Installation of a data processing solution

• US 7,093,247 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2001
• Issued: 08/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Howard, David John, Ashworth, Lindsey Louise, Postlethwaite, Helen, Wallis, Graham Derek
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Wei
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nahar, Qamrun
• Application Number:
  US09/999,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20030018963A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,755 Days
• Field of Search: 717/174, 717/175, 717/176, 717/177
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Provided are methods and computer programs for managing installation of a set of data processing components. An installation manager program allows users to specify which of a set of predefined functional roles are to be implemented on which of their data processing systems and then the installation program automates installation of the set of data processing components which correspond to the specified roles.

Claims

1. A method of managing installation of a set of data processing components onto a data processing system, the method comprising:

a database containing a lists of required components for a plurality of functional roles, said database including a predefined function-specific groups of components having fixed prerequisites and function-specific dependencies, system capabilities required for each of said plurality of functional roles, and temporary requirements required at install and runtime;

a plurality of role groups associated with said plurality of functional roles defining a plurality of deployable functions selectable by a user managing the installation of said set of data processing components; and

responsive to specification of data processing functions which are to be performed within a data processing system by said user, invoking an installation process to determine, by accessing said database, the set of data processing components required for deployment to perform the specified functions and then to install the respective determined set of data processing components onto the data processing system.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining a set of required components comprises the installation process accessing a table which lists, for each of said plurality of functional roles within potential data processing solutions, a group of data processing components required for performing the respective functional roles, the installation process using functional roles specified by said user to retrieve from the table the respective list of components and then to install the components identified in the list.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said functional roles comprise a set of separable units of function of a data processing solution such that a data processing solution can be partitioned into and represented by a selection of the functional roles within the set.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of determining the set of data processing components is responsive to specification of a plurality of data processing functions corresponding to the plurality of functional roles to retrieve from the table the respective lists of components for the plurality of functional roles, to merge said lists and then to Install the components identified in the lists.

5. The method according to claim 1, including checking whether a data processing system satisfies installation-time system requirements before installing the data processing components.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the installation-time system requirements include temporary disk space requirements.

7. A computer program product comprising a plurality of computer program components recorded on a machine-readable recording medium, wherein the plurality of program components includes:

a set of installable computer program components;

a database containing a lists of required components for a plurality of functional roles, said database including a predefined function-specific groups of components having fixed prerequisites and function-specific dependencies, system capabilities required for each of said plurality of functional roles, and temporary requirements required at install and runtime;

a plurality of role groups associated with said plurality of functional roles defining a plurality of deployable functions selectable by a user managing the installation of said set of data processing components; and

an installation manager program which is responsive to specification of data processing functions by said user to be performed within a data processing system to determine which subset of the set of data processing components required to perform the specified functions, wherein the step of determining is performed by referencing predefined function-specific groups of components, and then to install the determined subset of data processing components onto the data processing system.

8. A computer program product, comprising program code recorded on a machine-readable recording medium, for controlling the operation of a data processing system on which the program code runs to perform a method of managing installation of a set of data processing components onto the data processing system, the computer program code comprising:

a database containing a lists of required components for a plurality of functional roles, said database including a predefined function-specific groups of components having fixed prerequisites and function-specific dependencies, system capabilities required for each of said plurality of functional roles, and temporary requirements required at install and runtime;

a plurality of role groups associated with said plurality of functional roles defining a plurality of deployable functions selectable by a user managing the installation of said set of data processing components; and

an installation manager for determining, in response to specification of data processing functions by said user to be performed within the data processing system, which set of data processing components required to perform the specified functions, wherein the step of determining is performed by referencing predefined functions-specific groups of components, and for installing the determined set of data processing components onto the data processing system.

9. A method of generating an installation program for managing installation of a set of data processing components onto a data processing system, the method comprising:

analyzing one or more data processing solution architectures to identify a set of separable functional roles which interoperate to provide the solution architectures;

partitioning a data processing solution architecture into groups of data processing components wherein each group of components corresponds to one of the identified functional roles;

providing a database containing a lists of required components for the set of functional roles, said database including a predefined function-specific groups of components having fixed prerequisites and function-specific dependencies, system capabilities required for each of the set of functional roles, and temporary requirements required at install and runtime;

providing a plurality of role groups associated with the set of functional roles defining a plurality of deployable functions selectable by a user managing the installation of said set of data processing components; and

providing an installation program with a definition of each of the set of functional roles, each definition including a list of the data processing components of the respective group, wherein the installation program is responsive to specification of one or more functional roles to be implemented on a data processing system to access the respective definition and to access said database processing, and to install the respective group of data processing components for the specified one or more functional roles.

10. The method of generating an installation program according to claim 9, wherein said list of components and their correspondence to defined functional roles are provided in a table which is accessible to the installation program.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the table includes data relating to the system requirements of the group of components corresponding to each defined functional role.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the data relating to system requirements includes installation-time system requirements.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the installation-time system requirements includes temporary disk space requirements.

14. The method according to claim 9, including:

determining a global installation sequence for a set of data processing components corresponding to a set of functional roles, and

providing the installation program with means for determining an installation sequence for the components of a specified functional role by comparing the data processing components of the role with the global installation sequence to identify the Installation sequence of said component within the global installation sequence.