Deployment and deployment planning as a service

• US 9,317,267 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2009
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rajaraman, Bala, Lindquist, David B., Garapati, Rekha D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai, Henry
• Assistant Examiner(s): BARTELS, CHRISTOPHER A.
• Application Number:
  US12/638,563
• Publication Number:
  US 20110145790A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,317 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3668 Software testing software testing in telephone exchanges H04M3/242, testing of hardware G06F11/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

A system and method of deploying software provides for comparing a current software topology of a deployment site to a software deployment topology of an application, wherein the software deployment topology is required to deploy the application. One or more mismatches between the current software topology and the software deployment topology may be identified.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, where, if executed by a processor, causes a server to:

receive a current software topology detailing at least one hardware characteristic and at least one software characteristic of user equipment at a deployment site, wherein the at least one software characteristic includes a patch level;

receive a selection of a non-composite software application;

determine a software deployment topology detailing at least one characteristic required to deploy the application as a new software installation, wherein the current software topology and the software deployment topology are to be defined in extensible markup language (XML) files;

compare the current software topology to the software deployment topology;

identify a mismatch between the current software topology and the software deployment topology before deployment of the application is attempted at the deployment site, wherein the mismatch is to identify a problem of the current software topology that is currently preventing the deployment of the application, and wherein the mismatch is to include at least one of a hardware mismatch, an operating system mismatch, a patch level mismatch, an application level mismatch, an application configuration mismatch and a memory mismatch; and

transmit an action plan to a user via a graphical user interface based on the mismatch, wherein the action plan resolves the mismatch between the current software topology and the software deployment topology by providing a correction of the problem of the current software topology to allow the deployment of the application.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising instructions, where, if executed by a processor, further causes the server to:

prompt the user to implement the action plan;

record the user'"'"'s progress in implementing the action plan; and

deploy the application to the deployment site if the user'"'"'s progress indicates that implementation of the action plan is complete.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising instructions, where, if executed by a processor, further causes the server to:

generate a customized software stack based on the mismatch;

deploy the customized software stack to the deployment site; and

deploy the application to the deployment site.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising instructions, where, if executed by a processor, further causes the server to:

identify a plurality of mismatches between the current software topology and the software deployment topology; and

generate the action plan based on the plurality of mismatches.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising instructions, where, if executed by a processor, further causes the server to temporarily transfer one or more resources of the deployment site to a provider of the action plan.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the action plan resolves the mismatch by providing a correction only of a deficient characteristic of the user equipment at the deployment site identified as the problem of the current software topology that is currently preventing the deployment of the application based on at least one characteristic detailed by the software deployment topology required to deploy the application.

7. A method comprising:

comparing, by a server processing system, a current software topology detailing at least one hardware characteristic and at least one software characteristic including a patch level of user equipment at a deployment site to a software deployment topology detailing at least one characteristic required to deploy a non-composite application;

identifying, by the server processing system, a mismatch between the current software topology and the software deployment topology before deployment of the application is attempted at the deployment site, wherein the mismatch identifies a problem of the current software topology that is currently preventing the deployment of the application; and

generating, by the server processing system, an action plan based on the mismatch, wherein the action plan resolves the mismatch between the current software topology and the software deployment topology by providing a correction of the problem of the current software topology to allow the deployment of the application.

8. The method of claim 7, further including:

prompting, by the server processing system, a user to implement the action plan;

recording, by the server processing system, the user'"'"'s progress in implementing the action plan; and

deploying, by the server processing system, the application to the deployment site if the user'"'"'s progress indicates that implementation of the action plan is complete.

9. The method of claim 7, further including:

generating, by the server processing system, a customized software stack based on the mismatch;

deploying, by the server processing system, the customized software stack to the deployment site; and

deploying, by the server processing system, the application to the deployment site.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the action plan includes transmitting the action plan to the user via a graphical user interface.

11. The method of claim 7, further including:

identifying, by the server processing system, a plurality of mismatches between the current software topology and the software deployment topology; and

generating, by the server processing system, the action plan based on the plurality of mismatches.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the mismatch includes at least one of a hardware mismatch, an operating system mismatch, a patch level mismatch, an application level mismatch, and application configuration mismatch and a memory mismatch.

13. The method of claim 7, further including receiving, by the server processing system, the current software topology from the deployment site.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the current software topology and the software deployment topology are defined in extensible markup language (XML) files.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the software deployment topology is required to deploy the application as a new software installation.

16. A server-implemented method comprising:

receiving a current software topology detailing at least one hardware characteristic and at least one software characteristic of user equipment at a deployment site, wherein the at least one software characteristic includes a patch level;

receiving a selection of a non-composite software application;

determining a software deployment topology detailing at least one characteristic required to deploy the application as a new software installation;

comparing the current software topology to the software deployment topology;

identifying a mismatch between the current software topology and the software deployment topology before deployment of the application is attempted at the deployment site, wherein the mismatch identifies a problem of the current software topology that is currently preventing the deployment of the application, and wherein the mismatch includes at least one of a hardware mismatch, an operating system mismatch, a patch level mismatch, an application level mismatch, an application configuration mismatch and a memory mismatch; and

transmitting an action plan to a user via a graphical user interface based on the mismatch, wherein the action plan resolves the mismatch between the current software topology and the software deployment topology by providing a correction of the problem of the current software topology to allow the deployment of the application.

17. The server-implemented method of claim 16, further including:

prompting the user to implement the action plan;

recording the user'"'"'s progress in implementing the action plan; and

deploying the application to the deployment site if the user'"'"'s progress indicates that implementation of the action plan is complete.

18. The server-implemented method of claim 16, further including:

generating a customized software stack based on the mismatch;

deploying the customized software stack to the deployment site; and

deploying the application to the deployment site.

19. The server-implemented method of claim 16, further including:

identifying a plurality of mismatches between the current software topology and the software deployment topology; and

generating the action plan based on the plurality of mismatches.

20. The server-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the current software topology and the software deployment topology are defined in extensible markup language (XML) files.