Management of collections of websites

• US 8,065,327 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2008
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ingole, Harshal, Rosenfield, Zachary D., Walker, Mark J., Cahill, Jason M., Miron, Titus C., Unnikrishnan, Umesh, Taylor, William David
• Primary Examiner(s): MORRISON, JAY A
• Application Number:
  US12/049,311
• Publication Number:
  US 20090234887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,347 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00

Abstract

This disclosure describes techniques that enable a subscriber of a data center to manage a site collection group hosted by the data center. A site collection group is a set of site collections that belong to a single subscriber. A site collection is a collection of websites. A website is a collection of related resources. Each of the site collections is associated with an “owner”. As described herein, the data center presents management interfaces that enable owners of site collections to manage the site collections. In addition, the data center presents management interfaces that enable subscribers to manage architectural aspects of their site collection groups.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

hosting, at a data center, a site collection group that includes a plurality of site collections, wherein at least one of the site collections within the site collection group includes a plurality of websites;

receiving a request to associate, with each site collection of the plurality of site collections, a suite of one or more helper services tailored to each site collection, wherein a first suite of one or more helper services provides specialized functionality to a first site collection, and wherein at least one of the one or more helper services in the first suite of helper services comprises;

blog management or wiki services;

providing a site collection group management interface that enables a first entity to manage architectural aspects of the site collection group, the site collection group management interface having features enabling the entity to manage the architectural aspects, the architectural aspects comprising at least one of;

a number of the plurality of site collections in the site collection group, data storage quotas for the plurality of site collections in the site collection group, site collection group permissions and aspects of the site collection group that do not relate to resources of the plurality of websites in the at least one of the site collections within the site collection group; and

providing a site collection management interface that enables a second entity to manage the first site collection, wherein the first site collection is one of the site collections within the site collection group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein hosting the site collection group comprises executing, at the data center, an instance of a web application that receives, from client devices, client requests associated with resources in the site collection group and processes the client requests.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein the method further comprises:

executing, at the data center, a process that provides a helper service; and

maintaining, at the data center, a configuration database that stores data that indicates whether the helper service is associated with the first site collection; and

wherein executing the process that provides the web application service comprises;

using the data stored in the configuration database to determine whether the helper service is associated with the first site collection; and

utilizing the helper service to process the client requests when it is determined that the helper service is associated with the first site collection.

4. The method of claim 3,

wherein the method further comprises storing in the configuration database data that indicates whether the helper service is associated with the site collection group;

and

wherein executing the process that provides the web application service further comprises;

using the data stored in the configuration database to determine whether the helper service is associated with the site collection group; and

utilizing the helper service to process the client requests when it is determined that the helper service is associated with the site collection group.

5. The method of claim 3,

wherein the method further comprises maintaining a service database that stores service data associated with the helper service, and

wherein executing the process that provides the helper service comprises:

receiving, at the helper service, a request associated with the first site collection; and

exclusively using portions of the service data that are in a partition of the service database associated with the first site collection to respond to the request.

6. The method of claim 3,

wherein the helper service is a member of a first tier of helper services that are designed for a first type of business by at least one entity other than an operator of the data center;

wherein the method further comprises executing, at the data center, processes that provide helper services in a second tier of helper services that are designed for a second type of business by at least one entity other than the operator of the data center;

wherein executing the process that provides the web application service comprises;

using the data stored in the configuration database to determine whether the first collection is associated with the first tier of helper services or the second tier of helper services;

utilizing a helper service in the first tier of helper services when it is determined that the first site collection is associated with the first tier of helper services; and

utilizing a helper service in the second tier of helper services when it is determined that the first site collection is associated with the second tier of helper services.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the site collection group management interface comprises:

in response to the request from the first entity to associate the first site collection with the helper service, updating the data in the configuration database to indicate that the helper service is associated with the first site collection.

8. The method of claim 2,

wherein the site collection group is a first site collection group;

wherein the web application service receives, from the client devices, client requests associated with resources in a second site collection group and processes the client requests associated with resources in the second site collection group;

wherein the second site collection group includes a plurality of site collections, each of which includes at least one website;

wherein the method further comprises;

enabling a third entity to utilize a site collection group management interface to manage architectural aspects of the second site collection group, and

enabling a fourth entity to utilize a site collection management interface to manage a second site collection, wherein the second site collection is one of the site collections within the second site collection group.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the site collection group management interface comprises:

receiving, via the site collection group management interface, a request from the first entity to create a second site collection within the site collection group; and

in response to the request from the first entity to create the second site collection, creating the second site collection within the site collection group.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the site collection group management interface comprises:

receiving, via the site collection group management interface, a request from the first entity to set a data storage quota for the first site collection; and

in response to the request from the first entity to set the data storage quota for the first site collection, enforcing the data storage quota for the first site collection.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein providing the site collection group management interface comprises providing a website that comprises the site collection group management interface;

