Settings and constraints validation to enable design for operations

• US 7,765,501 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2004
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Torone, Alexander, Outhred, Geoffrey, Gibson, William E., Noble, David S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chiang; Jack
• Assistant Examiner(s): Memula; Suresh
• Application Number:
  US10/809,088
• Publication Number:
  US 20050251783A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,315 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/200, 716/5, 717/126
• US Class Current: 716/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques

Abstract

Systems and methods for designing systems that include computer applications hosted on hosting environments are disclosed. The hosting environments are modeled to include hosting environment settings and constraints placed on applications. The applications are also modeled to include application settings and constraints placed on the hosting environments. Hosting environment and application models are then used to validate designs by confirming that settings are in compliance with the constraints.

Claims

1. A method of designing a system, utilizing a computer system comprising a processor and system memory, that includes a computer application hosted on a hosting environment, the method comprising:

(a) during development phase of the system via the computer system, modeling a particular hosting environment including

(1) configuring hosting environment settings for the particular hosting environment, and

(2) identifying one or more device-specific constraints that are imposed by the hosting environment on prospective applications to be hosted on the particular hosting environment;

(b) during development phase of the system, modeling a particular application including

(1) configuring application settings for the particular application, and

(2) identifying constraints imposed by the particular application on a prospective hosting environment of the particular application; and

(c) during development phase of the system, validating the design of the system by

(1) comparing the hosting environment settings to the constraints imposed by the particular application, and

(2) comparing the application settings to the device-specific constraints imposed by the hosting environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the constraints imposed by the particular application or the hosting environment include configuration parameters.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein (c) comprises:

analyzing the application settings to determine whether the application settings satisfy the constraints imposed by the hosting environment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein (c) comprises:

analyzing the hosting environment settings to determine whether the hosting environment settings satisfy the constraints imposed by the application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular hosting environment comprises a distributed computing system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular hosting environment comprises a plurality of server computers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular hosting environment comprises a logical computer workstation.

8. The method of claim 1, further including after (c):

(d) displaying on a display device a list of constraint conditions that are not satisfied.

9. The method of claim 8, further including:

(e) displaying a link in the list of constraint conditions that are not satisfied that links a condition in the list to a diagram that illustrates the condition.

10. The method of claim 1, further including after (c):

displaying on a display device an error icon when a constraint is not satisfied.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises creating a system definition model document

12. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises creating a system definition model document.

13. A design tool for validating application and hosting environment settings and constraints, the design tool comprising:

a module for modeling a particular application during development phase of the application by

setting application settings for the particular application, and

receiving a user designation of one or more constraints imposed by the particular application on a prospective hosting environment of the particular application;

a module for modeling a particular hosting environment during development phase of the application by

setting configurable hosting environment settings for the particular hosting environment, and

receiving a user designation of one or more device-specific constraints that are imposed by the hosting environment on prospective applications to be hosted on the particular hosting environment model; and

a validation module that performs at least one of the following during development phase of the application;

determining whether the application settings satisfy the device-specific constraints imposed by the hosting environment, and

determining whether the hosting environment settings satisfy the constraints imposed by the particular application.

14. The design tool of claim 13, wherein the validation module determines instances where the application settings do not satisfy the device-specific constraints imposed by the hosting environment.

15. The design tool of claim 13, wherein the validation module determines instances where the hosting environment settings do not satisfy the constraints imposed by the particular application.

16. The design tool of claim 13, wherein the particular hosting environment comprises a distributed computing system.

17. A method of identifying configuration errors for an application bound to a hosting environment during development phase of the application, the method comprising:

(a) displaying application elements in a first region of a user interface screen;

(b) displaying hosting environment elements in a second region of the user interface screen, at least one of the hosting environment elements representing a device in the hosting environment;

(c) in response to a command from a user, moving elements from the first region to locations in the second region to bind application elements to hosting environment elements;

(d) receiving during development phase of the application via a design tool a user-designated hosting environment constraint imposed on the application or a user-designated application constraint imposed on the hosting environment;

(e) using the design tool to validate the design during development phase of the application by analyzing application and hosting environment settings to determine whether the settings satisfy hosting environment and application constraints, respectively, including the user-designated constraint; and

(e) displaying during development phase of the application both validation errors in a third region of the user interface screen as well a link to each hosting environment element that failed validation.