Automatic dependency resolution by identifying similar machine profiles

• US 8,291,405 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2005
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Montero-Luque, Carlos Enrique, Mercado, Jose H., Ingo, Tambet, Buckley, Martin John David
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang, Insun
• Assistant Examiner(s): KRETZMER, ERIKA A
• Application Number:
  US11/215,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20070074197A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,604 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-173
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order

Abstract

Techniques for automatic dependency resolution are provided. A source machine and a previously successful modification for a given resource, which was modified on the source machine, are identified. Dependencies associated with the modification are identified on the source machine. One or more target machines are selected in response to having a similar profile to that of the source machine. A profile is deemed to be similar based on geographic location, category or role of a machine, and based on operating system of a machine. A profile is also deemed to be similar based on a fuzzy match between profile information. The dependencies are automatically resolved on the target machines and the modification is automatically processed on the target machines to modify the given resource.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining one or more dependencies associated with a previously successful modification of a resource on a first machine;

identifying one or more second machines having a similar profile to the first machine, a particular profile is deemed to be the similar profile by comparing geographical locations, categories, or roles assigned to the first machine with the one or more second machines, and by comparing operating systems for the first machine with the one or more second machines, wherein the comparing is performed using a fuzzy match between a first machine profile vis-à

-vis second machine profiles of the one or more second machines computing weights and scores for comparison with a predefined threshold to deem the similar profile, the first profile and the second profile include information for the first machine and the second machine identifying;

cache content, hardware settings, resource identifiers, calendar day, time of day, resource usage and load, directory structure, hardware configurations, resource configurations, processor speed, size of random access memory, size of storage devices, Internet cache, register content, protocol capabilities, peripheral device settings, and resource licenses, the first machine profile and the second machine profiles represented in a normalized data format for comparisons;

automatically resolving or verifying the one or more dependencies on the one or more second machines by automatically accessing operations, interfaces, and services on the one or more second machines to check for resolutions of the one or more dependencies; and

automatically processing the previously successful modification for the resource on the one or more second machines, the previously successful modification executed as a script on the one or more second machines.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further includes identifying dependent software modules or dependent devices used by the resource on the first machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying further includes identifying a particular profile as having portions that remain static and other portions that are in continuous flux based on a given snapshot of a state for the resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically resolving or verifying further includes modifying a number of missing modules on the one or more second machines, wherein the missing modules are prerequisites to modifying the resource.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically resolving or verifying further includes validating that a number of prerequisite modules used by the resource are available and properly configured on the one or more second machines.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, generating a dependency map for the one or more dependencies in response to the previously successful modification of the resource.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, selecting the previous successful modification of the resource in response to scores associated with one or more other modifications, wherein a highest score is associated with the previous successful modification.

8. A system implemented in a machine, comprising:

a machine having memory and a processor, the memory configured with a dependency resolving service that executes on the machine implemented in a machine-readable medium and to execute on the machine; and

the memory also configured with a modification service that executes in a machine-readable medium to execute on the machine, wherein the dependency resolving service ensures dependencies associated with a given modification of a service are resolved on target machines by automatically accessing operations, interfaces, and services on the target machines to check for resolution of the dependencies, the target machines identified by performing fuzzy matching on a first profile of a source machine against second profiles associated with the target machines, the fuzzy matching performed by computing weights and scores for the first profile and the second profiles dynamically obtained by querying the source machine and the target machines for comparison with a predefined threshold to identify matching profiles, the matching based on geographical location, categories or roles of the source machine in relation to the target machines and based on an operating system of the first machine in relation to other operating systems for the target machines, and the modification service automatically processes the given modification on the target machines once the dependencies are resolved on the given machines by the dependency resolving service, the first profile and the second profile includes information for the source machine and the target machines, the information includes;

protocol capabilities, peripheral device settings, hardware settings, resource identifiers, calendar day, time of day, resource usage and load, directory structure, hardware configurations, processor speed, size of random access memory, size of storage devices, Internet cache, cache content, register content, and resource licenses, the given modification processed as a script on the target machines, the first profile and the second profile represented in a normalized data format for comparisons.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising, a modification selection service implemented in a machine-readable medium and to execute on the machine and further to identify the given installation as a desired modification, which was previously successfully modified on the source machine.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the dependency resolving service automatically acquires and modifies resources on the target machines in advance of the modification being processed by the modification service on the target machines.

11. The system of claim 8 further comprising, a recording service implemented in a machine-readable medium and to execute on the machine and further that stores and records the modification, the dependencies, and a profile associated with a source machine that processed the modification successfully.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the first profile has portions that remain static and other portions that are in continuous flux based on a given snapshot of a state for the resource.