SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SUPPORTING PATCHING IN A MULTITENANT APPLICATION SERVER ENVIRONMENT

• US 20170192772A1
• Filed: 03/22/2017
• Published: 07/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Abhijit, Lindholm, Jacob, Dorr, Josh, Kasso, Christopher, Balasubramanyam, Yamini K., Liu, Steven, Islam, Nazrul, Mordani, Rajiv
• Granted Patent: US 10,318,280 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1482 by means of middleware or OS functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2041 with more than one idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• 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

In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for supporting patching in a multi-tenant application server environment. The system can associate one or more partitions with a tenant, for use by that tenant, wherein a partition is a runtime and administrative subdivision or slice of a domain. A patching process can take advantage of high-availability features provided by an application server clustering environment, to apply patches in a controlled, rolling restart, which maintains a domain'"'"'s ability to operate without interruption, or with zero downtime. The process can be used to automate complex or long running tasks, including preserving an unpatched or prior version of an application server, application, or other software component for possible rollback, or providing automatic reversion in the event of an unrecoverable error.

Claims

1. A system for supporting patching in a multitenant application server environment, comprising:

at least one computer and an application server environment executing thereon;

a plurality of managed server instances that operate within the application server environment as part of a domain that supports at least one or a plurality of partitions,

wherein each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, provides a subdivision of the domain that provides a runtime for use by that partition, and

wherein the system enables each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, to be associated with a tenant of the multitenant application server environment, for use by that tenant; and

wherein the system uses a patching process that is performed by the application server environment, to update the plurality of managed server instances in a controlled manner that maintains operations of the domain without interruption, including;

creating a patched home directory, and

performing a rollout of the patched home directory to the plurality of managed server instances, including for each managed server instance;

shutting down the managed server instance,

updating the managed server instance to use an instance of the patched home directory, and

restarting the managed server instance to cause the managed server instance to be updated according to the instance of the patched home directory.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a traffic director that is configured for use with the multitenant application server environment including that, when a particular managed server of the plurality of managed server instances becomes unavailable, the traffic director receives a message indicative of the particular managed server being unavailable, and attempts to contact another managed server of the plurality of managed server instances.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a patch database that includes information for a plurality of versions of at least one application server, application, or other component;

wherein the system enables different partitions to be at least one of migrated or patched at different times.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more resource groups, which include groupings of deployable resources for use by a partition within a domain, including that each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, includes at least one resource group for use by that partition.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a node manager which supports patching within the multitenant application server environment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is provided within a cloud environment, to support multiple tenants operating within the cloud environment.

7. A method for supporting patching in a multitenant application server environment, comprising:

executing, on at least one computer, an application server environment, together with a plurality of managed server instances that operate within the application server environment as part of a domain that supports at least one or a plurality of partitions,

wherein each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, provides a subdivision of the domain that provides a runtime for use by that partition, and

wherein the system enables each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, to be associated with a tenant of the multitenant application server environment, for use by that tenant; and

performing a patching process to update the plurality of managed server instances in a controlled manner that maintains operations of the domain without interruption, including;

creating a patched home directory, and

performing a rollout of the patched home directory to the plurality of managed server instances, including for each managed server instance;

shutting down the managed server instance,

updating the managed server instance to use an instance of the patched home directory, and

restarting the managed server instance to cause the managed server instance to be updated according to the instance of the patched home directory.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing a traffic director that is configured for use with the multitenant application server environment including that, when a particular managed server of the plurality of managed server instances becomes unavailable, the traffic director receives a message indicative of the particular managed server being unavailable, and attempts to contact another managed server of the plurality of managed server instances.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing a patch database that includes information for a plurality of versions of at least one application server, application, or other component;

wherein the system enables different partitions to be at least one of migrated or patched at different times.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing one or more resource groups, which include groupings of deployable resources for use by a partition within a domain, including that each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, includes at least one resource group for use by that partition.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing a node manager which supports patching within the multitenant application server environment.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the method is provided within a cloud environment, to support multiple tenants operating within the cloud environment.

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

executing, on at least one computer, an application server environment, together with a plurality of managed server instances that operate within the application server environment as part of a domain that supports at least one or a plurality of partitions,

wherein each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, provides a subdivision of the domain that provides a runtime for use by that partition, and

wherein the system enables each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, to be associated with a tenant of the multitenant application server environment, for use by that tenant; and

performing a patching process to update the plurality of managed server instances in a controlled manner that maintains operations of the domain without interruption, including;

creating a patched home directory, and

performing a rollout of the patched home directory to the plurality of managed server instances, including for each managed server instance;

shutting down the managed server instance,

updating the managed server instance to use an instance of the patched home directory, and

restarting the managed server instance to cause the managed server instance to be updated according to the instance of the patched home directory.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising providing a traffic director that is configured for use with the multitenant application server environment including that, when a particular managed server of the plurality of managed server instances becomes unavailable, the traffic director receives a message indicative of the particular managed server being unavailable, and attempts to contact another managed server of the plurality of managed server instances.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

providing a patch database that includes information for a plurality of versions of at least one application server, application, or other component;

wherein the system enables different partitions to be at least one of migrated or patched at different times.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising providing one or more resource groups, which include groupings of deployable resources for use by a partition within a domain, including that each partition, of the at least one or the plurality of partitions, includes at least one resource group for use by that partition.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising providing a node manager which supports patching within the multitenant application server environment.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the method is provided within a cloud environment, to support multiple tenants operating within the cloud environment.