MULTIPLEXER FOR MULTI-TENANT ARCHITECTURES

• US 20130262689A1
• Filed: 06/03/2013
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Joerg, Laicher, Karolin, Leinemann, Rainer, Vogt, Thomas, Rueegg, Andres Willi
• Granted Patent: US 9,065,705 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/00 Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00; network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00; security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorised activity G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066

Abstract

A tenant multiplexer in an administrative tenant of a multi-tenant software architecture can call an administrative agent in the administrative tenant and receive, from the administrative agent, an action framework and a trusted connection protocol for accessing each of the plurality of client tenants. The trusted connection protocol can establish, without tenant-specific authentication information, a trusted system connection to an update agent in each of the plurality of client tenants. An action framework can be simultaneously implemented using the update agent of each of at least a subset of the plurality of client tenants under control of the multiplexer via the trusted system connection to begin execution of the software process for the at least the subset of client tenants.

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:

receiving input data specifying a software process to an administrative tenant in a multi-tenant system that comprises an application server and a data repository, the application server providing access for each of a plurality of organizations to one of a plurality of client tenants;

initiating a tenant multiplexer in the administrative tenant that calls an administrative agent in the administrative tenant and receives, from the administrative agent, an action framework and a trusted connection protocol for accessing each of the plurality of client tenants;

establishing, using the trusted connection protocol without tenant-specific authentication information, a trusted system connection to an update agent in each of the plurality of client tenants; and

simultaneously implementing, using the update agent of each of at least a subset of the plurality of client tenants under control of the multiplexer via the trusted system connection, the action framework to begin execution of the software process for the at least the subset.

2. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of client tenants comprises a customizable, organization-specific version of a core software platform, and the data repository comprises core software platform content that relates to the operation of the core software platform that is common to all of the plurality of client tenants, system content having a system content format defined by the core software platform and containing system content data that are unique to specific client tenants of the plurality of client tenants, and tenant-specific content items whose tenant-specific content formats and tenant-specific content data are defined by and available to only one of the plurality of client tenants.

3. A computer program product as in claim 2, wherein the action framework comprises a change to at least one of the core software platform content and the format of the system content.

4. A computer program product as in claim 3, wherein the operations further comprise propagating, for at least one of the plurality of client tenants, a dependency-driven modification to at least one of the system content data, the tenant-specific content formats, or the tenant-specific content data for the at least one of the plurality of client tenants, the dependency-driven modification resulting from the modification of at least one of the core software platform content and the format of the system content.

5. A computer program product as in claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise identifying the dependency-driven modification by accessing a listing of dependencies stored in a dependency repository accessible to the application server.

6. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the action framework comprises a report to be executed for at least a subset of the plurality of client tenants.

7. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the administrative tenant comprises a monitoring program that supervises execution of at least one batch job defined by the action framework.

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;

receiving input data specifying a software process to an administrative tenant in a multi-tenant system that comprises an application server and a data repository, the application server providing access for each of a plurality of organizations to one of a plurality of client tenants;

initiating a tenant multiplexer in the administrative tenant that calls an administrative agent in the administrative tenant and receives, from the administrative agent, an action framework and a trusted connection protocol for accessing each of the plurality of client tenants;

establishing, using the trusted connection protocol without tenant-specific authentication information, a trusted system connection to an update agent in each of the plurality, of client tenants; and

simultaneously implementing, using the update agent of each of at least a subset of the plurality of client tenants under control of the multiplexer via the trusted system connection, the action framework to begin execution of the software process for the at least the subset.

9. A system as in claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of client tenants comprises a customizable, organization-specific version of a core software platform, and the data repository comprises core software platform content that relates to the operation of the core software platform that is common to all of the plurality of client tenants, system content having a system content format defined by the core software platform and containing system content data that are unique to specific client tenants of the plurality of client tenants, and tenant-specific content items whose tenant-specific content formats and tenant-specific content data are defined by and available to only one of the plurality of client tenants.

10. A system as in claim 9, wherein the action framework comprises a change to at least one of the core software platform content and the format of the system content.

11. A system as in claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise propagating, for at least one of the plurality of client tenants, a dependency-driven modification to at least one of the system content data, the tenant-specific content formats, or the tenant-specific content data for the at least one of the plurality of client tenants, the dependency-driven modification resulting from the modification of at least one of the core software platform content and the format of the system content.

12. A system as in claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise identifying the dependency-driven modification by accessing a listing of dependencies stored in a dependency repository accessible to the application server.

13. A system as in claim 8, wherein the action framework comprises a report to be executed for at least a subset of the plurality of client tenants.

14. A system as in claim 8, wherein the administrative tenant comprises a monitoring program that supervises execution of at least one batch job defined by the action framework.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving input data specifying a software process to an administrative tenant in a multi-tenant system that comprises at least one processor, an application server implemented on the at least one processor, and a data repository, the application server providing access for each of a plurality of organizations to one of a plurality of client tenants;

initiating a tenant multiplexer in the administrative tenant that calls an administrative agent in the administrative tenant and receives, from the administrative agent, an action framework and a trusted connection protocol for accessing each of the plurality of client tenants;

establishing, using the trusted connection protocol without tenant-specific authentication information, a trusted system connection to an update agent in each of the plurality of client tenants; and

simultaneously implementing, using the update agent of each of at least a subset of the plurality of client tenants under control of the multiplexer via the trusted system connection, the action framework to begin execution of the software process for the at least the subset.

16. A computer-implemented method as in claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of client tenants comprises a customizable, organization-specific version of a core software platform, and the data repository comprises core software platform content that relates to the operation of the core software platform that is common to all of the plurality of client tenants, system content having a system content format defined by the core software platform and containing system content data that are unique to specific client tenants of the plurality of client tenants, and tenant-specific content items whose tenant-specific content formats and tenant-specific content data are defined by and available to only one of the plurality of client tenants.

17. A computer-implemented method as in claim 16, wherein the action framework comprises a change to at least one of the core software platform content and the format of the system content.

18. A computer-implemented method as in claim 17, further comprising propagating, for at least one of the plurality of client tenants, a dependency-driven modification to at least one of the system content data, the tenant-specific content formats, or the tenant-specific content data for the at least one of the plurality of client tenants, the dependency-driven modification resulting from the modification of at least one of the core software platform content and the format of the system content.

19. A computer-implemented method as in claim 18, further comprising identifying the dependency-driven modification by accessing a listing of dependencies stored in a dependency repository accessible to the application server.

20. A computer-implemented method as in claim 15, wherein the action framework comprises at least one of a report to be executed for at least a subset of the plurality of client tenants and a batch job whose execution is supervised by a monitoring program in the administrative tenant.