Distributed component model

• US 9,990,184 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2011
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Shukla, Dharma, Sagar, Akash Jeevan, Talbert, Nathan C., Annamalai, Muthukaruppan, Schmidt, Robert B., Bhandarkar, Aditya, Jawahar, Asad
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Andy
• Application Number:
  US13/071,982
• Publication Number:
  US 20120246613A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,629 Days
• Field of Search: 717104, 717106, 717120, 717121
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/24 Object-oriented

Abstract

A distributed component model for creating a scalable and available distributed application is disclosed. The distributed component model provides for an application schema to be declaratively defined to include a module having a component. The schema includes a corresponding definition construct in a technology agnostic manner. The corresponding definition construct is declaratively defined to include metadata to control scaling and availability.

Claims

1. A method of creating a distributed application in a distributed component model, comprising:

declaratively defining an application schema of the distributed application including a module having a component, the module is a tier-specific unit of hosting and the schema includes a corresponding definition construct expressing configurations in a serialized form of the application;

declaratively defining within the module of the corresponding definition construct by adjustably programmable counts and policies within metadata to control scaling and availability of the distributed application in the serialized form of the application; and

validate component interrelationships and enforce a compositional structure of the distributed application during runtime.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the application schema includes a plurality of modules, and each module includes a plurality of components.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the definition construct includes a plurality of module definitions corresponding to the plurality of modules and each module definition includes a plurality of component definitions corresponding to the plurality of components.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the plurality of modules include a stateless module having a stateless component.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the stateless component is replicated through cloning.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the stateless modules correspond with module definitions having selectable metadata regarding instance count to specify the number of instances of the stateless module to create at runtime.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the plurality of modules include a stateful module having a stateful component.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the stateful module includes a corresponding stateful module definition having selectable metadata including an instance count, a partition policy, and a replica count.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the instance count controls a number of module instances, the partition policy controls a number of partitions assigned to the module instances, and the replica count controls a number of replicas for each partition.

10. The method of claim 1 and further comprising serializing the application definition.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the application definition is serialized from a scripting language.

12. The method of claim 1 and further comprising including the application definition within an application manifest.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the application definition is used through an application lifecycle.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the application constructs further include a component export definition, a component import definition and a component aspect definition corresponding with the component.

15. A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for controlling a computing device to perform a method comprising:

creating a distributed application in a distributed component model, comprising;

declaratively defining an application schema of the distributed application including an application definition construct having a plurality of modules each having a component, wherein each of the plurality of modules includes a corresponding module definition construct and a module of the plurality of modules includes cross cutting aspects to lift cross cutting capabilities from application logic of the distributed application; and

declaratively defining within each of the corresponding module definition adjustable counts and policies within metadata to control scaling and high availability of the distributed application, the counts and policies being adjustable via programming modifications to the metadata in a serialized from of the application;

the application definition construct validating and enforcing a compositional structure of the distributed application during runtime;

providing tenant-aware cross cutting capabilities to the components at runtime.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 and further comprising serializing the application definition.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 and further including applying the application definition to validate a compositional structure of the distributed application.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 and further including applying the application definition to enforce the compositional structure at runtime.

19. A system for creating a distributed application in a distributed component model, the system comprising:

a processor; and

memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to;

declaratively define an application schema of the distributed application including a plurality of modules having a component, the modules are a tier-specific unit of hosting and the components are a unit of technology encapsulation having a configuration expressed in a serialized form of the application, the distributed application including a stateless module having a stateless component and a stateful module including a stateful component;

the application schema corresponding with a technology agnostic application definition having a stateless module construct and a stateful module construct, the stateless module construct corresponding with the stateless module and the stateful module construct corresponding with the stateful module;

validate component interrelationships and enforce a compositional structure of the distributed application during runtime;

declaratively define within the stateless module an adjustable instance count for controlling a number of instances of replication of the stateless module of the distributed application through at least one of cloning and a replication process via programming modifications to metadata in the serialized form of the application; and

declaratively define within the stateful module metadata to control scaling and high availability of the distributed application with an adjustable instance count, partition policy, and replica count via programming modifications to metadata in the serialized form of the application.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the application definition is serialized into an application manifest.