Method and apparatus for updating application servers

• US 8,140,644 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2005
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hagale, Anthony Richard, Hasti, Srinivas, Rozich, Ryan, Williamson, Paul Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dustin
• Application Number:
  US11/065,539
• Publication Number:
  US 20060190581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,581 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-223, 709/203, 709/226, 709/229, 709/205, 717169-171, 707/203, 714/15, 370/395.2, 725/132
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/505 Clust
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066

Abstract

An improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for managing a set of servers. Responsive to an indication that an alteration of applications on the set of servers providing a service is to occur, a first group of servers and a second group of servers are created from the set of servers. The first group is designated for handling ongoing sessions with unaltered applications. The applications in the second group are altered. A server from the first group is transitioned to the second group as ongoing sessions handled in the first group decrease in number to form a transitioned server, wherein the alteration of the applications are performed without interrupting the service.

Claims

1. A method for managing a set of servers, the method comprising:

responsive to an indication that an alteration of an application on the set of servers providing a service is to occur, creating a first group of servers and a second group of servers from the set of servers, wherein the first group of servers is designated for handling ongoing sessions with an unaltered application;

altering the application on the second group of servers; and

transitioning a server from the first group of servers to the second group of servers as ongoing sessions handled in the first group of servers decrease in number to form a transitioned server, wherein the alteration of the application is performed without interrupting the service.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

directing requests in ongoing sessions to the first group of servers; and

directing requests for new sessions to the second group of servers after the alteration has occurred.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

monitoring all servers in the first group of servers to determine if a given server in the first group of servers has become free; and

responsive to the given server becoming free, altering the application on the given server and then transitioning the given server from the first group of servers to the second group of servers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the directing steps are performed by a traffic scheduler.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the traffic scheduler maintains a list identifying users of the unaltered application that is used to direct requests.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the directing steps are performed by a router examining a server identifier located in each request.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the server identifier is located within a session identifier that identifies one of the sessions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the alteration is an upgrade of the application in which a manner in which the application handles session data changes.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein users with current sessions that are open at the time of the upgrade are unable to use the upgrade of the application.

10. A data processing system for managing a set of servers, the data processing system comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU), a computer readable memory, and a computer readable storage device;

first instructions, responsive to an indication that an alteration of an application on the set of servers providing a service is to occur, to create a first group of servers and a second group servers from the set of servers, wherein the first group of servers is designated for handling ongoing sessions with an unaltered application;

second instructions to alter the application on the second group of servers; and

third instructions to transition a server from the first group of servers to the second group of servers as ongoing sessions handled in the first group of servers decrease in number to form a transitioned server, wherein the alteration of the application is performed without interrupting the service; and

wherein

the first, second and third instructions are stored on the computer readable storage device for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

11. The data processing system of claim 10 further comprising:

fourth instructions to direct requests in ongoing sessions to the first group of servers; and

fifth instructions to direct requests for new sessions to the second group of servers after the alteration has occurred.

12. The data processing system of claim 11, further comprising:

sixth instructions to monitor all servers in the first group of servers to determine if a given server in the first group of servers has become free; and

seventh instructions, responsive to the given server becoming free, to alter the application on the given server and then transition the given server from the first group of servers to the second group of servers.

13. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the fourth instructions and the fifth instructions are located in a traffic scheduler.

14. A computer program product embodied in a computer readable storage-type media for managing a set of servers, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions, responsive to an indication that an alteration of an application on the set of servers providing a service is to occur, to create a first group of servers and a second group of servers from the set of servers, wherein the first group of servers is designated for handling ongoing sessions with an unaltered application;

second instructions to alter the application on the second group of servers; and

third instructions to transition a server from the first group of servers to the second group of servers as ongoing sessions handled in the first group of servers decrease in number to form a transitioned server, wherein the alteration of the application is performed without interrupting the service.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 further comprising:

fourth instructions to direct requests in ongoing sessions to the first group of servers; and

fifth instructions to direct requests for new sessions to the second group of servers after the alteration has occurred.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 further comprising:

sixth instructions to monitor all servers in the first group of servers to determine if a given server in the first group of servers has become free; and

seventh instructions, responsive to the given server becoming free, to alter the application on the given server and then transition the given server from the first group of servers to the second group of servers.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the fourth instructions and the fifth instructions are executed by a traffic scheduler.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the traffic scheduler maintains a list identifying users of the unaltered application that is used to direct requests.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the fourth instructions and the fifth instructions are executed by a router examining a server identifier located in each request.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the server identifier is located within a session identifier that identifies one of the sessions.