Apparatus and methods to incorporate external system to approve deployment provisioning

Methods and apparatus to customize deployment using approvals are disclosed. An example deployment approval manager can generate a first Approval Payload including an initial application component approval proposal of an application component that provides a logical template of an application. A deployment event broker can reply-back to the deployment approval manager with a second approval payload that includes a processed application component approval proposal.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to cloud computing and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to incorporate an external system to approve deployment provisioning.

BACKGROUND

Virtualizing computer systems provide benefits such as the ability to execute multiple computer systems on a single hardware computer, replicating computer systems, moving computer systems among multiple hardware computers, and so forth.

“Infrastructure-as-a-Service” (also commonly referred to as “IaaS”) generally describes a suite of technologies provided by a service provider as an integrated solution to allow for elastic creation of a virtualized, networked, and pooled computing platform (sometimes referred to as a “cloud computing platform”). Enterprises may use IaaS as a business-internal organizational cloud computing platform (sometimes referred to as a “private cloud”) that gives an application developer access to infrastructure resources, such as virtualized servers, storage, and networking resources. By providing ready access to the hardware resources required to run an application, the cloud computing platform enables developers to build, deploy, and manage the lifecycle of a web application (or any other type of networked application) at a greater scale and at a faster pace than ever before.

Cloud computing environments may be composed of many processing units (e.g., servers). The processing units may be installed in standardized frames, known as racks, which provide efficient use of floor space by allowing the processing units to be stacked vertically. The racks may additionally include other components of a cloud computing environment such as storage devices, networking devices (e.g., switches), etc.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Cloud computing is based on the deployment of many physical resources across a network, virtualizing the physical resources into virtual resources, and provisioning the virtual resources to perform cloud computing services and applications. Example systems for virtualizing computer systems are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/903,374, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REAL MACHINES,” filed Sep. 21, 2007, and granted as U.S. Pat. No. 8,171,485, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/919,965, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REAL MACHINES,” filed Mar. 26, 2007, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/736,422, entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR VIRTUALIZED COMPUTING,” filed Dec. 12, 2012, all three of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Cloud computing platforms may provide many powerful capabilities for performing computing operations. However, taking advantage of these computing capabilities manually may be complex and/or require significant training and/or expertise. Prior techniques to providing cloud computing platforms and services often require customers to understand details and configurations of hardware and software resources to establish and configure the cloud computing platform. Methods and apparatus disclosed herein facilitate the management of virtual machine resources in cloud computing platforms.

A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer, runs an operating system and applications. An operating system installed on a virtual machine is referred to as a guest operating system. Because each virtual machine is an isolated computing environment, virtual machines (VMs) can be used as desktop or workstation environments, as testing environments, to consolidate server applications, etc. Virtual machines can run on hosts or clusters. The same host can run a plurality of VMs, for example.

As disclosed in detail herein, methods and apparatus disclosed herein provide for automation of management tasks such as provisioning multiple virtual machines for a multiple-machine computing system (e.g., a group of servers that inter-operate), linking provisioned virtual machines and tasks to desired systems to execute those virtual machines or tasks, and/or reclaiming cloud computing resources that are no longer in use. The improvements to cloud management systems (e.g., the vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) from VMware®, the vRealize Automation Cloud Automation Software from VMware®), interfaces, portals, etc. disclosed herein may be utilized individually and/or in any combination. For example, all or a subset of the described improvements may be utilized.

As used herein, “availability” refers to the level of redundancy required to provide the continuous operation expected for the workload domain. As used herein, “performance” refers to the computer processing unit (CPU) operating speeds (e.g., CPU gigahertz (GHz)), memory (e.g., gigabytes (GB) of random access memory (RAM)), mass storage (e.g., GB hard drive disk (HDD), GB solid state drive (SSD)), and power capabilities of a workload domain. As used herein, “capacity” refers to the aggregate number of resources (e.g., aggregate storage, aggregate CPU, etc.) across all servers associated with a cluster and/or a workload domain. In examples disclosed herein, the number of resources (e.g., capacity) for a workload domain is determined based on the redundancy, the CPU operating speed, the memory, the storage, the security, and/or the power requirements selected by a user. For example, more resources are required for a workload domain as the user-selected requirements increase (e.g., higher redundancy, CPU speed, memory, storage, security, and/or power options require more resources than lower redundancy, CPU speed, memory, storage, security, and/or power options).

