Multi-tenant, tenant-specific applications

• US 9,996,321 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Jensen, Morten, Hejlsberg, Thomas, Hammond, Michael Steven, Rudolph, Christopher Michael, Racer, Kevin Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): BERMAN, STEPHEN DAVID
• Application Number:
  US14/747,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20160378436A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Customizations, made at various levels in the customization channel, are saved as separate sets of customization deltas that are applied to a base computing system in order to generate a given solution. In a multi-tenant environment, groups of tenants access different solutions or customization deltas. The tenants are automatically grouped, based upon the solution or customization deltas that they access, and the deltas for those customizations are applied to the base system at runtime, for each group.

Claims

1. A multi-tenant computing system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the instructions, when executed, configure the multi-tenant computing system to provide;

a delta identifier component configured to;

detect a tenant input associated with a tenant;

based on the tenant input, identify a given computing solution;

identify a plurality of customization deltas corresponding to the given computing solution, each customization delta comprising delta metadata that

is stored separate from the other customization deltas and from base system metadata that defines a base computing system, and

represents a different customization to the base system metadata to generate computing functionality of the given computing solution; and

identify a customization hierarchy that is associated with the plurality of customization deltas and defines hierarchical relationships between customization deltas in the plurality of customization deltas; and

a delta application component configured to;

based on the hierarchical relationships, determine an order of application of the plurality of customization deltas; and

generate a runtime computing system configured to provide the tenant with runtime access to the given computing solution, wherein the runtime computing system is generated by

applying, to the base system metadata, the delta metadata from each of the plurality of customization deltas in accordance with the determined order.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, configure the multi-tenant computing system to provide:

a group detection component configured to;

detect different tenants accessing a common set of customization deltas; and

group the different tenants into a single tenant group.

3. The computing system of claim 2 wherein the instructions, when executed, configure the multi-tenant computing system to provide:

a multi-tenant functionality system configured to;

apply the common set of customization deltas to the base computing system based on the determined order to generate a runtime computing system having a set of resources configured to run the common computing solution; and

provide each tenant, in the single tenant group, with runtime access to the same set of resources in the runtime computing system.

4. The computing system of claim 3 wherein the group detection component is configured to:

detect the different tenants accessing the common set of customization deltas by determining that each of the different tenants is requesting access to a same set of functionality.

5. The computing system of claim 3 wherein the customization hierarchy associates each customization delta with a corresponding hierarchy level, and wherein the group detection component is configured to:

determine that each customization delta in the common set of customization deltas is assigned to a same hierarchy level in the customization hierarchy.

6. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the delta application component is configured to:

during runtime,

receive requests for computing functionality associated with the common set of customization deltas; and

apply, to the base computing system, each respective customization delta in the common set in response to the request for the computing functionality associated with the respective customization delta.

7. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed, configure the multi-tenant computing system to provide:

a developer environment that includes development functionality configured to detect an indication of a customization input and generate a customization relative to the base system, based on the indication of the customization input.

8. The computing system of claim 7 wherein the development environment comprises:

a delta generator configured to detect a different between the base system before the customization is applied and after the customization is applied, and generate a customization delta representing the detected difference.

9. A computer implemented method, comprising:

determining that requests by a plurality of different tenants correspond to a common computing solution having a common set of customization deltas, each customization delta comprising delta metadata that is stored separate from other customization deltas and from base system metadata that defines a base computing system, and that represents a different customization to the base computing system metadata to generate computing functionality of the computing solution;

based on the determination, grouping the plurality of different tenants into a tenant group;

identifying a customization hierarchy that is associated with the common set of customization deltas and defines hierarchical relationships between customization deltas in the common set of customization deltas;

based on the hierarchical relationships, determining an order of application of the common set of customization deltas;

applying the common set of customization deltas to the base computing system based on the determined order to generate a runtime computing system having a set of resources configured to run the common computing solution by applying, to the base system metadata, the delta metadata from each of the common set of customization deltas in accordance with the determined order; and

