Global provisioning of millions of users with deployment units

• US 9,049,268 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2006
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, Weidong, Sanfilippo, Thomas D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Intavong, Jirapon
• Application Number:
  US11/418,687
• Publication Number:
  US 20070276900A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,315 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201.12, 379/221.08, 379/221.14, 379/242, 726/2, 320/112, 322/108, 322/114, 324/2, 370/254, 709/201, 709/202, 709204-207, 709217-229, 709/230, 709/231, 709238-244, 455/404.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/60 Types of network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4547 for personal communications, i.e. using a personal identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

Described herein is technology for, among other things, global provisioning of a service. The technology involves a provisioning server obtaining location information for a client. The provisioning server determines an appropriate deployment unit, based on the location information, to which the client will be assigned. The provisioning server transmits assignment information for the appropriate deployment unit to the client. The client then communicatively couples to the assigned deployment unit and begins receiving the service from the deployment unit.

Claims

1. A system for service to a client comprising:

a plurality of deployment units, the deployment units configured to provide hosting for the service to clients, wherein the deployment units and the clients are distributed over different global geographic regions that include at least one of a plurality of different countries, a plurality of different time zones, or a plurality of different coastal or interior regions of a continent;

a provisioning server configured to obtain global region location information for new clients each associated with respective different global geographic regions and to determine a deployment unit in an appropriate one of the associated with a respective one of the different global geographical regions, based on the global region location information, to which the clients will be assigned, the provisioning server also configured to transmit assignment information for at least an initial deployment of the new clients based on the global region location information to the clients, wherein the assignment information comprises a deployment unit assignment, and wherein further the clients are communicatively added or removed from particular geographically appropriate deployment units based on the deployment unit assignments associated with the global region location information for the respective clients provided by the provisioning server, to assign clients to different deployment units on-the-fly, to distribute a global client load geographically over the global deployment units of the different global geographic regions;

a global provisioning service communicatively coupled to the provisioning server and databases, which databases comprise a global provisioning directory, and a replica of the global provisioning directory communicatively coupled to the provisioning server, the replica of the global provisioning directory is configured to periodically synchronize with the global provisioning directory, the provisioning server is configured to access the replica of the global provisioning directory or the global provisioning directory, wherein the global provisioning service receives the location information from the provisioning server and uses the location information and the databases to determine the assignment information; and

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions in a memory, the instructions executed to enable at least one of a deployment unit, the provisioning server, or the global provisioning service.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein further the global provisioning service provides the assignment information to the provisioning server.

3. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the provisioning server is further configured to receive contact information from the clients and provide the contact information to the global provisioning service, and wherein the databases comprise:

the global contact directory communicatively coupled to the global provisioning service, the global contact directory hosting the contact information.

4. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the databases comprise:

the global provisioning directory communicatively coupled to the global provisioning service, the global provisioning directory hosting all known deployment units.

5. The system as recited in claim 4 wherein the provisioning server is configured to optionally access the replica of the global provisioning directory to determine the assignment information rather than via the global provisioning service.

6. The system as recited in claim 5 comprising a plurality of provisioning servers and a plurality of replicas of the global provisioning directory, wherein the provisioning servers and the replicas of the global provisioning directory are integrated within respective deployment units.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the provisioning server obtains the location information from the clients and the location information comprises a geographical ID and a time zone.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the provisioning server obtains the location information from a global network routing infrastructure.

9. A method of receiving global provisioning of a service in a new client comprising acts of:

transmitting global region location information of the new client to a provisioning server, wherein the new client is one of a plurality of clients distributed over different global geographic regions that include at least one of a plurality of different countries, a plurality of different time zones, or a plurality of different coastal or interior regions of a continent;

receiving assignment information from the provisioning server to determine a deployment unit for at least an initial deployment in an appropriate one of the different geographical regions for hosting the new client, based on the global region location information, to which the clients will be assigned, wherein the deployment unit is one of a plurality of deployment units distributed over the different global geographic regions, wherein the assignment information assigns the new client to a particular geographically appropriate deployment unit based on the location;

communicatively coupling a global provisioning service to the provisioning server and databases, which databases comprise a global provisioning directory, and a replica of the global provisioning directory communicatively coupled to the provisioning server, the replica of the global provisioning directory is configured to periodically synchronize with the global provisioning directory, the provisioning server is configured to access the replica of the global provisioning directory or the global provisioning directory, wherein the global provisioning service receives the global region location information from the provisioning server and uses the global region location information and the databases to determine the assignment information;

communicatively coupling the new client with the particular geographically appropriate deployment unit, wherein the deployment unit provides the service to the new client;

assigning other clients distributed over the different global geographic regions to different geographically appropriate deployment units on the fly, for dynamically distributing a global client load geographically; and

configuring a processor to execute instructions stored in a memory, the instructions executed to enable the acts of transmitting, receiving, communicatively coupling the global provisioning service, communicatively coupling the new client, and assigning.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein the location information comprises an account ID, an account certificate, a license type, a transaction ID, and a time zone.

11. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein the assignment information comprises a URL corresponding to the particular deployment unit, a first certificate corresponding to the particular deployment unit, an authorization token, and a hash code.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the authorization token comprises the name of the provisioning server.

13. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the hash code comprises a hash of the account ID, transaction ID, the URL corresponding to the particular deployment unit, a URL corresponding to the provisioning server, and a second certificate corresponding to the provisioning server.

14. A method of global provisioning of a service comprising acts of:

obtaining global region location information for a new client, wherein the new client is one of a plurality of clients distributed over different global geographic regions that include at least one of a plurality of different countries, a plurality of different time zones, or a plurality of different coastal or interior regions of a continent;

determining a preferred deployment unit for at least an initial deployment in an appropriate geographical region for hosting the new client, to which the new client will be assigned based in part on the global region location information, wherein the deployment units are distributed over the different global geographic regions;

providing a global provisioning service in communication with a provisioning server and databases, which databases comprise a global provisioning directory, and a replica of the global provisioning directory communicatively coupled to the provisioning server, the replica of the global provisioning directory is configured to periodically synchronize with the global provisioning directory, the provisioning server is configured to access the replica of the global provisioning directory or the global provisioning directory, wherein the global provisioning service receives the global region location information from the provisioning server and uses the global region location information and the databases to determine the assignment information;

assigning the new client and other clients as distributed over the different global geographic regions to different deployment units on the fly and thereby geographically distributing a global client load over the different global geographic regions;

transmitting assignment information regarding the preferred deployment unit to the new client, wherein the new client communicatively couples to the preferred deployment unit for hosting the new client upon receiving the assignment information in order to receive the service from the preferred deployment unit; and

configuring a processor to execute instructions stored in a memory, the instructions executed to enable the acts of obtaining, determining, providing, assigning, and transmitting.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising:

signing the assignment information with an encryption key before transmitting the assignment information to the new client.

16. The method as recited in claim 14 wherein the determining comprises:

transmitting the global region location information to a global data center for determination of the preferred deployment unit; and

receiving the assignment information from the global data center.

17. The method as recited in claim 16 wherein the global data center comprises a global provisioning directory for hosting all known deployment units, and wherein the act of determining further comprises:

optionally obtaining the assignment information from a replica of the global provisioning directory rather than via the global data center.

18. The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising:

marking a global data center for a current client if a new deployment unit is known; and

transmitting need-reassignment information to the current client, wherein the need-reassignment information causes the current client to re-provision.