SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DEPLOYING AN UPDATE BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTS OF A MULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SYSTEM

• US 20140298312A1
• Filed: 06/13/2014
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Plax, Jonathan, Kral, Timothy, Hale, Shannon
• Granted Patent: US 9,442,713 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for deploying updates between environments of a multi-tenant on-demand database system. These mechanisms and methods for deploying updates between environments of a multi-tenant on-demand database system can enable embodiments to provide user-friendly, granular, and/or targeted updates between such environments.

Claims

1. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions causing a computer to implement a method comprising:

changing a portion of an application implemented at a first environment of a system having one or more application servers to include an update, where the first environment includes a first organization implemented by the system;

receiving an indication of a second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, where the second environment includes a second organization implemented by the system;

inserting a row in a table of the second environment in response to receipt of the update, for indicating the receipt of the update and the receipt of the indication that the update is to be deployed to the second environment;

accessing the table to identify the update;

displaying to a user information associated with the update, based on the identification of the update;

receiving from the user a selection instructing a deployment of the update; and

deploying the update to the second environment of the system, in response to the selection.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the portion of the application includes at least one of user interface code, application logic, and a data model.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the first environment includes a sandbox environment utilized for testing of the update included within the portion of the application at the first environment.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer program product is operable such that the update is created utilizing a user interface of the system.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the computer program product is operable such that a user selects the portion of the application into which the update was included at the first environment, utilizing the user interface.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the portion of the application includes only a subset of the application to which a change was made at the first environment, such that other portions of the application dependent on the subset of the application are excluded from the update.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the system is an on-demand database system.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second environment includes a production environment at which the application is available for use by at least one user of the system.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second environment includes a sandbox environment utilized for testing the update upon implementation at the second environment.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer program product is operable such that the indication of the second environment is received in response to a selection of the second environment.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer program product is operable such that the second environment is selected from a predefined list of environments.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the predefined list of environments includes at least one environment preconfigured to be authorized to receive updates from the first environment.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer program product is operable such that the predefined list of environments is stored remotely from the first environment and is remotely accessed by the first environment for the selection.

14. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein deploying the update to the second environment includes transmitting the update to the second environment for implementing the update to the portion of the application at the second environment.

15. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the first organization is specific to a user of the system by the system customizing the first organization for the user and implementing the first organization by the system for sole use by the user.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the second organization is associated with the user.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the second organization is associated with another user.

18. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second organization is a production organization and the first organization is a sandbox organization that is a copy of the production organization by including a copy of data stored at the production organization, such that the sandbox organization is for use in the creation of the update to the portion of the application prior to the deployment and implementation of the update to the production organization.

19. A method, comprising:

changing a portion of an application implemented at a first environment of a system having one or more application servers to include an update, where the first environment includes a first organization implemented by the system;

receiving an indication of a second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, where the second environment includes a second organization implemented by the system;

inserting a row in a table of the second environment in response to receipt of the update, for indicating the receipt of the update and the receipt of the indication that the update is to be deployed to the second environment;

accessing the table to identify the update;

displaying to a user information associated with the update, based on the identification of the update;

receiving from the user a selection instructing a deployment of the update; and

deploying the update to the second environment of the system, in response to the selection.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor for;

changing a portion of an application implemented at a first environment of a system having one or more application servers to include an update, where the first environment includes u first organization implemented by the system;

receiving an indication of a second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, where the second environment includes a second organization implemented by the system;

inserting a row in a table of the second environment in response to receipt of the update, for indicating the receipt of the update and the receipt of the indication that the update is to be deployed to the second environment;

accessing the table to identify the update;

displaying to a user information associated with the update, based on the identification of the update;

receiving from the user a selection instructing a deployment of the update; and

deploying the update to the second environment of the system, in response to the selection.