Offline configuration tool for secure store administration

• US 7,707,504 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stoimenov, Javor G., Quang, Pham D., Petrova, Nina P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore; William L
• Assistant Examiner(s): KEATON, SHERROD L
• Application Number:
  US10/856,077
• Publication Number:
  US 20050268080A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,160 Days
• Field of Search: 715733-736, 713/1, 709/232
• US Class Current: 715/735
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14

Abstract

A system and method are provided for a configuration tool to administer a secure store file. In an embodiment, a front-end layer of the configuration tool displays a visual representation of one or more properties stored in a secure store file. The configuration tool may receive input identifying one of the displayed properties. In an embodiment, the configuration tool uses a logical task to set a value for the selected property in a data layer of the configuration tool.

Claims

1. A method employed within a network comprising:

operating a web-based application having a multi-tiered architecture including an application layer and a database layer, the application layer including a plurality of application server instances, the database layer including;

a database server having a database to store cluster configuration information providing a central definition of a cluster including the database and the plurality of application server instances, and

a secure store file to store one or more database connection parameters;

for each of the plurality of application server instances,

the application server instance retrieving a respective database connection parameter in the secure store file, and

the application server instance connecting to the database based on the retrieved respective database connection parameter;

with a display, displaying in a front-end layer of a configuration tool a hierarchical visual representation of the cluster configuration information and a respective connection parameter of one of the application server instances stored in the secure store file;

receiving via the front-end layer of the configuration tool input identifying the displayed connection parameter and the displayed cluster configuration information;

in response to the received input, providing a batch of tasks to a logic layer of the configuration tool, including providing a key-value pair corresponding to the identified connection parameter and a second key-value pair corresponding to the identified configuration information, the first key-value pair including a parameter key to identify the identified connection parameter and a parameter value to specify a value of the identified connection parameter;

the logic layer of the configuration tool performing the provided batch of tasks, including

setting a value in the secure store file for the identified connection parameter, and

setting a value in the database for the identified configuration information; and

wherein the configuration tool is an offline configuration tool configured to operate while the one or more application server instances are not running.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a visual representation of the connection parameter comprises:

displaying the connection parameter in a table, the table having a key column listing one or more parameter keys, each parameter key to identify a connection parameter and a value column listing one or more parameter values, each parameter value to specify a current value for a connection parameter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving input identifying the displayed connection parameters comprises:

receiving input identifying one of the displayed connection parameters from a cursor control device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the hierarchical visual representation includes displaying a hierarchical tree structure having one or more tree nodes, each of the one or more tree nodes representing a resource of the plurality of application servers, wherein at least one of the tree nodes represents the secure store file, the method further comprising:

receiving input identifying the displayed secure store tree node.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein displaying the hierarchical visual representation comprises:

displaying a hierarchical visual representation of one or more connection parameters responsive to receiving input identifying the displayed secure store tree node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the displayed connection parameters include at least one of:

a database Uniform Resource Locator (URL) property specifying a URL for connecting to a database; and

a database password property specifying a password for connecting to the database.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein setting the value for the identified connection parameter comprises:

setting the database URL property.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein setting the value for the identified connection parameter comprises:

setting the database password property.

9. A configuration tool for administering a secure store file, the configuration tool comprising:

a memory device in a database layer of a multi-tiered web application architecture including an application layer to operate on data in the database layer, the database layer including a database server having a database to store cluster configuration information, the memory device having a secure store file accessible by a plurality of application server instances of the application layer, each of the plurality of application server instances to retrieve a respective database connection parameter in the secure store file, each of the application server instances further to connect to the database based on the retrieved respective database connection parameter;

a front-end layer executing with computer hardware to display in a user interface a hierarchical visual representation of the cluster configuration information and a respective connection parameter of one of the application server instances stored in the secure store file, the front-end layer further to receive via the user interface an input identifying the displayed connection parameter and the displayed cluster configuration information, and in response to the received input, the front-end layer further to generate a batch of tasks including a first key-value pair corresponding to the identified connection parameter and a second key-value pair corresponding to the identified configuration information, the first key-value pair including a parameter key to identify the identified connection parameter and a parameter value to specify a value of the identified connection parameter;

a logic layer of the configuration tool executing with computer hardware to receive the batch of tasks from the front-end layer, the logic layer further to perform the provided batch of tasks, including

setting a value in the secure store file for the identified connection parameter, and

setting a value in the database for the identified configuration information; and

wherein the configuration tool is an offline configuration tool configured to operate while the one or more application server instances are not running.

10. The configuration tool of claim 9, wherein the batch of tasks comprises at least one of:

a set database Uniform Resource Locator task to specify a (URL) for connecting to a database; and

a set database password task to specify a password for connecting to the database.

11. The configuration tool of claim 9, wherein the hierarchical visual representation comprises a hierarchical tree structure having one or more tree nodes, each of the one or more tree nodes representing a resource of the plurality of application servers, wherein at least one of the tree nodes represents the secure store file;

and

wherein upon selecting the tree node representing the secure store file, a list of one or more secure store properties is displayed in the graphical user interface.

12. The configuration tool of claim 11, wherein each of the one or more listed secure store properties comprises:

a key field to identify a property; and

a value field to specify a current value a the property.

13. An article of manufacture comprising:

an electronically accessible storage medium providing instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to

operate a web-based application having a multi-tiered architecture including an application layer and a database layer, the application layer including a plurality of application server instances, the database layer including

a database server having a database to store cluster configuration information providing a central definition of a cluster including the database and the plurality of application server instances, and

a secure store file to store one or more database connection parameters;

for each of the plurality of application server instances,

retrieve with the application server instance a respective database connection parameter in the secure store file, and

connect the application server instance to the database based on the retrieved respective database connection parameter;

display in a front-end layer of a configuration tool a hierarchical visual representation of the cluster configuration information and a respective connection parameter of one of the application server instances stored in the secure store file;

receive via the front-end layer of the configuration tool input identifying the displayed connection parameter and the displayed cluster configuration information;

in response to the received input, provide a batch of tasks to a logic layer of the configuration tool, including providing a key-value pair corresponding to the identified connection parameter and a second key-value pair corresponding to the identified configuration information, the first key-value pair including a parameter key to identify the identified connection parameter and a parameter value to specify a value of the identified connection parameter;

perform the provided batch of tasks with the logic layer of the configuration tool, including

setting a value in the secure store file for the identified connection parameter, and

setting a value in the database for the identified configuration information; and

wherein the configuration tool is an offline configuration tool configured to operate while the one or more application server instances are not running.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the hierarchical visual representation includes a hierarchical tree structure having one or more tree nodes, each of the one or more tree nodes representing a resource of the plurality of application servers, wherein at least one of the tree nodes represents the secure store file;

and wherein the instructions, when executed by the apparatus, further cause the apparatus to

receive input identifying the displayed secure store tree node.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to display the visual representation of one or more connection parameters cause the apparatus to

display the visual representation of one or more connection parameters responsive to receiving input identifying the displayed secure store tree node.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the displayed connection parameters include at least one of:

a database Uniform Resource Locator (URL) property specifying a URL for connecting to a database; and

a database password property specifying a password for connecting to the database.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to set the value for the identified connection parameter cause the apparatus to

set the database password property.