Generation of configuration instructions using an abstraction technique

• US 7,496,890 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2003
• Issued: 02/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Miller, Matthew E., Lewis, Michael D., Chamberlin, Bruce L., Blackmore, Shaun H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam; Tuan Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wei; Zheng
• Application Number:
  US10/611,688
• Publication Number:
  US 20040268298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,066 Days
• Field of Search: 717106-109, 717/120, 717/121
• US Class Current: 717/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

A definition module generates configuration instructions used to build one or more machines. The definition module generates the configuration instructions by drawing from a generic library of configuration objects having a variety of attributes and parameters associated therewith. A pre-established template defines how the information provided in the library is organized to build groups of machines. An inheritance mechanism is provided for automatically resolving unspecified parameter values by searching through a hierarchy of objects to determine the unspecified values. The definition module includes a graphical user interface having a tree display section for displaying a hierarchical tree of objects associated with the configuration instructions, a parameter display section for displaying parameters associated with the objects in the tree display section, and a properties display section for displaying properties associated with objects in the tree display section or the parameters in the parameter display section. The configuration instructions can be easily consolidated into packages and transferred from one site to another, or downloaded from a central site.

Claims

1. A system for generating configuration instructions to build a programmable machine that transfers the programmable machine from a generic machine into a specific machine that serves a specified role, comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory;

a build management logic configured to automate building by interacting with a library that is in a standardized and a generic form, wherein the generic form allows common building blocks to represent many different configuration options,

wherein the library comprising;

a plurality of objects representing aspects of a configuration process for a specific collection of programmable machines;

a plurality of parameters associated with respective objects, wherein at least one of the parameters includes an unspecified value for the generic form; and

the plurality of objects having attributes of an internal identification assigned to an object, a name assigned to the object, a description of the object, a version number of the object, an individual authorized to perform action on the object, an ID assigned to an owner of the object, and a parent of the object;

wherein the build management logic configured to;

specify a set of objects from the library to implement the configuration of the programmable machine, and to generate the configuration instructions from the set of objects;

interact with a database, wherein the database includes packages which are collections of objects in the database assembled to be transferred from a site to another site;

interact with a template storage providing templates, wherein the templates provide a skeleton representation of a machine or a group of machines and the templates may be exported and transferred to other sites to generate configuration instructions at the other sites;

determine the unspecified value when generating configuration instructions for the specific combination of programmable machines; and

the unspecified value is resolved by the build management logic looking to a next higher node in a site tree to determine whether that node can resolve the unspecified value, wherein the site tree is a hierarchical organization of objects in the library that are representative of machines to be configured at the site; and

provide a user interface to manage data assignment for the specific collection of programmable machines, wherein the user interface accepts input and returns output; and

an automatic purposing logic configured to provide functionality for manipulating a collection of scripts and associated parameters that are assembled to create the configuration instructions as the output of the user interface.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the set of objects from the library have a hierarchical order, and wherein the at least one parameter that includes the unspecified value is associated with an object located at a defined level within the hierarchal order.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the build management logic is configured to determine the unspecified value by determining the value from an object that is higher in the hierarchical order than the defined level.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter that includes the unspecified value comprises an expression that identifies a location to determine the value, and wherein the build management logic is configured to specify the value by accessing the location specified in the expression.

5. A computer readable storage medium executed on a computing device having data structures and machine readable instructions for implementing the library and the build management logic of claim 1.

6. A system for generating configuration instructions used to build a programmable machine that transfers the programmable machine from a generic machine into a specific machine that serves a specified role, comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory;

a build management logic configured to automate building by interacting with a library, wherein building blocks in the library form a hierarchical organization of objects that are representative of machines to be configured at a site,

wherein the hierarchical organization of objects represents a relationship between different features of the machines, wherein a topmost object represents an aggregate of machines to be configured at the site; and

the hierarchical organization of objects provides root objects for a root site, a collection of vendors, a collection of top level operating systems, and a collection of top level machine functions;

wherein the library having building blocks to provide configuration instructions for a specific collection of machines, grouping the building blocks into different categories, objects pertaining to different available vendors, the objects pertaining to different operating systems, the objects pertaining to different machine functions, and the objects related to stages and each of the stages includes multiple phases involved in configuring machines; and

