Method and System For Automatically Cloning IT Resource Structures

Abstract

A method and system for automatically cloning IT resource structure in stateful web services environments by employing a new approach for configuration management. The present new approach models the configurational state of each resource as a stateful web service. Configuration data are provided by this service's resource properties. Relationships between configurations of different resources are modeled as “stateful web services relationships” between web service instances. These relationships can be navigated, which allows exploring the configuration of a whole system in a standards-based way. Additionally a new web service interface is provided by the stateful web service encapsulating the resource. This interface provides two new operations: “getConfiguration” allows an exploiter to take a snapshot of a resource's and related resources' configurational state and “setConfiguration” allows for setting the configurational state of a resource to a previously saved state. An invocation of “getConfiguration” results in the creation of a new stateful web service instance that stores the configurational state of each resource. This new web service interface is implemented on a per-resource type basis. Any back-end technology may be used to implement this new web service interface.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A shows a resource as a stateful web service.

FIG. 1B shows an example of an IT resource structure to be cloned according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1C shows the inventive method for taking a configuration snapshot of the IT resource structure as shown in FIG. 1B.

FIG. 1D shows the inventive method for building a clone IT resource structure from a previously obtained configuration snapshot as shown in FIG. 1C.

FIG. 2A shows the flow of a preferred embodiment of the present invention for taking configuration snapshot.

FIG. 2B shows the flow of a preferred embodiment of the present invention of creating a ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance.

FIG. 2C shows the flow of a preferred embodiment of the present invention of creating an IT resource structure from a configuration graph.

Claims

1. Method for automatically cloning an existing IT resource structure, wherein each resource of said IT resource structure is accessible via a stateful web service, wherein each stateful web service offers resource type specific web services interfaces to query the configurational state of said assigned resource and/or to set up of operations on said assigned resource, wherein each stateful web service additionally provides an interface providing the operations “getConfiguration” and “setConfiguration”, wherein said method comprises the steps of: taking a snapshot of the configurational state of each resource including its relationship to other resources using said “getConfiguration” operation, and storing said configurational state as a separate “ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance” for each resource;automatically building a graph by using said snapshots, wherein the nodes in said graph represent instances of said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service, wherein each ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance provides access to the configuration data for a specific resource and the edges of said graph represent the relationships between said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instances; andcreating a new IT resource structure based on said graph and using said operation “setConfiguration” for applying said configuration state provided by said respective ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said respective resource in said new IT resource structure.

2. Method according claim 1, wherein said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance provides the properties resource type to which the ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance is assigned, and time stamp which identifies date and time when the ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance has been created.

3. Method according claim 2, wherein said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance further provides resource type specific properties which represents the configurational state of the resource to which said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance is assigned to.

4. Method according to claim 1, wherein said steps of taking the snapshots and automatically building a graph by using said snapshots comprise the steps of: traversing said IT resource structure starting at a root resource identified by administrator;creating a ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for said root resource using the operation “getConfiguration”;determining related resources of said root resource and creating a ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for each related resource;associating said related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said root ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance in a stateful web service relationship; andrecursively repeating said steps for each resource of said IT resource structure.

5. Method according to claim 4, wherein said step for determining related resources is performed by navigating stateful web service relationships existing between stateful web service encapsulating said resources.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein said step of creating a new IT resource structure further comprises the steps of: traversing said graph of ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance starting at a root ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance identified by an administrator;querying said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for type of resource to which it is assigned to;requesting a resource of said type from a resource manager;applying the configurational state stored in said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said resource by invoking said operation “setConfiguration”;determining the related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instances; andrequesting a resource for each related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance and applying the respective configuration stored in said respective ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said requested resources.

7. Method according to claim 5, wherein said operation “setConfiguration” takes the address of ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance as an input parameter and reads said configuration state stored in said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance and applies it to the respective resource.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein said stateful web services instances are addressable by EndpointReferences.

