System and method providing single application image

• US 7,681,179 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2005
• Issued: 03/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Multerer, Boyd C., Schliiter, Kent S., Dillingham, Lara N., Sleeman, Martin J., Sprague, Roger W., Travison, Daniel T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wu; Junchun
• Application Number:
  US11/063,425
• Publication Number:
  US 20050235273A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,848 Days
• Field of Search: 717/120
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order

Abstract

A system and method is provided that facilitates the administration of an application in accordance with the present invention. The system includes a resource identifier that identifies resources associated with the application and a manifest that logs the resources. An aggregator is provided that aggregates a subset of the resources into the manifest to facilitate administration of the application. The aggregator can be provided by a user interface and/or an automated builder. A graphical user interface is also provided to facilitate deployment, creation and enumeration of the application.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media containing computer-executable instructions that administers an application comprising:

defining an application identifier;

locating one or more resources associated with the application to record in a manifest of the associated resources, the resources including data structures, configuration settings, files, directories, directory substructures, pointers, identifiers to other resources, or others;

combining the one or more resources and application identifier into an application image that includes a service level agreement to manage the application image performance;

extending the application image by subsequently combining a new application resource with the existing application image, the new application resource adding a new utility to the application and is managed under the existing application image;

nesting a separate application image within the existing application image; and

associating a monitoring component with the existing application image, wherein the monitoring component provides an enumerated display of the resources that includes at least one of a flat display, or hierarchical display of the resources, or any combination thereof.

2. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the application identifier is a globally unique identifier.

3. The computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising replicating the application image to one or more members of a distributed computing network.

4. The computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising nesting the application image into a subsequent application image.

5. The computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising adding and removing the application image resources with user interface input.

6. The computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising operating upon the application image in a hierarchical manner by displaying resources in directory and subdirectory relationships.

7. The computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising combining the resources into a manifest.

8. The computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising associating at least one of a deployment policy or a bandwidth policy with the application image, or any combination thereof.

9. The computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the deployment policy and bandwidth policy are included within the application image.

10. A method for administration of an application, comprising:

employing a processor that executes computer executable code stored in memory to effect the following;

defining an application identifier;

locating one or more resources associated with the application to record in a manifest of the associated resources, the resources including data structures, configuration settings, files, directories, directory substructures, pointers, identifiers to other resources, or others;

combining the resources and application identifier into an application image that includes a service level agreement that manages the application image performance;

subsequently adding utilities within the application image by adding a new application resource to the application image, wherein the application image that includes the additional utilities is manageable as a single entity;

nesting a separate application image within the existing application image; and

associating a monitoring component with the existing application image, wherein the monitoring component provides an enumerated display of the resources that includes at least one of a flat display, or hierarchical display of the resources, or any combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein combining is accomplished by at least one of a user interface, an automated builder, or any combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising combining the resources into a manifest, wherein the manifest is at least one of consumable, manageable, or any combination thereof to administer the application.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the service level agreement provides rules for at least one of operation, execution, or lifetime of the application, or any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

bundling the application image and another application image with a deployment policy; and

associating a stager that utilizes the deployment policy to configure the bundled application images to be deployed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the deployment policy determines a location within a computer system or distributed computing network to deploy the bundled application images.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising associating a bandwidth policy with the application image, wherein the bandwidth policy enables the application to determine available resources.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the bandwidth policy further enables the application to monitor the application utilization and regulate the amount of available resources executing the application in accordance with the application utilization.

18. A system for managing and administering an application comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, the processor executing computer-executable instructions configured to;

define an application identifier;

locate one or more resources related to an application to record in a manifest of the related resources, the resources include data structures, configuration settings, files, directories, directory substructures, pointers, identifiers to other resources, or objects;

aggregate the one or more resources into an extensible application image;

extend the application image by adding a new application resource to the application, the new resource adds a new utility to the application and is managed under the existing application image;

nest a separate application image within the existing application image; and

associate a monitoring component with the existing application image, wherein the monitoring component provides an enumerated display of the resources that includes at least one of a flat display, or hierarchical display of the resources, or any combination thereof.