Graphical user interface for managing services in a distributed computing system

• US 8,645,837 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Little, Mark Cameron
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hassan, Rashedul
• Application Number:
  US12/324,774
• Publication Number:
  US 20100131854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,896 Days
• Field of Search: 715/735, 715/734, 715/736, 715/738, 717/103, 717/105, 717/174, 717/176, 717/177, 717/178
• US Class Current: 715/735
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Available components that make up a distributed computing system are discovered. The available components include available hardware components and available software components that operate on the available hardware components. The available components and dependencies between the available components are graphically displayed in a map of the distributed computing system. A plurality of undeployed services is also graphically displayed. A selection of one of the plurality of undeployed services and a selection of one of the available components is received. The selected undeployed service is deployed to the selected available component.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

discovering a plurality of available components that make up a distributed computing system, the plurality of available components comprising available hardware components and available software components that operate on the available hardware components;

graphically displaying the plurality of available components and dependencies between the plurality of available components in a map of the distributed computing system;

graphically displaying a plurality of undeployed services;

receiving, by a processor executing a system manager, a selection of an undeployed service of the plurality of undeployed services;

determining a deployment criterion of the selected undeployed service and graphically indicating one or more available components of the plurality of available components that satisfy the deployment criterion;

receiving a selection of an available component from the one or more available components that satisfy the deployment criterion;

determining, by the processor, without user input, whether the selected undeployed service depends on any additional services that have not been deployed to the selected available component;

in response to determining that the selected undeployed service depends on an additional service that has not been deployed to the selected available component, deploying the additional service to the selected available component; and

deploying the selected undeployed service to the selected available component.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the selection of the available component, graphically displaying additional information about the selected available component.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of undeployed services and each of the plurality of available components are represented in the graphical user interface by a distinct icon, the method further comprising:

receiving a mouse command to drag an icon representation of the selected undeployed service to an icon representation of the selected available component, wherein the mouse command initiates the deploying.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein discovering the plurality of available components comprises receiving information pertaining to the plurality of available components from at least one of the plurality of available components or a registry.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a deployed service that is graphically shown as being installed on a first component of the distributed computing system;

receiving a selection of a second component of the distributed computing system; and

moving the deployed service from the first component to the second component.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the selected undeployed service depends on any additional services that have not been deployed to the selected available component is performed based on dependency data gathered from previously deployed services.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the selection of the undeployed service comprises receiving a selection of at least two undeployed services and receiving the selection of the available component comprises receiving a selection of at least two available components.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

discovering a plurality of available components that make up a distributed computing system, the plurality of available components comprising available hardware components and available software components that operate on the available hardware components;

graphically displaying the plurality of available components and dependencies between the plurality of available components in a map of the distributed computing system;

graphically displaying a plurality of undeployed services;

receiving, by the processor, a selection of an undeployed service of the plurality of undeployed services;

determining a deployment criterion of the selected undeployed service and graphically indicating one or more available components of the plurality of available components that satisfy the deployment criterion;

receiving a selection of an available component from the one or more available components that satisfy the deployment criterion;

determining, by the processor, without user input, whether the selected undeployed service depends on any additional services that have not been deployed to the selected available component;

in response to determining that the selected undeployed service depends on an additional service that has not been deployed to the selected available component, deploying the additional service to the selected available component; and

deploying the selected undeployed service to the selected available component.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

in response to receiving the selection of the available component, graphically displaying additional information about the selected available component.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of undeployed services and each of the plurality of available components are represented in the graphical user interface by a distinct icon, the operations further comprising:

receiving a mouse command to drag an icon representation of the selected undeployed service to an icon representation of the selected available component, wherein the mouse command initiates the deploying.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein discovering the plurality of available components comprises receiving information pertaining to the plurality of available components from at least one of the plurality of available components or a registry.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

receiving a selection of a deployed service that is graphically shown as being installed on a first component of the distributed computing system;

receiving a selection of a second component of the distributed computing system; and

moving the deployed service from the first component to the second component.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein receiving the selection of the undeployed service comprises receiving a selection of at least two undeployed services and receiving the selection of the available component comprises receiving a selection of at least two available components.

14. A computing apparatus that is a component of a distributed computing system, comprising:

a memory comprising instructions for deploying services; and

a processor, connected with the memory, to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions cause the processor to;

discover a plurality of available components that make up a distributed computing system, the plurality of available components comprising available hardware components and available software components that operate on the available hardware components;

graphically display the plurality of available components and dependencies between the plurality of available components in a map of the distributed computing system;

graphically display a plurality of undeployed services;

receive a selection of an undeployed service of the plurality of undeployed services;

determine a deployment criterion of the selected undeployed service and graphically indicate one or more available components of the plurality of available components that satisfy the deployment criterion;

receive a selection of an available component from the one or more available components that satisfy the deployment criterion;

determine, without user input, whether the selected undeployed service depends on any additional services that have not been deployed to the selected available component;

deploy the additional service to the selected available component in response to determining that the selected undeployed service depends on an additional service that has not been deployed to the selected available component; and

deploy the selected undeployed service to the selected available component.

15. The computing apparatus of claim 14, processor further to, in response to receiving the selection of the available component, graphically display additional information about the selected available component.

16. The computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of undeployed services and each of the plurality of available components are represented in the graphical user interface by a distinct icon, the processor further to receive a mouse command to drag an icon representation of the selected undeployed service to an icon representation of the selected available component, wherein the mouse command initiates the deploying.

17. The computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein discovering the plurality of available components comprises receiving information pertaining to the plurality of available components from at least one of the plurality of available components or a registry.

18. The computing apparatus of claim 14, the processor further to receive a selection of a deployed service that is graphically shown as being installed on a first component of the distributed computing system, receive a selection of a second component of the distributed computing system, and move the deployed service from the first component to the second component.