Upgrade and downgrade of data resource components

• US 20070074204A1
• Filed: 09/27/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Nichols, David, Curtis, Pavel, Shieh, Guo-Wei, Somashekar, Eshwar, Gomber, Puja, Schumaker, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,669 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Techniques for upgrading and/or downgrading a data resource deployed on a machine from one version to another version are provided. An application component that defines the data resource may provide an up/down tool for use in changing the data resource component from one version to another version. The up/down tool comprises an up/down process and one or more version conversion rules. The up/down process utilizes the provided version conversion rules to determine the ability of the up/down tool to deploy the data resource and to actually deploy the data resource.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for deploying a desired data resource on a machine, the method comprising:

within an instance of a first tool,

determining whether a desired data resource is currently deployed on a machine, the desired data resource being a particular version of the data resource; and

upon determining that the desired data resource is not currently deployed on the machine, determining whether the first tool can deploy the desired data resource on the machine;

upon determining that the first tool can deploy the desired data resource on the machine, deploying the desired data resource on the machine, and saving a copy of the first tool; and

upon determining that the first tool cannot deploy the desired data resource on the machine, providing an indication of the version of the desired data resource.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining that the first tool is unable to deploy the desired data resource on the machine, executing an instance of a second tool; and

within the instance of the second tool,

determining whether the second tool can deploy the desired data resource on the machine; and

upon determining that the second tool can deploy the desired data resource on the machine, deploying the desired data resource on the machine, and saving a copy of the second tool.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second tool is a previously saved tool that was used to deploy a different version of the desired data resource on the machine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first tool determines whether it can deploy the desired data resource on the machine by checking for the presence of version conversion rules that can be used to deploy the desired data resource on the machine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first tool uses version conversion rules provided with the first tool to deploy the desired data resource on the machine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the desired data resource on the machine comprises upgrading a previous version of the desired data resource that is currently deployed on the machine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the desired data resource on the machine comprises downgrading a previous version of the desired data resource that is currently deployed on the machine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the desired data resource on the machine comprises installing the desired data resource on the machine.

9. A method in a computing system for deploying a desired data resource on a machine, the method comprising:

invoking a first up/down tool to deploy the desired data resource on the machine, the first up/down tool provided with a data resource component that corresponds to the desired data resource; and

upon determining that the first up/down tool is unable to deploy the desired data resource on the machine,

retrieving from the first up/down tool an indication of a version of the desired data resource; and

invoking a second up/down tool to deploy the desired data resource on the machine, wherein the second up/down tool is provided the indication of the version of the desired data resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second up/down tool is a previously saved up/down tool that was used to deploy a different version of the desired data resource on the machine.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the desired data resource is a database.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the desired data resource is a file tree.

13. One or more computer memories collectively containing an up/down tool for deploying a data resource on a machine, the up/down tool provided with a data resource component that defines the data resource, the up/down tool comprising an up/down process, a version identifier, and at least one version conversion rules,

wherein the up/down process is configured to determine whether the up/down tool is capable of deploying the data resource on the machine, and further wherein the up/down process is configured to use one of the version conversion rules to deploy the data resource on the machine upon determining that the up/down tool is capable of deploying the data resource, and wherein the version identifier indicates a version of the data resource, and wherein the at least one version conversion rules are the commands for converting the data resource component from a first version to a second version.

14. The computer memories of claim 13, wherein the up/down tool further comprises version conversion rules for converting the data resource from a third version to a fourth version.

15. The computer memories of claim 13, wherein the version conversion rules specify a database schema.

16. The computer memories of claim 13, wherein the data resource is a database server.

17. The computer memories of claim 13, wherein the data resource is a directory tree.