior to generating the topology, generating a catalog of virtual computing resources that includes definitions of the virtual computing resources and mapping each of the definitions to a definition of a virtual machine that may be provisioned in the cloud environment.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that, when executed in the computing device, perform the steps of:

prior to generating the topology, generating a catalog of application components that includes definitions of the application components, each of the definitions referencing installation scripts for deploying the application components and one or more configuration properties.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that, when executed in the computing device, perform the steps of:

prior to generating the topology, generating a catalog of deployment environments that includes definitions of virtual machines that may be provisioned in the deployment environments.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions for generating the topology further comprise instructions for:

responsive to user input, assembling items from a catalog of a plurality of predefined application components configured to provide a software infrastructure for the application and a plurality of predefined virtual computing resources available in the cloud environment.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions for deploying further comprise instructions for:

in response to user input, selecting one of a plurality of deployment environments;

determining cloud computing resources of the selected deployment environment that are mapped to the topology of virtual computing resources; and

provisioning the cloud computing resources and deploying the application components on the provisioned cloud computing resources according to dependencies defined in the topology.

19. A computer system for deploying an application having multiple application components, the computer system comprising a system memory and a processor programmed to carry out the steps of:

generating a topology of virtual computing resources and application components executing thereon for supporting execution of the application;

defining one or more dependencies between the application components in the topology; and

deploying the application in a cloud environment by provisioning cloud computing resources and installing the application components in the cloud computing resources according to the topology.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further programmed to carry out the step of:

responsive to user input, assembling items from a catalog of a plurality of predefined application components configured to provide a software infrastructure for the application and a plurality of predefined virtual computing resources available in the cloud environment.