Multi-server control panel

• US 8,046,694 B1
• Filed: 08/07/2007
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GoGrid LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peterson, Nicholas F., Keagy, John Martin, Lappas, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William L
• Assistant Examiner(s): UM, DANIEL H
• Application Number:
  US11/834,761
• Time in Patent Office: 1,540 Days
• Field of Search: 715/740, 715/733, 715/734, 715/738, 715/735
• US Class Current: 715/740
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1224 Client or server resources management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a graphical user interface for receiving a server configuration (e.g., receiving a new configuration or a modification to an existing configuration). The graphical user interface (UI) includes several UI control elements for defining components of the server configuration. It also includes a display area for displaying graphical representations of the defined components of the server configuration. Examples of control elements in some embodiments include control elements for adding, deleting, and modifying servers. In some embodiments, at least one control element is displayed when a cursor control operation is performed on the UI. The cursor control operation (e.g., a right hand click operation) in some embodiments opens a display area that shows the control element. In some embodiments, at least two different components in the server configuration correspond to two different layers (e.g., a web server layer and a data storage layer) in the server configuration. The display area of some embodiments includes multiple tiers, where each tier is for displaying graphical representation of components in a particular layer of the server configuration. At least two tiers in some embodiments are displayed simultaneously in the display area.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for specifying a multi-layered system configuration of a set of virtual servers through a graphical user interface (GUI), the method comprising:

providing a set of user interface (UI) control elements for specifying the set of virtual servers for the multi-layered system configuration;

providing a first display area for displaying the multi-layered system configuration in a plurality of tier regions, wherein different tier regions are for displaying different subsets of the set of virtual servers that are in different layers of the multi-layered system configuration;

providing a first set of graphical items for representing a first subset of virtual servers that are web servers of the multi-layered system configuration in a first tier region of the plurality of tier regions;

providing a second set of graphical items for representing a second subset of virtual servers that are database servers of the multi-layered system configuration in a second tier region of the plurality of tier regions, the second tier region parallel to the first tier region;

providing a third set of graphical items for representing a third subset of virtual servers that are load balancers of the multi-layered system configuration in a third tier region of the plurality of tier regions, the third tier region parallel to the first and second tier regions;

receiving a selection of a graphical item that represents a particular virtual server in the set of virtual servers;

providing a UI control element for displaying a second display area that displays a virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the particular virtual server and a set of real IP addresses associated with the virtual IP address;

receiving a selection of the UI control element;

upon receiving the selection of the UI control element, providing the second display area;

providing the set of real IP addresses for display within the second display area, wherein a selection of a real IP address from the set of real IP addresses removes the real IP address from the set of real IP addresses that are associated with the virtual IP address; and

providing a selectable item that, when selected, starts an automated process that causes the set of virtual servers to be deployed onto a set of physical computers without human intervention.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a cursor over operation on the graphical item that represents the particular virtual server, wherein a third display area that overlaps the first display area and that provides data related to the particular virtual server is provided when the cursor over operation is received.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the data related to the particular virtual server comprises an amount for each resource of a set of resources that is allocated to the particular virtual server.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of UI control elements is a first set of UI control elements, the method further comprising providing a third display area for displaying a second set of UI control elements for performing a set of operations on the particular virtual server, wherein a UI control element of the second set of UI control elements is for performing a delete operation that deletes the particular virtual server from the multi-layered system configuration.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising providing a third display area for displaying (i) data indicating usage of resources by the multi-layered system configuration and (ii) data indicating an amount that is charged to a user of the multi-layered system configuration based on the usage of the resources by the multi-layered system configuration.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the set of UI control elements, the first display area, the second display area, and the third display area are provided in different sections of a single display for concurrent display.