Example Virtualization Environments

Many different types of virtualization environments exist. Three example types of virtualization environment are: full virtualization, paravirtualization, and operating system virtualization.

Full “virtualization”, as used herein, is a virtualization environment in which hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtual hardware resources to a virtual machine. In a full virtualization environment, the virtual machines do not have direct access to the underlying hardware resources. In a typical full virtualization environment, a host operating system with embedded hypervisor (e.g., VMware ESXi®) is installed on the server hardware. Virtual machines including virtual hardware resources are then deployed on the hypervisor. A guest operating system is installed in the virtual machine. The hypervisor manages the association between the hardware resources of the server hardware and the virtual resources allocated to the virtual machines (e.g., associating physical random access memory (RAM) with virtual RAM). Typically, in full virtualization, the virtual machine and the guest operating system have no visibility and/or direct access to the hardware resources of the underlying server. Additionally, in full virtualization, a full guest operating system is typically installed in the virtual machine while a host operating system is installed on the server hardware. Example full virtualization environments include VMware ESX®, Microsoft Hyper-V®, and Kernel Based Virtual Machine (KVM).

“Paravirtualization”, as used herein, is a virtualization environment in which hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtual hardware resources to a virtual machine, and guest operating systems are also allowed direct access to some or all of the underlying hardware resources of the server (e.g., without accessing an intermediate virtual hardware resource). In a typical paravirtualization system, a host operating system (e.g., a Linux-based operating system) is installed on the server hardware. A hypervisor (e.g., the Xen® hypervisor) executes on the host operating system. Virtual machines including virtual hardware resources are then deployed on the hypervisor. The hypervisor manages the association between the hardware resources of the server hardware and the virtual resources allocated to the virtual machines (e.g., associating physical random access memory (RAM) with virtual RAM). In paravirtualization, the guest operating system installed in the virtual machine is configured also to have direct access to some or all of the hardware resources of the server. For example, the guest operating system may be precompiled with special drivers that allow the guest operating system to access the hardware resources without passing through a virtual hardware layer. For example, a guest operating system may be precompiled with drivers that allow the guest operating system to access a sound card installed in the server hardware. Directly accessing the hardware (e.g., without accessing the virtual hardware resources of the virtual machine) may be more efficient, may allow for performance of operations that are not supported by the virtual machine and/or the hypervisor, etc.

“Operating system virtualization” is also referred to herein as container virtualization. As used herein, “operating system virtualization” refers to a system in which processes are isolated in an operating system. In a typical operating system virtualization system, a host operating system is installed on the server hardware. The host operating system of an operating system virtualization system is configured (e.g., utilizing a customized kernel) to provide isolation and resource management for processes that execute within the host operating system (e.g., applications that execute on the host operating system). The isolation of the processes is known as a container. Several containers may share a host operating system. Thus, a process executing within a container is isolated from other processes executing on the host operating system. Thus, operating system virtualization provides isolation and resource management capabilities without the resource overhead utilized by a full virtualization environment or a paravirtualization environment. Alternatively, the host operating system may be installed in a virtual machine of a full virtualization environment or a paravirtualization environment. Example operating system virtualization environments include Linux Containers LXC and LXD, DockerTM, OpenVZTM, etc.

In some instances, a data center (or pool of linked data centers) may include multiple different virtualization environments. For example, a data center may include hardware resources that are managed by a full virtualization environment, a paravirtualization environment, and an operating system virtualization environment. In such a data center, a workload may be deployed to any of the virtualization environments.

FIGS. 1A-1Cdepict an example system100constructed in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computing platform. The example system100includes an application director106and a cloud manager138to manage a cloud computing platform provider110as described in more detail below. As described herein, the example system100facilitates management of the cloud provider110and does not include the cloud provider110. Alternatively, the system100could be included in the cloud provider110.

The cloud computing platform provider110provisions virtual computing resources (e.g., virtual machines, or “VMs,”114) that may be accessed by users of the cloud computing platform110(e.g., users associated with an administrator116and/or a developer118) and/or other programs, software, device. etc.