9. System for automatically cloning an existing IT resource structure, wherein each resource of said IT resource structure is accessible via a stateful web service, wherein each stateful web service offers resource type specific web services interfaces to query the configurational state of said assigned resource or to set up of operations on said assigned resource, wherein each stateful web service additionally provides a ConfigurationManagement Interface providing the operations “getConfiguration” and “setConfiguration”, wherein said system comprises: means for taking a snapshot of the configurational state of each resource including its relationship to other resources using said operation “getConfiguration” operation, and means for storing said configurational state as a separate “ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance” for each resource;means for automatically building a graph by using said snapshots, wherein the nodes in said graph represent instances of said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instances, wherein each ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance provides access to the configuration data for a specific resource and the edges of said graph represent the relationships between said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instances; andmeans for creating a new IT resource structure based on said graph and using said operation “setConfiguration” for applying said configuration state provided by said respective ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said respective resource in said new IT resource structure.

10. System according to claim 9, wherein said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance provides the properties resource type to which the ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance is assigned, and time stamp which identifies date and time when the ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance has been created.

11. System according claim 10, wherein said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance further provides resource type specific properties which represents the configurational state of the resource to which said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance is assigned to.

12. System according to claim 9, wherein said means for taking the snapshots and means for automatically building a graph by using said snapshots comprises: means for traversing said IT resource structure starting at a root resource identified by administrator;means for creating a ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for said root resource using the operation “getConfiguration”;means for determining related resources of said root resource and creating a ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for each related resource;means for associating said related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance instances to said root ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance in a stateful web service relationship; andmeans for recursively repeating said steps for each resource of said IT resource structure.

13. System according to claim 9, wherein said means for creating a new IT resource structure comprises: means for traversing said graph of ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instances starting at a root ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance identified by an administrator;means for querying said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for type of resource to which it is assigned to;means for requesting a resource of said type from a resource manager;means for applying the configurational state stored in said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said resource by invoking said operation “setConfiguration”;means for determining the related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instances; andmeans for requesting a resource for each related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance and applying the respective configuration stored in said respective ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said requested resources.

14. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method for automatically cloning an existing IT resource structure, wherein each resource of said IT resource structure is accessible via a stateful web service, wherein each stateful web service offers resource type specific web services interfaces to query the configurational state of said assigned resource and/or to set up of operations on said assigned resource, wherein each stateful web service additionally provides an interface providing the operations “getConfiguration” and “setConfiguration”, wherein said method comprises the steps of: taking a snapshot of the configurational state of each resource including its relationship to other resources using said “getConfiguration” operation, and storing said configurational state as a separate “ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance” for each resource;automatically building a graph by using said snapshots, wherein the nodes in said graph represent instances of said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service, wherein each ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance provides access to the configuration data for a specific resource and the edges of said graph represent the relationships between said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instances; andcreating a new IT resource structure based on said graph and using said operation “setConfiguration” for applying said configuration state provided by said respective ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said respective resource in said new IT resource structure.

15. A computer program product according to claim 14, further comprising computer executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the method steps of: said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance providing the properties resource type to which the ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance is assigned, and providing a time stamp which identifies date and time when the ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance has been created.

16. A computer program product according to claim 15, wherein said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance further provides resource type specific properties which represents the configurational state of the resource to which said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance is assigned to.

17. A computer program product according to claim 14, wherein said steps of taking the snapshots and automatically building a graph by using said snapshots comprise the steps of: traversing said IT resource structure starting at a root resource identified by administrator;creating a ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for said root resource using the operation “getConfiguration”;determining related resources of said root resource and creating a ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for each related resource;associating said related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said root ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance in a stateful web service relationship; andrecursively repeating said steps for each resource of said IT resource structure.

18. A computer program product according to claim 17, wherein said step for determining related resources is performed by navigating stateful web service relationships existing between stateful web service encapsulating said resources.

19. A computer program product according to claim 14, wherein said step of creating a new IT resource structure further comprises the steps of: traversing said graph of ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance starting at a root ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance identified by an administrator;querying said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance for type of resource to which it is assigned to;requesting a resource of said type from a resource manager;applying the configurational state stored in said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said resource by invoking said operation “setConfiguration”;determining the related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instances; andrequesting a resource for each related ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance and applying the respective configuration stored in said respective ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance to said requested resources.

20. A computer program product according to claim 18, wherein said operation “setConfiguration” takes the address of ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance as an input parameter and reads said configuration state stored in said ResourceConfiguration stateful web service instance and applies it to the respective resource.