Application deployment engine

• US 10,567,487 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2018
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jung, Gueyoung, Joshi, Kaustubh, Hiltunen, Matti A., Schlichting, Richard D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Higa, Brendan Y
• Application Number:
  US16/153,908
• Publication Number:
  US 20190044999A1
• Time in Patent Office: 498 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for an application deployment engine. A processor that executes an application deployment engine can receive an application request. The processor can obtain network topology data that indicates availability of resources of a data center, an application template associated with the application, and a running time during which an application placement plan is to be identified out of a large number of placement scenarios within the running time. The application template can describe an application flow path associated with the application. The processor can identify the application placement plan, where the application placement plan can include an optimal placement of the application at the data center, before a given running time expires by pruning the large search space. The processor can generate a command to effect deployment of the application in accordance with the application placement plan.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a processor, a request for an application;

obtaining, by the processor, network topology data that indicates availability of resources of a data center;

obtaining, by the processor, an application template associated with the application, wherein the application template describes resources used by the application and an application flow path associated with the application;

obtaining, by the processor, a running time during which an optimal placement plan is to be identified from a pool of candidate placement plans;

identifying, by the processor and based on the application template and the network topology data, a candidate placement plan from the pool of candidate placement plans;

determining, by the processor, if the candidate placement plan places all components of the application; and

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan places all components of the application,

outputting, by the processor, the candidate placement plan as the optimal placement plan, and

generating, by the processor, a command to effect deployment of the application in accordance with the optimal placement plan.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has expired, outputting the candidate placement plan as the optimal placement plan.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has not expired,

determining a set of candidate placement plans,

determining a resource utilization for each of the set of candidate placement plans,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a limit,

applying a pruning function to the set of candidate placement plans to remove a portion of the set of candidate placement plans in accordance with a pruning rate, and

adding the set of candidate placement plans to the pool of candidate placement plans.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining if half of the running time has expired; and

if a determination is made that half of the running time has expired,

applying a greedy algorithm to the pool of candidate placement plans to identify a base placement plan,

determining a base resource utilization value for the base placement plan, and

attempting placement of the application in accordance with the base placement plan.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has not expired,

determining a set of candidate placement plans,

determining a resource utilization for each of the set of candidate placement plans,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a limit,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a base resource utilization associated with a base placement plan,

applying a pruning function to the set of candidate placement plans to remove a portion of the set of candidate placement plans in accordance with a pruning rate, and

adding the set of candidate placement plans to the pool of candidate placement plans.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining if half of the running time has expired; and

if a determination is made that half of the running time has expired,

applying a greedy algorithm to the pool of candidate placement plans to identify the base placement plan,

determining a base resource utilization value for the base placement plan, and

attempting placement of the application in accordance with the base placement plan.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating, by the processor, distribution of the command to the data center.

8. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising

receiving a request for an application,

obtaining network topology data that indicates availability of resources of a data center,

obtaining an application template associated with the application, wherein the application template describes resources used by the application and an application flow path associated with the application,

obtaining a running time during which an optimal placement plan is to be identified from a pool of candidate placement plans,

identifying, based on the application template and the network topology data, a candidate placement plan from the pool of candidate placement plans,

determining if the candidate placement plan places all components of the application, and

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan places all components of the application,

outputting the candidate placement plan as the optimal placement plan, and

generating a command to effect deployment of the application in accordance with the optimal placement plan.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has expired, outputting the candidate placement plan as the optimal placement plan.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has not expired,

determining a set of candidate placement plans,

determining a resource utilization for each of the set of candidate placement plans,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a limit,

applying a pruning function to the set of candidate placement plans to remove a portion of the set of candidate placement plans in accordance with a pruning rate, and

adding the set of candidate placement plans to the pool of candidate placement plans.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

determining if half of the running time has expired; and

if a determination is made that half of the running time has expired,

applying a greedy algorithm to the pool of candidate placement plans to identify a base placement plan,

determining a base resource utilization value for the base placement plan, and

attempting placement of the application in accordance with the base placement plan.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has not expired,

determining a set of candidate placement plans,

determining a resource utilization for each of the set of candidate placement plans,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a limit,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a base resource utilization associated with a base placement plan,

applying a pruning function to the set of candidate placement plans to remove a portion of the set of candidate placement plans in accordance with a pruning rate, and

adding the set of candidate placement plans to the pool of candidate placement plans.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

determining if half of the running time has expired; and

if a determination is made that half of the running time has expired,

applying a greedy algorithm to the pool of candidate placement plans to identify the base placement plan,

determining a base resource utilization value for the base placement plan, and

attempting placement of the application in accordance with the base placement plan.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

in response to a determination that the running time has expired, outputting the base placement plan as the optimal placement plan.

15. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request for an application;

obtaining network topology data that indicates availability of resources of a data center;

obtaining an application template associated with the application, wherein the application template describes resources used by the application and an application flow path associated with the application;

obtaining a running time during which an optimal placement plan is to be identified from a pool of candidate placement plans;

identifying, based on the application template and the network topology data, a candidate placement plan from the pool of candidate placement plans;

determining if the candidate placement plan places all components of the application; and

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan places all components of the application,

outputting the candidate placement plan as the optimal placement plan, and

generating a command to effect deployment of the application in accordance with the optimal placement plan.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has expired, outputting the candidate placement plan as the optimal placement plan.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has not expired,

determining a set of candidate placement plans,

determining a resource utilization for each of the set of candidate placement plans,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a limit,

applying a pruning function to the set of candidate placement plans to remove a portion of the set of candidate placement plans in accordance with a pruning rate, and

adding the set of candidate placement plans to the pool of candidate placement plans.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

determining if half of the running time has expired; and

if a determination is made that half of the running time has expired,

applying a greedy algorithm to the pool of candidate placement plans to identify a base placement plan,

determining a base resource utilization value for the base placement plan, and

attempting placement of the application in accordance with the base placement plan.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

if a determination is made that the candidate placement plan does not place all components of the application, determining if the running time has expired; and

if the running time has not expired,

determining a set of candidate placement plans,

determining a resource utilization for each of the set of candidate placement plans,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a limit,

removing, from the set of candidate placement plans, candidate plans having associated utilization values that exceed a base resource utilization associated with a base placement plan,

applying a pruning function to the set of candidate placement plans to remove a portion of the set of candidate placement plans in accordance with a pruning rate, and

adding the set of candidate placement plans to the pool of candidate placement plans.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

determining if half of the running time has expired; and

if a determination is made that half of the running time has expired,

applying a greedy algorithm to the pool of candidate placement plans to identify the base placement plan,

determining a base resource utilization value for the base placement plan, and

attempting placement of the application in accordance with the base placement plan.