An example application102ofFIG. 1Aincludes multiple VMs114. The example VMs114ofFIG. 1Aprovide different functions within the application102(e.g., services, portions of the application102, etc.). One or more of the VMs114of the illustrated example are customized by an administrator116and/or a developer118of the application102relative to a stock or out-of-the-box (e.g., commonly available purchased copy) version of the services and/or application components. Additionally, the services executing on the example VMs114may have dependencies one or more other ones of the VMs114.

As illustrated inFIG. 1A, the example cloud computing platform provider110may provide multiple deployment environments112, for example, for development, testing, staging, and/or production of applications. The administrator116, the developer118, other programs, and/or other devices may access services from the cloud computing platform provider110, for example, via REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs (Application Programming Interface) and/or via any other client-server communication protocol. Example implementations of a REST API for cloud computing services include a vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) and/or vRealize Automation (vRA) API and a vCloud Director API available from VMware, Inc. The example cloud computing platform provider110provisions virtual computing resources (e.g., the VMs114) to provide the deployment environments112in which the administrator116and/or the developer118can deploy multi-tier application(s). One particular example implementation of a deployment environment that may be used to implement the deployment environments112A ofFIG. 1Ais vCloud DataCenter cloud computing services available from VMware, Inc.

In some examples disclosed herein, a lighter-weight virtualization is employed by using containers instead of VMs114as shown in the development environment112B. Example containers114aare software constructs that run on top of a host operating system without the need for a hypervisor or a separate guest operating system. Unlike virtual machines, the containers114ado not instantiate their own operating systems. Like virtual machines, the containers114aare logically separate from one another. Numerous containers can run on a single computer, processor system and/or in the same development environment112. Also like virtual machines, the containers114acan execute instances of applications or programs (e.g., an example application102a) separate from application/program instances executed by the other containers in the same development environment112B.

The example application director106ofFIG. 1A, which may be running in one or more VMs, orchestrates deployment of multi-tier applications onto one of the example deployment environments112A,112B,112C. As illustrated inFIG. 1A, the example application director106includes a topology generator120, a deployment plan generator122, and a deployment director124.

The example topology generator120generates a basic blueprint126ofFIG. 1Athat specifies a logical topology of an application to be deployed. The example basic blueprint126generally captures the structure of an application as a collection of application components executing on virtual computing resources. An example online store application basic blueprint126generated by the example topology generator120may specify a web application (e.g., in the form of a Java web application archive or “WAR” file including dynamic web pages, static web pages, Java servlets, Java classes, and/or other property, configuration and/or resources files that make up a Java web application) executing on an application server (e.g., Apache Tomcat application server) that uses a database (e.g., MongoDB) as a data store. As used herein, the term “application” generally refers to a logical deployment unit, including of one or more application packages and their dependent middleware and/or operating systems. Applications may be distributed across multiple VMs. Thus, in the example described above, the term “application” refers to the entire online store application, including application server and database components, rather than just the web application itself. In some instances, the application may include the underlying hardware and/or virtual computing hardware utilized to implement the components.

The example basic blueprint126ofFIG. 1Amay be assembled from items (e.g., templates) from a catalog130, which is a listing of available virtual computing resources (e.g., VMs, networking, storage, etc.) that may be provisioned from the cloud computing platform provider110and available application components (e.g., software services, scripts, code components, application-specific packages) that may be installed on the provisioned virtual computing resources. The example ofFIG. 1Bshows a more detailed view of example catalog130, explicitly showing for example Application Component150including Initial Application Component Properties154aand Applied Deployment Approval Policy159. Examples of Application Component Properties154ashown inFIG. 1Binclude an Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property, an Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Property, and an Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Property. In other examples: the example Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property can be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine Naming Properties156a, an example Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Property can be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties157a, and an example Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Property can be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties158a. The forgoing are related to VM's. For example, the Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties158acan be broadly directed to examples such as an initial Central Processing Unit (CPU) allocation property for VM's, and an initial memory allocation property for VM's, etc.FIG. 1Balso explicitly shows for example Application Component150as including an Applied Deployment Approval Policy159, which for example include a designated Approver of “Use Event Subscription”159a, and a designated Approval Level as External159b. As discussed in greater detail subsequently herein, the deployment approval policy associated with catalog items affects deployment provisioning approval for the catalog item.