the library having generic objects representing aspects of a configuration process, wherein the generic form allows common building blocks to represent many different configuration options; and

a template providing;

a framework representing the programmable machine in combination with information in the library to reconstruct a description of the programmable machine;

a standardized framework for passing information from one machine to another; and

a pointer to a phase list which comprises multiple phases so a receiving site can reconstitute phases based on a local library at the site; and

the build management logic configured to generate the configuration instructions used to build the programmable machine by organizing the generic objects in the library based on a the framework established by the template;

the build management logic configured to cull a subset of information from a database and organize information into a package to transfer from the site to another site, wherein the database stores a collection of objects that allow a user to manage parameter information and determine at least one unspecified value of the parameter associated with the objects by looking to a next higher node in the hierarchical organization of objects; and

the build management logic is further configured to provide a user interface displaying predetermined templates to accept input in response to the predetermined templates.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the template is expressed in a markup language and has a form defined by a schema.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the build management logic is configured to transfer the template to another user, or receive the template from the other user.

9. The system according to claim 6, wherein the build management logic is configured to transfer the template to a head-end site, or receive the template from the head-end site.

10. The system according to claim 6, wherein the build management logic is configured to encapsulate information obtained from the library and the template in a package, and to transfer the package to another site.

11. The system according to claim 6, wherein the build management logic is configured to generate a plurality of sets of configuration instructions to build a respective plurality of programmable machines.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the build management logic is configured to generate a synchronization file that specifies a manner in which the configuration of each machine in the plurality of programmable machines impacts other machines within the plurality of programmable machines.

13. A computer readable storage medium executed on a computing device having data structures and machine readable instructions for implementing the library and build management logic of claim 6.

14. A system for generating configuration instructions used to build a programmable machine that transfers the programmable machine from a generic machine into a specific machine that serves a specified role, comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory;

a build management logic configured to automate building by interacting with a library, wherein the library includes building blocks to provide configuration instructions for a specific collection of machines, grouping the building blocks into different categories, objects pertaining to different available vendors, the objects pertaining to different operating systems, the objects pertaining to different machine functions, and the objects related to stages and each of stages includes multiple phases involved in configuring machines, the build management logic further configured to specify a set of objects from the library to implement the configuration of the programmable machine, and configured to generate the configuration instructions from the set of objects;

wherein, the library comprising;

a plurality of generic objects representing aspects of a configuration process for the programmable machine; and

a plurality of parameters associated with respective generic objects;

a template providing a framework in combination with the library to reconstruct a description of the programmable machine, a standardized framework for passing information from one machine to another machine; and

a pointer to a phase list which comprises multiple phases so a receiving site can reconstitute the phases based on the library at the site;

and

a user interface configured to allow a user to interact with the build management logic, wherein the user interface displays predetermined templates to accept input in response to the predetermined templates.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the user interface further includes a tree display section configured to display objects organized as a hierarchical tree.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the user interface further includes a parameter display section configured to display information pertaining to parameters that are associated with at least one of the objects in the tree display section.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the user interface further includes a properties display section configured to display properties of at least one of the objects in the tree display section or at least one parameter in the parameter display section.

18. The system according to claim 14, wherein the build management logic includes logic configured to display ownership information associated with at least one object, wherein the ownership information determines a user'"'"'s ability to perform actions on the at least one object.

19. The system according to claim 14, wherein the build management logic includes logic configured to display version information associated with information stored in the library.

20. The system according claim 14, wherein the build management logic further includes logic configured to restrict a user'"'"'s right to manipulate information stored in the library based on the user'"'"'s membership in one of a plurality of groups.

21. The system according to claim 14, wherein the build management logic includes logic configured to apply validation rules to the entry of parameter information to determine whether the entered parameter information meets predetermined criteria.

