Techniques for automatically installing and configuring database applications

• US 7,536,686 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2001
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Walsh, Kevin, Dangeard, Marc, Sero, Pascal, Tan, Dean
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr.; Lewis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wang; Jue S
• Application Number:
  US09/872,234
• Publication Number:
  US 20080295092A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,910 Days
• Field of Search: 717174-178, 717171-173, 707/10, 707/102, 718/100, 702/186, 709/220
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls

Abstract

Techniques for automatically installing an application on a device on a network include sending, to a server, data indicating device resources on the device. The device requests a database application from the server. The device downloads from the server an initial customized value for a configuration parameter based on the device resources and the database application. The device also downloads the database application. The device installs the database application with the initial customized value for the configuration parameter.

Claims

1. A method for installing and configuring an application on a device on a network, the method comprising the steps of:

sending, from the device to a server on the network, a request that (a) requests a database application from the server, and (b) includes resource information that indicates resources that are available on the device;

downloading, from the server, a customized value for a configuration parameter to be used by the database application, when the database application is executed on the device, to determine how the database application allocates resources on the device, wherein the customized value was determined by the server based on the resource information;

downloading the database application to the device;

installing the database application on the device; and

configuring the database application to include the customized value for the configuration parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of monitoring one or more logs of actual use of the resources on the device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, after the database application has been installed, tuning the configuration parameter based on the one or more logs of actual use of the resources on the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises, after sending the request for the database application to the server, receiving at the device a network address of a source for the database application; and

the step of downloading the database application to the device comprises downloading the database application to the device from the source.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein:

the server is a first server; and

the source is a second server that is distinct from the first server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a database appliance having database software and non-database software tailored to the needs of the database software.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the server is a community server used to install the database application on a plurality of devices that includes the device; and

the community server sends to each device of said plurality of devices an individual customized value for the configuration parameter based on the resources that are available on said each device.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the source is a community server used to install the database application on a plurality of devices and the network is the Internet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the server is a platform at an Internet database service provider.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the source is a platform at an Internet database service provider.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource information includes data indicating at least one of a consumable resource and an application already installed on the device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data indicating the consumable resource comprises at least one of an amount of storage space, a number of licensed users, a maximum processor usage rate, and a maximum transaction rate.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the device is a database appliance having database software and non-database software tailored to the needs of the database software; and

the resource information includes data identifying a type of the database appliance.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration parameter is at least one of a size for a shared global area of memory for the database application, a size for a private cache memory, a size for a tablespace, and a size of a data block.

15. The method of claim 3, wherein the logs of actual use include data indicating at least one of a number of disk reads and a number of disk writes.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is a first request, and the method further comprises:

sending, from the device to the server, a second request for database applications that are available to be downloaded to the device; and

receiving from the server data indicating one or more database applications that are available to be downloaded to the device.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending to a user data indicating one or more database applications; and

receiving input from the user indicating a particular database application that the user has selected from the one or more database applications.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the network is the Internet; and

the data indicating the one or more database applications is sent from an internet database service provider system that manages the device.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the database application is configured to interact with a database server device distinct from the device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the device and the database server device are managed by an internet database service provider system.

21. A method for installing and configuring an application on a device on a network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a server on the network from the device, a request that (a) requests a database application from the server, and (b) includes resource information that indicates resources that are available on the device;

determining a customized value for a configuration parameter based on the resource information, wherein the configuration parameter is to be used by the database application, when the database application is executed on the device, to determine how the database application allocates resources on the device;

sending to the device the initial customized value for the configuration parameter; and

sending to the device data causing the database application to be (a) downloaded to the device, (b) installed on the device, and (c) configured to include the customized value for the configuration parameter.