and

wherein providing the site collection management interface comprises providing a website that comprises the site collection management interface.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the site collection management interface comprises:

receiving, via the site collection management interface, a request from the second entity to create a web page in one of the websites in the first site collection;

in response to the request from the second entity to create the web page, creating the web page in the first site collection;

receiving, via the site collection management interface, a request from the second entity to establish a setting that is applicable to all of the websites in the first site collection; and

in response to receiving the request from the second entity to establish a setting that is applicable to all of the websites'"'"'in the first site collection, applying the setting to all of the websites in the first site collection.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

creating the site collection group when an operator of the data center enters a wholesale subscription agreement with the first entity that obligates the operator of the data center to host the site collection group for the first entity; and

receiving, via the site collection group management interface, a request to create the first site collection when the first entity enters a retail subscription agreement with the second entity that obligates the first entity to host the first site collection for the second entity.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the websites in the site collection are associated with different domain names.

15. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that cause a server that executes the instructions to:

maintain a content database that stores a plurality of site collection groups, wherein each of the site collection groups includes a plurality of site collections, wherein each of the site collections in each of the site collection groups includes at least one website, and wherein a suite of one or more helper services tailored to each site collection is associated with each site collection, wherein a first suite of one or more helper services provides specialized functionality to a first site collection and wherein at least one of the one or more helper services in the first suite of helper services comprises;

blog management or wiki services;

execute an instance of a web application that receives, from client devices, client requests associated with resources in at least one of the site collection groups and, in response to each of the client requests, processes the client requests;

wherein the instance of the web application cannot use data that is specific to a first one of the site collections to process a request associated with a resource in a second one of the site collections without permission from an owner of the first one of the site collections;

provide a site collection group management interface that enables a first entity to manage architectural aspects of a first one of the site collection groups, wherein the site collection group management interface is implemented as a website within the first one of the site collection groups, the website including web pages having features enabling the first entity to manage the architectural aspects, the architectural aspects comprising at least one of;

a number of the plurality of site collections in the first one of the site collection groups, data storage quotas for the plurality of site collections in the first one of the site collection groups, site collection group permissions and aspects of the first one of the site collection groups that do not relate to resources of the at least one website in the plurality of site collections in the first one of the site collection groups; and

provide a site collection management interface that enables a second entity to manage a first site collection, wherein the first site collection is one of the site collections within the first one of the site collection groups.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15,

wherein the instructions further cause the server to:

execute, at the data center, a process that provides a helper service; and

maintain, at the data center, a configuration database that stores data that indicates whether the helper service is associated with the first site collection; and

wherein the instructions that cause the server to execute the instance of the web application comprise instructions that cause the server to;

use the data stored in the configuration database to determine whether the helper service is associated with the first site collection; and

utilize the helper service to process the client requests when it is determined that the helper service is associated with the first site collection.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16,

wherein the instructions further cause the server to further maintain a service database that stores service data associated with the helper service;

and

wherein the instructions that cause the server to execute the process that provides the helper service comprise instructions that cause the server to;

receive, at the helper service, a request associated with the first site collection; and

exclusively use portions of the service data that are in a partition of the service database associated with the second entity to respond to the request.

18. A server comprising:

a content database that stores resources in a plurality of site collections;

a configuration database that includes;

(i) data that indicate a site collection group associated with each of the site collections; and

(ii) data that indicate a tier of helper services associated with each of the site collection groups, wherein a first tier of helper services associated with a first site collection group is specifically tailored to the first site collection group, and wherein at least one of the one or more helper services in the first tier of helper services comprises;

blog management or wiki services;

a processor that executes;

(i) an instance of a web application that;

(a) receives a request associated with a resource in a first one of the site collections in the first site collection group;

(b) determines whether the first one of the site collections is associated with the first tier of helper services;

(c) uses a first helper service in the first tier of helper services to process the request;

(d) provides a site collection group management interface that enables a first entity to manage architectural aspects of the first site collection groups, wherein the site collection group management interface is implemented as a website within the first site collection group, the website including web pages having features enabling the first entity to manage the architectural aspects, the architectural aspects comprising at least one of;

a number of the plurality of site collections in the first collection groups, data storage quotas for a site collection in the first collections group, site collection group permissions and aspects of the first site collection groups-that do not relate to resources of at least one website in at least one of the site collections within the first collection groups; and

(e) provides a site collection management interface that enables a second entity to manage content aspects of the first one of the site collections; and

(ii) a process that provides the first helper service, wherein the process that provides the first helper service cannot use data that is specific to a second one of the site collections to process the request without permission from an owner of the second one of the site collections,

19. The system of claim 18, wherein each of the site collections in the first site collection groups is associated with different domain names.

20. The system of claim 18,

wherein the web application service provides the site collection group management interface as a website that comprises the site collection group management interface;

and

wherein the web application service provides the site collection management interface as a website that comprises the site collection management interface.