Model-based system provisioning

• US 7,792,931 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2005
• Issued: 09/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tabbara, Bassam, Mensching, Rob, Outhred, Geoffrey, Hunt, Galen C., Grealish, Kevin, Welland, Robert V., Vinberg, Anders B., Hydrie, Aamer
• Primary Examiner(s): BATES, KEVIN T
• Application Number:
  US11/077,265
• Publication Number:
  US 20060031248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,007 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221, 709/223, 703/21, 703/22, 715/733, 715/734, 715/736, 715/735, 717/104, 717/109, 717/107, 717/103
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3684 for test design, e.g. generating new test cases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3692 for test results analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• 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 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers

Abstract

Model-based system provisioning includes accessing a model of an application to be installed in a system and further accessing a model of the system. An installation specification for the application is also generated, the installation specification being derived at least in part from the model of the application and the model of the system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a model of an application to be installed in a system, the model of the application includes types and configurations that are standard types or configurations that are copied, modified, or newly created;

accessing a model of the system, the model of the system describes managing the system by installing software on the system, monitoring performance of the system, maintaining configuration information about the system, or verifying constraints within the system are satisfied;

comparing the model of the application to the model of the system using constraints for the system and other applications to allow verification that, if installed, settings made for the application would not conflict with current settings for other applications;

determining a physical deployment of the application to identify whether installation of the application on the system is permissible in light of the constraints;

evaluating the constraints and selecting one or more values to satisfy the constraints;

wherein installation of the application includes at least one of a manual identification by a system administrator to select a computing device or an automatic identification based on various characteristics of a computing device;

generating an installation specification for the application after verifying the application can be installed on the system, the installation specification generated is being derived at least in part from the model of the application to be installed on a computing device and the model of the system;

deploying the installation specification to a deployment system, wherein the installation specification provides information used to install the application; and

mapping of a class of a device to the installation specification, wherein the installation specification comprises a particular device class installation specification to use based on the class of the computing device;

in response to the mapping comprising at least one of;

generating and storing an assignment record of which particular device class installation specification to use based on the class of the device;

or

identifying a separate file having a file name for a particular class of device to be used for the particular device class installation specification.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising maintaining both the model of the application and the model of the system in a same system definition model.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the installation specification identifies a plurality of computing devices in the system on which the application is to be installed.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of device class installation specifications for the application, each of the plurality of device class installation specifications being for a different one of a plurality of classes of devices in the system on which the application could be installed.

5. A method as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

generating a record associating each of the plurality of device class installation specifications with one of the plurality of classes of devices.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the generating comprises:

accessing a constraint information page in the model of the application;

obtaining default values for settings from the constraint information page; and

including, in the installation specification, the default values to be stored as settings on a computing device of the system during installation of the application on the computing device.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the generating comprises:

accessing a constraint information page in the model of the application;

obtaining a default value for a setting from the constraint information page, wherein the default value identifies settings or configuration values that should be set when installing the application; and

if the default value conflicts with a constraint of one or more other components in the system, then determining a suitable value that is compliant with constraints for the setting and the constraint of the one or more other components in the system.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

performing, prior to generating the installation specification, a logical deployment evaluation to determine whether the application could be installed in the system, the performing comprising comparing constraints associated with the application to constraints associated with other applications installed in the system.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, prior to generating the installation specification, which one or more computing devices of a plurality of computing devices in the system the application is to be installed on.

10. One or more computer readable storage media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

generate an application installation specification for an application to be installed on one or more computing devices, the application installation specification being based at least in part on a model of the application and a model that includes the one or more computing devices;

wherein the model of the application includes types and configurations that are standard types or configurations that are copied, modified, or newly created;

wherein the model that includes the one or more computing devices describes managing the one or more computing devices comprises at least one of installing software on the one or more computing devices, monitoring performance of the one or more computing devices, maintaining configuration information about the one or more computing devices, or verifying that constraints within the one or more computing devices are satisfied;

map a class of a device to the application installation specification, wherein the application installation specification comprises a particular device class installation specification to use based on the class of the device;

in response to the mapping comprising at least one of;

generate and store an assignment record of which particular device class installation specification to use based on the class of the device;

or

identify a separate file having a file name for a particular class of device to be used for the particular device class installation specification;

compare the model of the application to the model of the one or more computing devices using constraints for the one or more computing devices and other applications to allow verification that, if installed, settings made for the application would not conflict with current settings for other applications;

access the constraints for an operating system and other applications to allow verification that settings made on the one or more computing devices would not conflict with current settings for other applications installed on the one or more computing devices;

determine a physical deployment of the application to identify whether installation of the application on the one or more computing devices is permissible in light of the constraints; and

evaluate the constraints and select one or more values to satisfy the constraints;

wherein installation of the application occurs by a manual identification to select a computing device or an automatic identification based on various characteristics of a computing device.

11. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the application installation specification identifies a plurality of computing devices on which the application is to be installed.

12. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

generate a plurality of device class installation specifications for the application, each of the plurality of device class installation specifications being for a different one of a plurality of classes of devices on which the application could be installed; and

include the plurality of device class installation specifications in the application installation specification.

13. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

generate a record associating each of the plurality of device class installation specifications with one of the plurality of classes of devices.

14. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein to generate the application installation specification is to:

access a constraint information page in the model of the application;

obtain default values for settings from the constraint information page; and

include, in the application installation specification, the default values to be stored as settings on the one or more computing devices during installation of the application on the one or more computing devices.

15. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

perform, prior to generation of the installation specification, a logical deployment evaluation to determine whether the application could be installed on the one or more computing devices, wherein to perform the logical deployment evaluation is to compare constraints associated with the application to constraints associated with other applications installed on the one or more computing devices.

16. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

identify, prior to generation of the installation specification, which of the one or more computing devices the application is to be installed on.

17. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, coupled to the processor, to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

access a model of an application to be installed in a system, the model of the application includes types and configurations that are standard types or configurations that are copied, modified, or newly created;

access a model of the system, the model of the system describes managing the system by installing software on the system, monitoring performance of the system, maintaining configuration information about the system, or verifying constraints within the system are satisfied;

compare the model of the application to the model of the system using constraints for the system and other applications to allow verification that, if installed, settings made for the application would not conflict with current settings for other applications;

access the constraints for an operating system and other applications to allow verification that settings made on the one or more computing devices would not conflict with current settings for other applications installed on the one or more computing devices;

determine a physical deployment of the application to identify whether installation of the application on the system is permissible in light of the constraints;

evaluate the constraints and select at least one or more values to satisfy the constraints;

wherein installation of the application occurs by a manual identification to select a computing device or a semi-automatic identification based on various characteristics of a computing device;

generate an installation specification for the application after verifying the application can be installed on the system, the installation specification being derived at least in part from the model of the application and the model of the system; and

map a class of a device to the installation specification, wherein the installation specification comprises a particular device class installation specification to use based on the class of the device;

in response to mapping comprising at least one of;

generate and store an assignment record of which particular device class installation specification to use based on the class of the device;

or

identify a separate file having a file name for a particular class of device to be used for the particular device class installation specification.

18. A computing device as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

generating a plurality of device class installation specifications for the application, each of the plurality of device class installation specifications being for a different one of a plurality of classes of devices in the system on which the application could be installed.

19. A computing device as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

generating a record associating each of the plurality of device class installation specifications with one of the plurality of classes of devices.

20. A computing device as recited in claim 17, wherein the generating comprises:

accessing a constraint information page in the model of the application;

obtaining default values for settings from the constraint information page; and

including, in the installation specification, the default values to be stored as settings on a computing device of the system during installation of the application on the computing device.