System, method and computer program product for deploying an update between environments of a multi-tenant on-demand database system

• US 9,442,713 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2014
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Plax, Jonathan, Kral, Timothy, Hale, Shannon
• Primary Examiner(s): Stevens, Robert
• Application Number:
  US14/304,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298312A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 707/825, 707/624, 717/171
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for deploying updates between environments of a multi-tenant on-demand database system. These mechanisms and methods for deploying updates between environments of a multi-tenant on-demand database system can enable embodiments to provide user-friendly, granular, and/or targeted updates between such environments.

Claims

1. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a computer to implement operations comprising:

changing, by a system having one or more application servers, a portion of a first instance of an application included in a first environment of the system to include an update;

receiving, by the system, an indication of a second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, where the second environment includes a second instance of the application;

in response to changing the portion of the first instance of the application and in response to receiving the indication of the second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, inserting, by the system, a row in a table of the second environment, the row indicating the update and the indication that the update is to be deployed to update a corresponding portion of the second instance of the application at the second environment;

accessing, by the second environment of the system, the table to identify the update from the row;

providing, by the system to a user, information associated with the update, based on identification of the update from the row;

after providing the information to the user, receiving, by the system from the user, an instruction to deploy the update to the second environment; and

responsive to the instruction and subsequent to inserting the row in the table of the second environment, deploying, by the system, the update to the second environment of the system to include the update in the second instance of the application, wherein deploying the update includes updating the corresponding portion of the second instance of the application without updating an entirety of the second instance of the application.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the portion of the first instance of the application includes at least one of user interface code, application logic, and a data model.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the first environment includes a sandbox environment utilized for testing of the update included within the portion of the first instance of the application at the first environment.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer program product is operable such that the update is created utilizing a user interface of the system.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the computer program product is operable such that a user selects the portion of the first instance of the application for inclusion of the update, utilizing the user interface.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the portion of the first instance of the application includes only a subset of the first instance of the application to which a change was made at the first environment, such that other portions of the first instance of the application dependent on the subset of the first instance of the application are excluded from the update.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the system is an on-demand database system.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second environment includes a production environment at which the second instance of the application is available for use by at least one user of the system.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second environment includes a sandbox environment utilized for testing the update upon implementation at the second environment.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer program product is operable such that the indication of the second environment is received in response to a selection of the second environment.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer program product is operable such that the second environment is selected from a predefined list of environments.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the predefined list of environments includes at least one environment preconfigured to be authorized to receive updates from the first environment.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer program product is operable such that the predefined list of environments is stored remotely from the first environment and is remotely accessed by the first environment for the selection.

14. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the first environment is specific to a user of the system by the system customizing the first environment for the user and implementing the first environment by the system for sole use by the user.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the second environment is associated with the user.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the second environment is associated with another user.

17. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second environment is a production environment and the first environment is a sandbox environment that is a copy of the production environment by including a copy of data stored at the production environment, such that the sandbox environment is for use in creation of the update to the portion of the first instance of the application prior to deployment and implementation of the update to the production environment.

18. A method, comprising:

changing, by a system having one or more application servers, a portion of a first instance of an application included in a first environment of the system to include an update;

receiving, by the system, an indication of a second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, where the second environment includes a second instance of the application;

in response to changing the portion of the first instance of the application and in response to receiving the indication of the second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, inserting, by the system, a row in a table of the second environment, the row indicating the update and the indication that the update is to be deployed to update a corresponding portion of the second instance of the application at the second environment;

accessing, by the second environment of the system, the table to identify the update from the row;

providing, by the system to a user, information associated with the update, based on identification of the update from the row;

after providing the information to the user, receiving, by the system from the user, an instruction to deploy the update to the second environment; and

responsive to the instruction and subsequent to inserting the row in the table of the second environment, deploying, by the system, the update to the second environment of the system to include the update in the second instance of the application, wherein deploying the update includes updating the corresponding portion of the second instance of the application without updating an entirety of the second instance of the application.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores instructions executable by the processor to implement operations comprising;

changing, by a system having one or more application servers, a portion of a first instance of an application included in a first environment of the system to include an update;

receiving, by the system, an indication of a second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, where the second environment includes a second instance of the application;

in response to changing the portion of the first instance of the application and in response to receiving the indication of the second environment of the system to which the update is to be deployed, inserting, by the system, a row in a table of the second environment, the row indicating the update and the indication that the update is to be deployed to update a corresponding portion of the second instance of the application at the second environment;

accessing, by the second environment of the system, the table to identify the update from the row;

providing, by the system to a user, information associated with the update, based on identification of the update from the row;

after providing the information to the user, receiving, by the system from the user, an instruction to deploy the update to the second environment; and

responsive to the instruction and subsequent to inserting the row in the table of the second environment, deploying, by the system, the update to the second environment of the system to include the update in the second instance of the application, wherein deploying the update includes updating the corresponding portion of the second instance of the application without updating an entirety of the second instance of the application.