providing each tenant, of the plurality of different tenants in the tenant group, with runtime access to the same set of resources configured to run the common computing solution in the runtime computing system.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein

the plurality of different tenants comprises a first plurality of different tenants accessing a first common set of customization deltas in the hierarchical set of customization deltas,

grouping the plurality of different tenants comprises grouping the first plurality of different tenants into a first tenant group, and

the common computing solution comprises a first common co siting solution.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10 and further comprising:

detecting inputs associated with the plurality of different tenants, the inputs being indicative of requests by the plurality of different tenants to access a multi-tenant computing system;

detecting inputs associated with a second plurality of different tenants, the inputs being indicative of requests by the second plurality of different tenants to access the multi-tenant computing system;

determining that the requests by the second plurality of different tenants correspond to a second common computing solution having a second common set of customization deltas; and

grouping the second plurality of different tenants into a second tenant group.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 and further comprising:

performing multi-tenant processing, for the first and second groups of tenants, treating the first group of tenants as a first tenant with respect to the first common set of customization deltas, and treating the second group of tenants as a second tenant with respect to the second common set of customization deltas,

wherein each tenant, of the second plurality of different tenants, is provided with runtime access to a same set of resources configured to run the second common computing solution in the runtime computing system.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 10 wherein the customization hierarchy associates each customization delta with a corresponding hierarchy level, and wherein determining that the requests by the plurality of different tenants correspond to a common computing solution comprises:

determining that each customization delta in the common set of customization deltas is assigned to at a same hierarchy level in the customization hierarchy.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein applying the common set of customization deltas comprises:

during runtime,

receiving requests for computing functionality associated with the common set of customization deltas; and

applying each respective customization delta in the common set in response to the request for the computing functionality associated with the respective customization delta.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 9 and further comprising:

detecting an indication of a customization input in a development environment;

generating a customization relative to the base computing system, based on the indication of the customization input;

detecting a difference between the base computing system before the customization is applied and after the customization is applied; and

generating customization delta representing the detected difference.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 9 and further comprising:

generating the customization hierarchy based on a level in a customization channel at which each the customization deltas was generated.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16 wherein generating the customization hierarchy comprises:

detecting the level in the customization channel at which each of the customization deltas was generated; and

assigning each of the customization deltas to a level in the customization hierarchy based on the level in the customization channel.

18. A computing system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor, wherein the instructions, when executed, configure the computing system to provide;

a delta identifier component configured to;

determine that requests by a plurality of different tenants correspond to a common computing solution having a common set of customization deltas, each customization delta comprising delta metadata that is stored separate from other customization deltas and from base computing system metadata that defines a base computing system, and that represents a different customization to the base computing system metadata to generate computing functionality of the common computing solution; and

identify a customization hierarchy that is associated with the common set of customization deltas and defines hierarchical relationships between customization deltas in the common set of customization deltas;

a delta application component configured to;

based on the hierarchical relationships, determine an order of application of the plurality of customization deltas; and

apply the common set of customization deltas to the base computing system based on the determined order to generate a runtime computing system having a set of resources configured to run the common computing solution by applying, to the base system metadata, the delta metadata from each of the common set of customization deltas in accordance with the determined order;

a group detection component configured to;

based on the determination that the requests by the plurality of different tenants correspond to a common computing solution, group the plurality of different tenants into a tenant group; and

a multi-tenant functionality system configured to;

perform multi-tenant processing, for the group of tenants by providing each tenant, in the tenant group, with runtime access to the same set of resources configured to run the common computing solution in the runtime computing system.

19. The computing system of claim 18, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to provide:

a developer environment that includes development functionality configured to detect customization inputs and generate customizations relative to the base system, based on the customization inputs; and

a delta generator configured to detect differences between the base system before the customizations are applied and after the customizations are applied and generate customization deltas representing the detected differences.