The example catalog130inFIG. 1Bmay be pre-populated and/or customized by an administrator116(e.g., IT (Information Technology) or system administrator) that enters in specifications, configurations, properties, and/or other details about items in the catalog130. Based on the application, the example blueprints126may define one or more dependencies between application components to indicate an installation order of the application components during deployment. For example, since a load balancer usually cannot be configured until a web application is up and running, the developer118may specify a dependency from an Apache service to an application code package.

The example deployment plan generator122of the example application director106ofFIG. 1Agenerates a deployment plan128based on the basic blueprint126that includes deployment settings (e.g., virtual computing resources' cluster size, CPU, memory, networks, etc.) and an execution plan of tasks. The execution plan specifies an order in which virtual computing resources are provisioned and application components are installed, configured, and started. The example deployment plan128ofFIG. 1Aprovides an IT administrator with a process-oriented view of the basic blueprint126that indicates discrete actions to be performed to deploy the application. Different deployment plans128may be generated from a single basic blueprint126to test prototypes (e.g., new application versions), to scale up and/or scale down deployments, and/or to deploy the application to different deployment environments112A,112B.112C, etc. (e.g., for testing, staging, production). In this example the deployment plan128is separated and distributed as a series of local deployment plans having a series of tasks to be executed by the VMs114provisioned from the deployment environment112A. Each VM114coordinates execution of each task with a centralized deployment module (e.g., the deployment director124) to ensure that tasks are executed in an order that complies with dependencies specified in the application blueprint126. The Application Director106can generate a Blueprint Display135, as shown inFIG. 1Aand as shown for example in greater detail inFIG. 1C. In the example ofFIG. 1C, the Blueprint Display135displays an example Blueprint126showing for example a Visual Depiction of Application Component160. In the example ofFIG. 1C, the Application Component includes an example Load Balancer Component162topologically coupled with example Application Server Components164topologically coupled with Database Component166.

The example deployment director124ofFIG. 1Aexecutes the deployment plan128by communicating with the cloud computing platform provider110via a cloud interface132to provision and configure the VMs114in the deployment environment112A and/or containers114ain the deployment environment112B. The example cloud interface132ofFIG. 1Aprovides a communication abstraction layer by which the application director106may communicate with a heterogeneous mixture of cloud provider(s)110and/or deployment environments112A,112B,112C, etc. The deployment director124provides each VM114and/or Containers114A with a series of tasks specific to the receiving VM114and/or Containers114A (herein referred to as a “local deployment plan”). Tasks are executed by the VMs114and/or Containers114A to install, configure, and/or start one or more application components. For example, a task may be a script that, when executed by a VM114and/or Containers114A, causes the VM114and/or Containers114A to retrieve and install particular software packages from a central package repository134. The example deployment director124ofFIG. 1Acoordinates with the VMs114and/or Containers114A to execute the tasks in an order that observes installation dependencies between VMs114and/or Containers114A according to the deployment plan128. After the application has been deployed, the application director106may be utilized to monitor and/or modify (e.g., scale) the deployment.

The cloud manager138ofFIG. 1Ainteracts with the components of the system100(e.g., the application director106and the cloud provider110) to facilitate the management of the resources of the cloud provider110. The example cloud manager138includes a blueprint manager140to facilitate the creation and management of multi-machine blueprints and a resource manager144to reclaim unused cloud resources. The cloud manager138may additionally include other components for managing a cloud environment.

The blueprint manager140of the illustrated example manages the creation of multi-machine blueprints that define the attributes of multiple virtual machines as a single group that can be provisioned, deployed, managed, etc. as a single unit. For example, a multi-machine blueprint may include definitions for multiple basic blueprints that make up a service (e.g., an e-commerce provider that includes web servers, application servers, and database servers). A basic blueprint is a definition of policies (e.g., hardware policies, security policies, network policies, etc.) for a single machine (e.g., a single virtual machine such as a web server virtual machine and/or container). Accordingly, the blueprint manager140facilitates more efficient management of multiple virtual machines and/or containers than manually managing (e.g., deploying) basic blueprints individually. Example management of multi-machine blueprints is described in further detail in conjunction withFIG. 2.

