MANAGING SERVICE INSTANCES

• US 20180329981A1
• Filed: 05/09/2017
• Published: 11/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: entIT Software LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Gupte, Prashant, Maes, Stephane Herman
• Granted Patent: US 10,346,443 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/043 Distributed expert systems; Blackboards
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

In some examples, information of a service instance provisioned or modified by a first system distinct from a management system is received, where the provisioning or modification of the service instance by the first system is initially unknown to the management system. As part of a binding phase, a model of the service instance is inferred. The management system manages a lifecycle of the service instance using the model and the policy.

Claims

1. A method executed by at least one processor, comprising:

as part of a discovery phase, receiving information of a service instance provisioned or modified by a first system distinct from a management system, wherein the provisioning or modification of the service instance by the first system is initially unknown to the management system;

as part of a binding phase, inferring a model representing the service instance, and

managing, by the management system, a lifecycle of the service instance using the model.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, as part of the binding phase, associating an action with the model, wherein managing the lifecycle of the service instance further uses the action.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein associating the action with the model comprises associating an application programming interface (API) that is useable by the management system to perform the action as part of the managing of the lifecycle of the service instance.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the action is a lifecycle action selected from among starting a service instance, moving a service instance, terminating a service instance, scaling operation of a service instance, monitoring a service instance, or managing a service instance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises one or both of monitoring the service instance and tracking the service instance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information of the service instance as part of the discovery phase comprises receiving, by the management system, the information from a source, based on the management system querying the source, subscribing to notifications from the source, pushing the information from the source to the management system, or polling the information from the source.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information of the service instance as part of the discovery phase comprises obtaining, by the management system, the information of the service instance from a discovery engine that gathers information of attributes of service instances and relationships between the service instances and components of the service instances.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information of the service instance as part of the discovery phase comprises obtaining the information of the service instance from an engine that tracks assets of an environment and produces information about service instances that are tracked and dependencies of service components of the service instances.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information of the service instance as part of the discovery phase comprises obtaining the information of the service instance from an analytics system that performs analysis of service instances in an environment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information of the service instance as part of the discovery phase comprises querying data from a configuration management database (CMDB).

11. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the CMDB is populated by an automated discovery system.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising, as part of a binding phase, associating a policy with the model, the policy indicating any one or a combination of the service instance to monitor or manage, an entity to notify during the managing of the lifecycle of the service instance, a cloud zone in which the service instance is to be placed, and updating of the service instance.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the binding phase further comprises associating a user or organization with the service instance.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein associating the user or the organization with the service instance comprises associating a permission for the user or the organization to access or manage the service instance.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user edit of the inferred model to perform one of;

adapt the model for a first environment to deploy the service instance in a different second environment, or

correct the model.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the management system is a cloud controller to manage a cloud, and wherein the provisioning of the service instance by the first system is responsive to delegation, by the cloud controller, of the provisioning or day-2 management to the first system.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first system that provisioned or modified the service instance is selected from among a cloud controller, a PaaS module, a container controller, a program, a tool, or a device responsive to user input.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that upon execution cause a system to:

receive information of a first service instance provisioned or modified by a provider system distinct from a management system, wherein the provisioning or modification of the service instance by the provider system is initially unknown to the management system;

as part of a binding phase,

infer a model representing service components of the service instance, and

associate a lifecycle action with an element or a group of elements of the model; and

use the management system to manage a lifecycle of the service instance using the model and the lifecycle action.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions upon execution cause the system to associate a policy with the model, the policy relating to monitoring or managing the service instance.

20. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the processor to;

as part of a discovery phase, receive information of a service instance provisioned or modified by a first system distinct from a cloud controller, wherein the provisioning or modification of the service instance by the first system is initially unknown to the management system;

as part of a binding phase,

infer a model of the service instance,

associate a policy with an element or group of elements of the model, and

associate a lifecycle action with an element or a group of elements of the model; and

use the cloud controller to manage a lifecycle of the service instance using the model, the policy, and the lifecycle action.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to present a user interface of a management portal to access or manage a service instance associated with the cloud controller.