45. The method of claim 21, wherein the application is a database application.

22. A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for installing and configuring an application on a device on a network, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

sending, from the device to a server on the network, a request that (a) requests a database application from the server, and (b) includes resource information that indicates resources that are available on the device;

downloading, from the server, a customized value for a configuration parameter to be used by the database application, when the database application is executed on the device, to determine how the database application allocates resources on the device, wherein the customized value was determined by the server based on the resource information;

downloading the database application to the device;

installing the database application on the device; and

configuring the database application to include the customized value for the configuration parameter.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to further perform the step of monitoring one or more logs of actual use of the resources on the device.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to further perform the step of tuning the configuration parameter based on the one or more logs of actual use of the resources on the device, after the database application has been installed.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to further perform the step of receiving at the device a network address of a source for the database application, after sending the request for the database application to the server; and

the step of downloading the database application to the device comprises downloading the database application to the device from the source.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 wherein:

the server is a first server; and

the source is a second server that is distinct from the first server.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the device is a database appliance having database software and non-database software tailored to the needs of the database software.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein:

the server is a community server used to install the database application on a plurality of devices that includes the device; and

the community server sends to each device of said plurality of devices an individual customized value for the configuration parameter based on the resources that are available on said each device.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the source is a community server used to install the database application on a plurality of devices and the network is the Internet.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the server is a platform at an Internet database service provider.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the source is a platform at an Internet database service provider.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the resource information includes data indicating at least one of a consumable resource and an application already installed on the device.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the data indicating the consumable resource comprises at least one of an amount of storage space, a number of licensed users, a maximum processor usage rate, and a maximum transaction rate.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein:

the device is a database appliance having database software and non-database software tailored to the needs of the database software; and

the resource information includes data identifying a type of the database appliance.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the configuration parameter is at least one of a size for a shared global area of memory for the database application, a size for a private cache memory, a size for a tablespace, and a size of a data block.

36. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the logs of actual use include data indicating at least one of a number of disk reads and a number of disk writes.

37. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the request is a first request, and wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to further perform the steps of:

sending, from the device to the server, a second request for database applications that are available to be downloaded to the device; and

receiving from the server data indicating one or more database applications that are available to be downloaded to the device.

38. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to further perform the steps of:

sending to a user data indicating one or more database applications; and

receiving input from the user indicating a particular database application that the user has selected from the one or more database applications.

39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 38, wherein:

the network is the Internet; and

the data indicating the one or more database applications is sent from an Internet database service provider system that manages the device.

40. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the database application is configured to interact with a database server device distinct from the device.

41. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 40, wherein the device and the database server device are managed by an Internet database service provider system.

42. A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for installing and configuring an application on a device on a network, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, at a server on the network from the device, a request that (a) requests a database application from the server, and (b) includes resource information that indicates resources that are available on the device;

determining a customized value for a configuration parameter based on the resource information, wherein the configuration parameter is to be used by the database application, when the database application is executed on the device, to determine how the database application allocates resources on the device;

sending to the device the initial customized value for the configuration parameter; and

sending to the device data causing the database application to be (a) downloaded to the device, (b) installed on the device, and (c) configured to include the customized value for the configuration parameter.

46. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 42, wherein the application is a database application.

43. A machine-implemented method, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at an appliance, a document that includes textual elements that specify (a) steps for installing and configuring an application on the appliance, and (b) a customized parameter value to use when installing and configuring the application on the appliance;

after receiving the document, translating the textual elements to commands; and

the appliance executing the commands to perform said steps to install the application on the appliance and to configure the application to include the customized parameter value;

wherein;

the customized parameter value is determined by a server, based on resource information that indicates resources that (a) are available on the appliance and (b) is sent by the appliance to the server, and

the customized parameter value is usable by the application, when the application is executed on the appliance, to determine how the application allocates resources on the appliance.

44. A machine-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, at an appliance, a document that includes textual elements that specify (a) steps for installing and configuring an application on the appliance, and (b) a customized parameter value to use when installing and configuring the application on the appliance; and

after receiving the document, translating the textual elements to commands; and

the appliance executing the commands to perform said steps to install the application on the appliance and to configure the application to include the customized parameter value;

wherein;

the customized parameter value is determined by a server, based on resource information that indicates resources that (a) are available on the appliance and (b) is sent by the appliance to the server, and

the customized parameter value is usable by the application, when the application is executed on the appliance, to determine how the application allocates resources on the appliance.