System and method for cloud provisioning and application deployment

• US 9,274,811 B1
• Filed: 10/14/2010
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BladeLogic Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BladeLogic Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Reeves, Robert E., Nelson, Daniel Preston
• Primary Examiner(s): Bodden, Evral
• Application Number:
  US12/904,785
• Time in Patent Office: 1,965 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Embodiments described herein provide systems and methods for installing or otherwise supporting applications in a cloud environment and systems and methods for provisioning a cloud environment. One embodiment includes abstracting a set of configuration information associated with a first environment into a set of environment independent attributes and a set of environment dependent attributes. A second environment may then be configured using the mapped environment independent attributes and the values for the set of environment dependent attributes. If the second environment is a cloud environment, embodiments described herein can include provisioning the cloud environment by mapping hardware and/or software characteristics of the first environment and/or user selected characteristics to abstractions of the characteristics and sending API calls to a cloud environment interface based on the abstractions of the characteristics to provision a selected target environment in the cloud environment.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

querying a first sever program for a first set of configuration information for an application installed in a first environment;

identifying a set of environment independent attributes from the first set of configuration information;

identifying a set of environment dependent attributes from the first set of configuration information;

mapping the set of environment independent attributes to a selected format for the set of environment independent attributes;

receiving attribute values for one or more the environment dependent attributes for a selected target environment and mapping the one or more environment dependent attributes to a selected format for environment dependent variables;

prior to installing the application in a cloud environment, provisioning a selected target environment within the cloud environment on which to install the application; and

installing the application in the selected target environment in the cloud environment using the environment independent attributes and the received attribute values for the environment dependent attributes, wherein provisioning the selected target environment includes;

presenting a user with a wizard that allows the user to enter user-selected environment characteristics without requiring knowledge of a cloud environment application programming interface (API),

determining a first set of environment characteristics for the first environment, wherein the first set of environment characteristics comprise hardware characteristics,

receiving a set of user-selected environment characteristics through the wizard,

mapping the first set of environment characteristics and the set of user-selected environment characteristics to a set of abstracted characteristics,

mapping the set of abstracted characteristics API calls for the cloud environment, the API calls selected to provision the selected target environment in the cloud environment, and

interacting with the cloud environment API using the API calls to configure the cloud environment to provide the selected target environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first set of environment characteristics and user-selected environment characteristics comprise software characteristics.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying one or more rules to select one or more API calls based on an abstracted environment characteristic.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising treating hardware information in the set of abstracted characteristics as minimum hardware requirements;

and

selecting API calls to provision a selected machine image supported by the cloud environment having at least the minimum hardware requirements.

5. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a set of computer instructions comprising instructions executable to:

provide a system comprising an export engine, a provisioning engine and an install engine;

query a first sever program for a first set of configuration information for an application installed in a first environment, wherein the querying is performed by the export engine;

identify a set of environment independent attributes from the first set of configuration information, wherein the identifying is performed by the export engine;

identify a set of environment dependent attributes from the first set of configuration information, wherein the identifying is performed by the export engine;

map the set of environment independent attributes to a selected format for the set of environment independent attributes, wherein the mapping is performed by the export engine;

receive attribute values for one or more the environment dependent attributes for a selected target environment and mapping the one or more environment dependent attributes to a selected format for environment dependent variables, wherein the receiving and mapping are performed by the export engine;

prior to installing the application in a cloud environment, provision the selected target environment within the cloud environment on which to install the application, wherein the provisioning is performed by the provisioning engine; and

install the application in the selected target environment in the cloud environment according to the set of target environment configuration information and using the environment independent attributes and the received attribute values for the environment dependent attributes, wherein the installing is performed by the install engine, wherein the set of computer executable instructions executable to provision the selected target environment within the cloud environment further comprise instructions executable to;

provide a snapshot engine, a user interface and the provisioning engine,

present a user with a wizard that allows the user to enter user-selected environment characteristics without requiring knowledge of the cloud environment application programming interface (API),

determine a first set of environment characteristics for the first environment, wherein the first set of environment characteristics comprise hardware characteristics, wherein the first set of environment characteristics are determined by the snapshot engine,

receive a set of user-selected environment characteristics, wherein the set of user-selected environment characteristics are received through the wizard using the user interface;

map the first set of environment characteristics and the set of user-selected environment characteristics to a set of abstracted characteristics;

map the set of abstracted characteristics to API calls for the cloud environment, the API calls selected to provision the selected target environment in the cloud environment, wherein the set of abstracted characteristics are mapped to API calls by the provisioning engine, and

interact with the cloud environment API using the API calls to configure the cloud environment to provide the selected target environment, wherein the interacting is performed by the provisioning engine.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein at least one of the first set of environment characteristics or user-selected environment characteristics comprise software characteristics.

7. The computer program product of claim 5, further comprising instructions executable to apply one or more rules to select one or more API calls based on an abstracted environment characteristic.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising instructions executable to:

treat hardware information in the set of abstracted characteristics as minimum hardware requirements; and

select API calls to provision a selected machine image supported by the cloud environment having at least the minimum hardware requirements.

9. A system comprising:

a network;

a deployment system coupled to the network, the deployment system configured to;

interface with a development environment;

interface with a cloud environment over a network;

query a first sever program for a first set of configuration information for an application installed in a first environment;

identify a set of environment independent attributes from the first set of configuration information for the development environment;

identify a set of environment dependent attributes from the first set of configuration information for the development environment;

map the set of environment independent attributes to a selected format for the set of environment independent attributes;

receive attribute values for one or more the environment dependent attributes for a selected target environment and mapping the one or more environment dependent attributes to a selected format for environment dependent variables;

prior to installing the application in the cloud environment, provision the selected target environment within the cloud environment on which to install the application; and

install the application in the selected target environment in the cloud environment using the environment independent attributes and the received attribute values for the environment dependent attributes, wherein provisioning the selected target environment within the cloud environment by the deployment system includes the deployment system being further configured to;

present a user with a wizard that allows the user to enter user-selected environment characteristics without requiring knowledge of a cloud environment application programming interface (API),

determine a first set of environment characteristics for the first environment, wherein the first set of environment characteristics comprise hardware characteristics,

receive a set of user-selected environment characteristics through the wizard,

map the first set of environment characteristics and the set of user-selected environment characteristics to a set of abstracted characteristics,

map the set of abstracted characteristics to API calls for the cloud environment, the API calls selected to provision the selected target environment in the cloud environment, and

interact with the cloud environment API using the API calls to configure the cloud environment to provide the selected target environment.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the first set of environment characteristics and user-selected environment characteristics comprise software characteristics.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the deployment system is further configured to apply one or more rules to select one or more API calls based on an abstracted environment characteristic.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the deployment system is further configured to:

treat hardware information in the set of abstracted characteristics as minimum hardware requirements; and

select API calls to provision a selected machine image supported by the cloud environment having at least the minimum hardware requirements.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the deployment system is further configured to store the first set of environment characteristics and set of user-selected characteristics in one or more XML files.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the deployment system is further configured to provide attribute values for one or more environment dependent attributes based on at least one environment characteristic from the first set of characteristics or set of user-selected characteristics.