POPULATING CONTENT FOR A BASE VERSION OF AN IMAGE

• US 20160092195A1
• Filed: 01/23/2015
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kuchibhotla, Balasubrahmanyam, Paliwal, Bharat, Srinivasan, Hariprasanna, Khanuja, Kamaldeep, Sanklecha, Shachi, Jaganathan, Prakash Babu
• Granted Patent: US 10,073,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• 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: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Techniques are described for standardizing configuration levels across a plurality of software deployments. In one embodiment, a standardization management system generates, based on a plurality of software deployments that have different source components, an end state definition that identifies a recommended standard set of source components for the plurality of software deployments. Based on the end state definition that identifies the recommended standard set of source components for the plurality of software deployments, the standardization management system generates an image that includes the standard set of source components for the plurality of software deployments. The image may be used to update software deployments that are part of the plurality of software deployments and do not include the standard set of source components.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, based on a plurality of software deployments at least some of which that are running from different source components, an end state definition that identifies a recommended standard set of source components for the plurality of software deployments;

wherein the end state definition is selected based at least in part on an occurrence of particular subsets of source components among the plurality of software deployments;

based on the end state definition that identifies the recommended standard set of source components for the plurality of software deployments, generating an image that includes the standard set of source components.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the end state definition comprises determining a set of patch information to include in the end state definition based, at least in part, on patches that have been applied to the plurality of software deployments.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein determining the set of patch information to include in the end state definition comprises identifying a particular patch that was applied to a first set of one or more software deployments of the plurality of software deployments but not to a second set of one or more software deployments of the plurality of software deployments;

wherein patch information identifying the particular patch is included in the end state definition;

wherein the particular patch is included in the image that includes the standard set of source components.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a set of one or more patches that were not included in any of the plurality of software deployments;

adding patch information identifying the set of one or more patches that were not included in any of the plurality of software deployments to the end state definition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the set of one or more patches that were not included in any of the plurality of software deployments are identified from generic patch recommendations from a service provider for a particular software application.

6. The method of claim 4,

wherein the set of one or more patches that were not included in any of the plurality of software deployments are identified from a set of one or more support tickets associated with at least one software deployment of the plurality of software deployments;

wherein the set of one or more patches includes at least one patch that is provided as a resolution for the set of one or more support tickets associated with the at least one software deployment of the plurality of software deployments.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a reference software deployment from the plurality of software deployments;

wherein the image is generated based, at least in part, from the reference software deployment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the reference software deployment includes the recommended standard set of source components.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the image comprises applying a set of one or more patches to a binary payload from the reference software deployment.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating at least one software deployment of the plurality of software deployments using the image;

wherein the at least one software deployment did not include the recommended set of source components before said updating;

wherein the at least one software deployment includes the recommended set of source components after said updating.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the end state definition is selected based at least in part on a frequency of occurrence of the particular subsets of components among the plurality of software deployments.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the end state definition is selected based at least in part on a time that the particular subsets of software components were available to the plurality of software deployments.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the end state definition is selected based at least in part on vendor-preferred software components that are available to the plurality of software deployments.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causing operations comprising:

generating, based on a plurality of software deployments at least some of which that are running from different source components, an end state definition that identifies a recommended standard set of source components for the plurality of software deployments;

wherein the end state definition is selected based at least in part on an occurrence of particular subsets of source components among the plurality of software deployments;

based on the end state definition that identifies the recommended standard set of source components for the plurality of software deployments, generating an image that includes the standard set of source components.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein instructions for generating the end state definition comprise instruction for determining a set of patch information to include in the end state definition based, at least in part, on patches that have been applied to the plurality of software deployments.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15,

wherein instructions for determining the set of patch information to include in the end state definition comprise instructions for identifying a particular patch that was applied to a first set of one or more software deployments of the plurality of software deployments but not to a second set of one or more software deployments of the plurality of software deployments;

wherein patch information identifying the particular patch is included in the end state definition;

wherein the particular patch is included in the image that includes the standard set of source components.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, further storing instructions that cause:

identifying a set of one or more patches that were not included in any of the plurality of software deployments;

adding patch information identifying the set of one or more patches that were not included in any of the plurality of software deployments to the end state definition.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the set of one or more patches that were not included in any of the plurality of software deployments are identified from generic patch recommendations from a service provider for a particular software application.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17,

wherein the set of one or more patches that were not included in any of the plurality of software deployments are identified from a set of one or more support tickets associated with at least one software deployment of the plurality of software deployments;

wherein the set of one or more patches includes at least one patch that is provided as a resolution for the set of one or more support tickets associated with the at least one software deployment of the plurality of software deployments.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, further storing instructions that cause:

selecting a reference software deployment from the plurality of software deployments;

wherein the image is generated based, at least in part, from the reference software deployment.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 20, wherein the reference software deployment includes the recommended standard set of source components.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 20, wherein instructions for generating the image comprise instructions for applying a set of one or more patches to a binary payload from the reference software deployment.

23. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, further storing instructions that cause:

updating at least one software deployment of the plurality of software deployments using the image;

wherein the at least one software deployment did not include the recommended set of source components before said updating;

wherein the at least one software deployment includes the recommended set of source components after said updating.

24. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the end state definition is selected based at least in part on a frequency of occurrence of the particular subsets of components among the plurality of software deployments.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the end state definition is selected based at least in part on a time that the particular subsets of software components were available to the plurality of software deployments.

26. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the end state definition is selected based at least in part on vendor-preferred software components that are available to the plurality of software deployments.