Facilitating deployment of customizations of enterprise applications

• US 9,251,498 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2007
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Shaik, Bakash, Shang, Yilun, Tian, Mancang, Wu, Jiaren, Su, Xiangyang, Kedefors, Hans, Hong, Chin-Heng, Li, Hongxing, Khasnis, Abhijit Suresh, G, Ramesha Sheernali, Alyan, Ashraf Sayed
• Primary Examiner(s): Eskandarnia, Arvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): DESAI, MARGISHI V
• Application Number:
  US11/874,208
• Publication Number:
  US 20080098099A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,029 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 717/176, 707/104.1, 707/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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

Abstract

A management system facilitating deployment of customizations of an enterprise application, with the enterprise application containing software modules pre-installed on a set of servers. In an embodiment, the management system first receives a set of deployment units each containing data defining a manner of configuration affecting the operation of at least some of the software modules to attain the desired customizations, and an enterprise profile indicating the specific subset of deployment units to be deployed in each of the servers. Management system then orchestrates the configuration of the software modules installed on the set of servers according to the data specified in the set of deployment units and the enterprise profile.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for causing a management system to facilitate deployment of a plurality of customizations of an enterprise application, a plurality of software modules constituting entire software instructions of said enterprise application, wherein said plurality of software modules includes a first software module pre-installed in a state suitable for execution on a first server and a second server of said plurality of servers, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said management system causes said management system to perform the actions of:

receiving a plurality of deployment units, each of said plurality of deployment units containing data defining a manner of configuration of at least some of said software modules already installed on corresponding servers to attain said plurality of customizations of said enterprise application according to the requirements of an enterprise, wherein said plurality of deployment units includes a first deployment unit for customizing said first software module;

receiving an enterprise profile indicating a corresponding set of deployment units to be used in customizing said enterprise application in corresponding one of said plurality of servers according to the requirements of said enterprise, wherein a portion of said enterprise profile indicates that said first deployment unit is to be used to customize said enterprise application in both of said first server and said second server; and

orchestrating the configuration of said plurality of software modules already installed on said plurality of servers according to the data specified in said plurality of deployment units and said enterprise profile, wherein said orchestrating orchestrates the configuration of said first software module already installed on both of said first server and said second server in the corresponding manner according to the data specified in said first deployment unit and said portion of said enterprise profile, such that said enterprise application having said plurality of software modules pre-installed in said state suitable for execution is further adapted according to the requirements of said enterprise, said orchestrating comprises;

receiving a level of parallelism specifying a number of deployment units that may be simultaneously deployed on said plurality of servers;

examining a dependency data indicating a first set of deployment units which need to be deployed prior to deployment of a first deployment unit, wherein said first set of deployment unit and said first deployment unit are contained in said plurality of deployment units; and

performing configuration of said plurality of software modules based on said first set of deployment units before performing configuration based on said first deployment unit in response to said examining,

wherein said performing ensures that the maximum number of deployment units deployed simultaneously on said plurality of servers does not exceed said number of deployment units.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein said level of parallelism is specified associated with a type of deployment units, wherein said number of deployment units is all of said type, wherein said dependency data and said level of parallelism are specified in said enterprise profile.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising one or more instructions for:

receiving an activation indication that the configuration of specific ones of said plurality of software modules is to be activated before the configuration by a corresponding deployment unit is operative in said enterprise application; and

activating only the configurations caused by said specific ones of said plurality of deployment units in response to receiving said activation indication.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 3, wherein a first deployment unit causes data to be changed in a database server, wherein said activating clears a cache of said database server,

wherein a second deployment unit causes a change in the operation of a software module executing on an application server, wherein said activating restarts said application server,

wherein a third deployment unit causes a file to be copied to a location in a web server, wherein said activating causes a user to reconnect to said web server,

wherein said first deployment unit, said second deployment unit and said third deployment unit are contained in said specific ones of said plurality of deployment units, and said database server, said application server and said web server are contained in said plurality of servers.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein said orchestrating further comprises one or more instructions for:

receiving a first indication to stop the configuration of said plurality of software modules in said state suitable for execution during the configuration;

stopping the configuration in response to receiving said first indication;

receiving a second indication to resume the configuration;

determining, in response to receiving said second indication, a subset of said plurality of deployment units which have not yet been used for configuring said plurality of software modules; and

performing configuration using said subset of said plurality of deployment units,

whereby a user can control resumption of orchestrating after said stopping, by sending said second indication.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein said orchestrating further comprises one or more instructions for:

receiving a sequence of indications indicating corresponding stages, wherein each of said sequence of indications specifies a corresponding set of servers and a corresponding set of deployment units; and

