MANAGEMENT OF SERVICE APPLICATION MIGRATION IN A NETWORKED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20120151061A1
• Filed: 12/14/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boss, Gregory Jensen, Dawson, Christopher James, Hamilton, Rick Allen II, Bartfai-Walcott, Katalin Klara
• Granted Patent: US 8,745,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for managing distributed application relationships and dependencies, and migration of applications and/or of components within the same or a disparate networked (e.g. cloud) service provider which comprise applications, upstream and downstream data, and upstream and downstream network data connections of networked services. An application dependency management program module (“ADM”), and cloud service migration management program module (“CSMM”) are provided. The ADM, manually or by deductive logic, discovers and manages relationships and dependencies of computer software applications underlying cloud services, state information of the respective computer software applications, as well as upstream and downstream network data connections. The CSMM comprises ensuring that applications are not migrated or modified in a manner that could affect overall service, ensuring that a migration is performed correctly, maintaining a list of service level requirements for monitoring whether those requirements are being met, and performing application migration.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for managing application migration in a networked computing environment, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a list of relationships and dependencies for a first networked computing service and one or more current computer software applications that are utilized by the first networked computing service, state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service;

storing the list on an electronic storage device;

determining an availability of one or more replacement computer software applications for the one or more current computer software applications that are utilized by the first networked computing service, wherein the one or more replacement computer software applications have substantially identical functionality as that of the one or more computer software applications; and

determining an impact on service levels and performance of the first networked computing service that would result from a migration of the one or more current computer software applications from the first networked computing service to a second networked computing service, based upon the list and the availability.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the list further comprises an administrator defining the relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, the state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the list further comprises logically deducing the application relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, the state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the availability is performed by an application dependency management program module that utilizes data which include at least one of the following:

ability of networked computer servers to execute the one or more current software applications, measured performance of the substantially identical functionality of the one or more replacement computer software applications, relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the impact is performed prior to a migration of the one or more current computer software applications, wherein the list of relationships and dependencies is used to determine an overall performance impact on the first networked computing service, and determine an impact on fulfilling requirements of a service level agreement.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a service migration management program module is signaled whether to migrate the one or more current computer software applications based on the determined impact.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the impact further indicates whether the one or more current computer software applications can be migrated as a group, as a subset of a group, in whole, in parts, or not at all.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of migrating the one or more current computer software applications from the first networked computing service to the second networked computing service, and receiving the substantially identical functionality from the one or more replacement software applications.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the migration of the one or more current computer software applications can be reversed if an actual impact of the migration is greater than the determined impact.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the networked computing environment is a cloud computing environment.

11. A system for managing application migration in a networked computing environment, the system comprising:

a bus;

a processor coupled to a bus;

a memory medium coupled to the bus, the memory medium comprising instructions to;

generate a list of relationships and dependencies for a first networked computing service and one or more current computer software applications that are utilized by the first networked computing service, state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service;

store the list on an electronic storage device;

determine an availability of one or more replacement computer software applications for the one or more current computer software applications that are utilized by the first networked computing service, wherein the one or more replacement computer software applications have substantially identical functionality as that of the one or more computer software applications; and

determine an impact on service levels and performance of the first networked computing service that would result from a migration of the one or more current computer software applications from the first networked computing service to a second networked computing service, based upon the list and the availability.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the step of generating the list further comprises an administrator defining the relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, the state information of the one or more computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the step of generating the list further comprises logically deducing the application relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, the state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the step of determining the availability is performed by an application dependency management program module that utilizes data which include at least one of the following:

ability of networked computer servers to execute the one or more current software applications, measured performance of the substantially identical functionality of the one or more replacement computer software applications, relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the step of determining the impact is performed prior to a migration of the one or more current computer software applications, wherein the list of relationships and dependencies is used to determine an overall performance impact on the first networked computing service, and determine an impact on fulfilling requirements of a service level agreement.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein a service migration management program module is signaled whether to migrate the one or more current computer software applications based on the determined impact.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the impact further indicates whether the one or more current computer software applications can be migrated as a group, as a subset of a group, in whole, in parts, or not at all.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising the step of migrating the one or more current computer software applications from the first networked computing service to the second networked computing service, and receiving the substantially identical functionality from the one or more replacement software applications.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the migration of the one or more current computer software applications can be reversed if an actual impact of the migration is greater than the determined impact.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the networked computing environment is a cloud computing environment.

21. A computer program product for managing application migration in a networked computing environment, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage media, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media, to:

generate a list of relationships and dependencies for a first networked computing service and one or more current computer software applications that are utilized by the first networked computing service, state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service;

store the list on an electronic storage device;

determine an availability of one or more replacement computer software applications for the one or more current computer software applications that are utilized by the first networked computing service, wherein the one or more replacement computer software applications have substantially identical functionality as that of the one or more computer software applications; and

determine an impact on service levels and performance of the first networked computing service that would result from a migration of the one or more current computer software applications from the first networked computing service to a second networked computing service, based upon the list and the availability.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the step of generating the list further comprises an administrator defining the relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, the state information of the one or more computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the step of generating the list further comprises logically deducing the application relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, the state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the step of determining the availability is performed by an application dependency management program module that utilizes data which include at least one of the following:

ability of networked computer servers to execute the one or more current software applications, measured performance of the substantially identical functionality of the one or more replacement computer software applications, relationships and dependencies of the one or more current computer software applications, state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service.

25. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the step of determining the impact is performed prior to a migration of the one or more current computer software applications, wherein the list of relationships and dependencies is used to determine an overall performance impact on the first networked computing service, and determine an impact on fulfilling requirements of a service level agreement.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein a service migration management program module is signaled whether to migrate the one or more current computer software applications based on the determined impact.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the impact further indicates whether the one or more current computer software applications can be migrated as a group, as a subset of a group, in whole, in parts, or not at all.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising the step of migrating the one or more current computer software applications from the first networked computing service to the second networked computing service, and receiving the substantially identical functionality from the one or more replacement software applications.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the migration of the one or more current computer software applications can be reversed if an actual impact of the migration is greater than the determined impact.

30. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the networked computing environment is a cloud computing environment.

31. A method for deploying a system for managing application migration in a networked computing environment, comprising:

deploying a computer infrastructure being operable to;

generate a list of relationships and dependencies for a first networked computing service and one or more current computer software applications that are utilized by the first networked computing service, state information of the one or more current computer software applications, and upstream and downstream network data connections of the first networked computing service;

store the list on an electronic storage device;

determine an availability of one or more replacement computer software applications for the one or more current computer software applications that are utilized by the first networked computing service, wherein the one or more replacement computer software applications have substantially identical functionality as that of the one or more computer software applications; and

determine an impact on service levels and performance of the first networked computing service that would result from a migration of the one or more current computer software applications from the first networked computing service to a second networked computing service, based upon the list and the availability.