SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING AN IN-MEMORY DATA GRID APPLICATION CONTAINER

• US 20130239004A1
• Filed: 02/04/2013
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Bihani, Ballav, Fahlgren, Christer, Guy, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,648,084 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/734
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for providing an in-memory data grid application container, for use with an application server, is described herein. In accordance with an embodiment, an application server, such as WebLogic Server (WLS), can be used to host data grid applications, such as Coherence applications (in which case the application container can be referred to as a Coherence container), and deliver the same benefits that regular Java Enterprise Edition (EE) applications derive from being hosted in a WLS environment. A model for creating combined Java EE and data grid applications can also be provided, by merging the programming, packaging, and deployment models used for data grid with existing Java EE models.

Claims

1. A system for providing an in-memory data grid application container for use with an application server, comprising:

one or more clusters of application servers, each of which includes an application server instance operating therein, wherein each application server instance includes an in-memory data grid application container;

a grid archive file that describes a data grid application, and includes a configuration and artifacts associated therewith that define data grid services to be provided by the data grid application; and

an administrative console or other interface that enables a user to deploy the data grid application described by the grid archive file, to selected application server instances and to create or configure a data grid utilizing those selected application server instances having the deployed grid archive file.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data grid lifecycle and other aspects of the data grid are configurable within the application server domain.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the application server instances having the deployed grid archive file can be indicated as one of a client or server within the data grid.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of those selected application server instances having the deployed grid archive file can act as a client or server to another or existing data grid environment.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data grid application is deployed as a standalone application, including wherein when its grid archive file is deployed to the application server, its artifacts are automatically loaded by the application server'"'"'s application classloader into its data grid application container, as a standalone Java application, and is thereafter used by the application server to create or configure a data grid cluster according to its configuration.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the grid archive is deployed as a Java application, including wherein when its grid archive file is deployed to the application server, its artifacts are automatically loaded by the application server'"'"'s Enterprise Archive (EAR) or other Java class loader, as part of an EAR or other Java application, and is thereafter used by the application server to create or configure a data grid cluster according to its configuration.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-memory data grid is a Coherence environment, and the application server is WebLogic Server.

8. A method of providing an in-memory data grid application container for use with an application server, comprising the steps of:

providing one or more clusters of application servers, each of which includes an application server instance operating therein, wherein each application server instance includes an in-memory data grid application container;

providing a grid archive file that describes a data grid application, and includes a configuration and artifacts associated therewith that define data grid services to be provided by the data grid application; and

providing an administrative console or other interface that enables a user to deploy the data grid application described by the grid archive file, to selected application server instances and to create or configure a data grid utilizing those selected application server instances having the deployed grid archive file.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data grid lifecycle and other aspects of the data grid are configurable within the application server domain.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the application server instances having the deployed grid archive file can be indicated as one of a client or server within the data grid.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein one or more of those selected application server instances having the deployed grid archive file can act as a client or server to another or existing data grid environment.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the data grid application is deployed as a standalone application, including wherein when its grid archive file is deployed to the application server, its artifacts are automatically loaded by the application server'"'"'s application classloader into its data grid application container, as a standalone Java application, and is thereafter used by the application server to create or configure a data grid cluster according to its configuration.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the grid archive is deployed as a Java application, including wherein when its grid archive file is deployed to the application server, its artifacts are automatically loaded by the application server'"'"'s Enterprise Archive (EAR) or other Java class loader, as part of an EAR or other Java application, and is thereafter used by the application server to create or configure a data grid cluster according to its configuration.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the in-memory data grid is a Coherence environment, and the application server is WebLogic Server.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions stored thereon which when read and executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform the steps comprising:

providing one or more clusters of application servers, each of which includes an application server instance operating therein, wherein each application server instance includes an in-memory data grid application container;

providing a grid archive file that describes a data grid application, and includes a configuration and artifacts associated therewith that define data grid services to be provided by the data grid application; and

providing an administrative console or other interface that enables a user to deploy the data grid application described by the grid archive file, to selected application server instances and to create or configure a data grid utilizing those selected application server instances having the deployed grid archive file.