performing configuration on the set of servers using the corresponding set of deployment unit specified in a stage only after configuration on the set of servers using the corresponding set of deployment units specified in a previous stage, wherein said stage and said previous stage are indicated by said sequence of indications.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 6, wherein the set of servers in said previous stage comprises a database server and a deployment unit of said previous stage contains a data of interest to be deployed on said database server,

wherein the set of servers in said stage comprises a first server and a deployment unit of said stage provides configuration of a software module executing in said first server, wherein said configuration of said software module requires said data of interest in said database server for operation,

wherein said data of interest is copied to said database server in said previous stage before configuration of said software module on said first server in said stage.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 6, wherein said stage specifies a subset of said plurality of servers without specifying any deployment units, wherein all of said plurality of deployment units are deployed only on said subset of said plurality of servers in said stage.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 6, wherein said stage specifies a subset of said plurality of deployment units without specifying any servers, and said subset of said plurality of deployment units are deployed on all of said plurality of servers in said stage.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein all of said subset of said plurality of deployment units are of a same type, wherein said same type is one of a file type, a database type, a repository type and a workflow type.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein said orchestrating further comprises one or more instructions for:

storing a backup data specifying a corresponding state of said enterprise application deployed on each of said plurality of servers;

receiving a request to rollback said deployment in a first server, said first server being contained in said plurality of servers; and

restoring said enterprise application on said first server to a state prior to said deployment using said backup data.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein said request indicates that said rollback is to be performed on only a subset of said plurality of servers, wherein said restoring restores the corresponding state on each of said subset of plurality of servers only.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein said orchestrating further comprises one or more instructions for:

storing a backup data specifying a corresponding state of said enterprise application in a first server prior to deployment of a first deployment unit contained in said plurality of deployment units, said first server being contained in said plurality of servers;

receiving a request to rollback deployment of said first deployment unit; and

restoring said enterprise application on said first server using said backup data to cause said corresponding state prior to deployment of said first deployment unit to be restored.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising one or more instructions for:

receiving a descriptor data indicating a type of each of said plurality of deployment units and a management information indicating said manner corresponding to each type,

wherein said orchestrating determines a corresponding type of each of said plurality of deployment units and performs the configuration of each software module according to said management information for said corresponding type.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein said type comprises a file type, wherein a deployment unit of said file type contains a data file, wherein said enterprise profile indicates a location at which said data file would be accessed by said enterprise application,

wherein said orchestrating comprises copying said data file to said location.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein said type comprises a database type, wherein a deployment unit of said database type contains a database input file containing a plurality of rows to be written into a database server, wherein said database server is comprised in said plurality of servers and is specified by said enterprise profile,

wherein said orchestrating comprises writing said plurality of rows into said database server.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein said type comprises a repository type, wherein a deployment unit of said repository type contains a repository file containing a plurality of repository objects to be written into a database server, wherein said database server is comprised in said plurality of servers and is specified by said enterprise profile,

wherein said orchestrating comprises writing said plurality of repository objects into said database server.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein said type comprises a workflow type, wherein a deployment unit of said workflow type contains a workflow data which is to be provided as an input to an installation module specified by said enterprise profile,

wherein said orchestrating comprises executing said installation module with said workflow data as input in each of a set of servers specified by said enterprise profile.

19. A computing system comprising:

a plurality of servers pre-installed with a plurality of software modules constituting entire software instructions of an enterprise application; and

a management system to facilitate deployment of a plurality of customizations of said enterprise application, said management system comprising;

a package manager to receive a plurality of deployment units together in the form of a deployment package containing one or more files, each of said plurality of deployment units containing data defining a manner of configuration of at least some of said software modules already installed on corresponding servers to attain said plurality of customizations of said enterprise application according to the requirements of an enterprise, said deployment package containing a first deployment unit for configuration of a first software module and also a second deployment unit for configuration of a second software module;

a profile manager to receive an enterprise profile indicating a corresponding set of deployment units to be used in customizing said enterprise application in each of said plurality of servers; and

a dependency manager to orchestrate the configuration of said plurality of software modules already installed on said plurality of servers according to the data specified in said plurality of deployment units and said enterprise profile such that said enterprise application having said plurality of software modules pre-installed in said state suitable for execution is further adapted according to the requirements of said enterprise

wherein to orchestrate said dependency manager is operable to;

receive a level of parallelism specifying a number of deployment units that may be simultaneously deployed on said plurality of servers;

examine a dependency data indicating a first set of deployment units which need to be deployed prior to deployment of a first deployment unit, wherein said first set of deployment unit and said first deployment unit are contained in said plurality of deployment units; and

perform configuration of said plurality of software modules based on said first set of deployment units before performing configuration based on said first deployment unit in response to said examine,

wherein said dependency manager ensures that the maximum number of deployment units deployed simultaneously on said plurality of servers does not exceed said number of deployment units.