22. A method for generating configuration instructions used to build a programmable machine that transfers the programmable machine from a generic machine into a specific machine that serves a specified role, comprising:

a build management logic configured to automate building by interacting with a library, wherein the library having;

a plurality of objects representing aspects of a configuration process for a specific collection of programmable machines, wherein the plurality of objects having attributes of an internal identification assigned to an object, a name assigned to the object, a description of the object, a version number of the object, an individual authorized to perform action on the object, an identifier assigned to an owner of the object, and a parent of the object; and

a plurality of parameters associated with respective objects, wherein at least one of the parameters includes an unspecified value, wherein the unspecified value is resolved by the build management logic looking to a next higher node in a site tree to determine whether that node can resolve the unspecified value, wherein the site tree is a hierarchical organization of the plurality of objects;

specifying a set of objects from the library to implement the configuration of the programmable machine;

generating the configuration instructions from the set of objects for the specific combination of programmable machines, including determining the value of the unspecified value;

providing packages which are collections of objects in a database assembled together as a single file to be transferred from a site to another site;

providing a template to provide a skeleton representation of a machine or a group of machines and the template may be exported and transferred to other sites to generate configuration instructions at the other sites;

filling out the template that governs an organization and a nature of the group of machines;

filling out the template that governs a makeup of individual machines in the group of machines;

and

providing a user interface by the build management logic to manage data assignment for the specific collection of programmable machines, wherein the user interface accepts input and returns output, wherein the output is the configuration instructions for the specific collection of programmable machines.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the set of objects from the library have a hierarchical order, and wherein the at least one parameter that includes the unspecified value is associated with an object located at a defined level within the hierarchal order.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the determining of the value comprises determining the value from an object that is higher in the hierarchical order than the defined level.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the at least one parameter that includes the unspecified value comprises an expression that identifies a location to determine the value, and wherein the determining of the value comprises accessing the location specified in the expression.

26. A computer readable storage medium executed on a computing device having data structures and machine readable instructions for implementing the method of claim 22.

27. A method for generating configuration instructions used to build a programmable machine that transfers the programmable machine from a generic machine into a specific machine that serves a specified role, comprising:

providing a library having generic objects representing aspects of a configuration process for a specific collection of programmable machines;

building blocks in the library form a hierarchical organization of objects that are representative of machines to be configured at a site, wherein the hierarchical organization of objects represents a relationship between different features of the machines, wherein a topmost object represents an aggregate of machines to be configured at the site, and provides root objects for a root site, a collection of vendors, a collection of top level operating systems, and a collection of top level machine functions;

wherein the building blocks provide configuration instructions for a specific collection of machines, grouping the building blocks into different categories, objects pertaining to different available vendors, the objects pertaining to different operating systems, the objects pertaining to different machine functions, and the objects related to stages and each of the stages includes multiple phases involved in configuring machines;

providing a template, wherein the template to give a skeleton representation of a machine or a group of machines and the templates may be exported and transferred to other sites to generate configuration instructions at the other sites;

determining the value of the unspecified value for the object by looking to a next higher node in hierarchical organization of the objects to resolve the unspecified value;

generating configuration instructions used to build the programmable machine by organizing the generic objects in the library based on a framework established by the template;

wherein generating configuration instructions for the specific combination of programmable machines established by the template;

providing packages which are collections of objects in a database that are assembled as a single file to be transferred from a site to another site;

providing a user interface to manage data assignment for the specific collection of programmable machines, wherein the user interface accepts input and returns output, wherein the output is the configuration instructions for the specific collection of programmable machines.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the template is expressed in a markup language and has a form defined by a schema.

29. The method according to claim 27, further comprising transferring the template to another user, or receiving the template from the other user.

30. The method according to claim 27, further comprising transferring the template to a head-end site, or receiving the template from the head-end site.

31. The method according to claim 27, further comprising:

encapsulating information obtained from the library and the template in a package; and

transferring the package to another site.

32. The method according to claim 27, further comprising generating a plurality of sets of configuration instructions to build a respective plurality of programmable machines.

33. The method according to claim 32, further comprising generating a synchronization file that specifies a manner in which the configuration of each machine in the plurality of programmable machines impacts other machines within the plurality of programmable machines.

34. A computer readable storage medium executed on a computing device having data structures and machine readable instructions for implementing the method of claim 27.