20. A method of facilitating deployment of a plurality of customizations of an enterprise application, said enterprise application containing a plurality of software modules pre-installed in a state suitable for execution on a plurality of servers, said method being performed in a management system, said method comprising:

receiving a deployment package containing a plurality of deployment units and a descriptor data indicating a type of each of said plurality of deployment units;

receiving a management information indicating a manner of configuration of at least some of said software modules already installed on corresponding servers to attain said plurality of customizations of said enterprise application corresponding to each type of deployment unit according to the requirements of an enterprise, wherein said manner of configuration is performed based on the data contained in the deployment units of the corresponding type;

receiving an enterprise profile indicating a corresponding set of deployment units to be used in customizing said enterprise application in each of said plurality of servers,

wherein said enterprise profile further indicates a level of parallelism specifying a number of deployment units that may be simultaneously deployed on said plurality of servers associated with each type, and a dependency data indicating a set of deployment units which need to be deployed prior to deployment of a specific deployment unit, wherein said set of deployment unit and said specific deployment unit are contained in said plurality of deployment units;

selecting a first set of deployment units contained in said plurality of deployment units, wherein said dependency data indicates that said first set of deployments unit need to be deployed prior to deployment of other deployment units contained in said plurality of deployment units;

identifying a first set of servers on which said first set of deployment units are to be deployed based on said enterprise profile;

determining a corresponding type of each of said first set of deployment units; and

performing configuration of said plurality of software modules pre-installed on said first set of servers according to the data specified in said first set of deployment units such that said enterprise application having said plurality of software modules pre-installed in said state suitable for execution is further adapted according to the requirements of said enterprise,

wherein the configuration of each software module is performed according to said management information for said corresponding type based on said determining,

wherein said performing ensures that the maximum number of deployment units deployed simultaneously for each type does not exceed said corresponding number of deployment units as specified by said corresponding level of parallelism for the type.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving an activation indication that the configuration of specific ones of said plurality of software modules is to be activated before the configuration by a corresponding deployment unit is operative in said enterprise application; and

activating only the configurations caused by said specific ones of said plurality of deployment units in response to receiving said activation indication.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving a sequence of indications indicating corresponding stages, wherein each of said sequence of indications specifies a corresponding set of servers and a corresponding set of deployment units,

wherein said performing performs configuration on the set of servers using the corresponding set of deployment unit specified in a stage only after configuration on the set of servers using the corresponding set of deployment units specified in a previous stage, wherein said stage and said previous stage are indicated by said sequence of indications.

23. A method of enabling a user to deploy a plurality of customizations of an enterprise application, said enterprise application containing a plurality of software modules pre-installed in a state suitable for execution on a plurality of servers, said method comprising:

sending to a management system a deployment package containing a plurality of deployment units and a descriptor data indicating a type of each of said plurality of deployment units, wherein each type is associated with a manner of configuration of at least some of said software modules already installed on corresponding servers to attain said plurality of customizations of said enterprise application according to the requirements of an enterprise; and

sending to said management system an enterprise profile indicating a corresponding set of deployment units to be used in customizing said enterprise application in each of said

plurality of servers,

wherein said enterprise profile further indicates a level of parallelism specifying a number of deployment units that may be simultaneously deployed on said plurality of servers associated with each type, and a dependency data indicating a set of deployment units which need to be deployed prior to deployment of a specific deployment unit, wherein said set of deployment unit and said specific deployment unit are contained in said plurality of deployment units,

wherein said management system orchestrates configuration of said plurality of software modules already installed on said plurality set of servers according to said enterprise profile, data specified in said plurality of deployment units, and the manner of configuration associated with the type of each of said plurality of deployment units such that said enterprise application having said plurality of software modules pre-installed in said state suitable for execution is further adapted according to the requirements of said enterprise, while ensuring that the maximum number of deployment units deployed simultaneously for each type does not exceed said number of deployment units.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

sending an activation indication that the configuration of specific ones of said plurality of software modules is to be activated before the configuration by a corresponding deployment unit is operative in said enterprise application,

wherein said management system activates only the configurations caused by said specific ones of said plurality of deployment units in response to receiving said activation indication.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

sending a sequence of indications indicating corresponding stages, wherein each of said sequence of indications specifies a corresponding set of servers and a corresponding set of deployment units,

wherein said management system performs configuration on the set of servers using the corresponding set of deployment unit specified in a stage only after configuration on the set of servers using the corresponding set of deployment units specified in a previous stage, wherein said stage and said previous stage are indicated by said sequence of indications.