The example blueprint manager140ofFIG. 1Aadditionally annotates basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints to control how workflows associated with the basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints are executed. A “workflow” as used herein is a series of actions and decisions to be executed in a virtual computing platform. The example system100ofFIG. 1Aincludes first and second distributed execution manager(s) (DEM(s))146A and146B to execute workflows. According to the illustrated example, the first DEM146A includes a first set of characteristics and is physically located at a first location148A. The second DEM146B includes a second set of characteristics and is physically located at a second location148B. The location and characteristics of a DEM may make that DEM more suitable for performing certain workflows. For example, a DEM may include hardware particularly suited for performance of certain tasks (e.g., high-end calculations), may be located in a desired area (e.g., for compliance with local laws that require certain operations to be physically performed within a country's boundaries), may specify a location or distance to other DEMS for selecting a nearby DEM (e.g., for reducing data transmission latency), etc. Thus, the example blueprint manager140ofFIG. 1Aannotates basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints with capabilities that can be performed by a DEM that is labeled with the same or similar capabilities.

The resource manager144of the illustrated example facilitates recovery of cloud computing resources of the cloud provider110that are no longer being activity utilized. Automated reclamation may include identification, verification and/or reclamation of unused, underutilized, etc. resources to improve the efficiency of the running cloud infrastructure.

FIG. 2illustrates an example implementation of the blueprint126as a multi-machine blueprint generated by the example blueprint manager140ofFIG. 1. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 2, three example basic blueprints (a web server blueprint202, an application server blueprint204, and a database (DB) server blueprint206) have been created (e.g., by the topology generator120). For example, the web server blueprint202, the application server blueprint204, and the database server blueprint206may define the components of an e-commerce online store.

The example blueprint manager140provides a user interface for a user of the blueprint manager140(e.g., the administrator116, the developer118, etc.) to specify blueprints (e.g., basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints) to be assigned to an instance of a multi-machine blueprint208. For example, the user interface may include a list of previously generated basic blueprints (e.g., the web server blueprint202, the application server blueprint204, the database server blueprint206, etc.) to allow selection of desired blueprints. The blueprint manager140combines the selected blueprints into the definition of the multi-machine blueprint208and stores information about the blueprints in a multi-machine blueprint record defining the multi-machine blueprint208. The blueprint manager140may additionally include a user interface to specify other characteristics corresponding to the multi-machine blueprint208. For example, a creator of the multi-machine blueprint208may specify a minimum number and a maximum number of each blueprint component of the multi-machine blueprint208that may be provisioned during provisioning of the multi-machine blueprint208.

Accordingly, any number of virtual machines (e.g., the virtual machines associated with the blueprints in the multi-machine blueprint208) and/or containers may be managed collectively. For example, the multiple virtual machines corresponding to the multi-machine blueprint208may be provisioned based on an instruction to provision the multi-machine blueprint208, may be power cycled by an instruction, may be shut down by an instruction, may be booted by an instruction, etc. As illustrated inFIG. 2, an instruction to provision the multi-machine blueprint208may result in the provisioning of a multi-machine service formed from one or more VMs114that includes virtualized web server(s)210A, virtualized application server(s)210B, and virtualized database server(s)210C. The number of virtual machines and/or containers provisioned for each blueprint may be specified during the provisioning of the multi-machine blueprint208(e.g., subject to the limits specified during creation or management of the multi-machine blueprint208).

The multi-machine blueprint208maintains the reference to the basic blueprints202,204,206. Accordingly, changes made to the blueprints (e.g., by a manager of the blueprints different than the manager of the multi-machine blueprint208) may be incorporated into future provisioning of the multi-machine blueprint208. Accordingly, an administrator maintaining the source blueprints (e.g., an administrator charged with managing the web server blueprint202) may change or update the source blueprint and the changes may be automatically propagated to the machines provisioned from the multi-machine blueprint208. For example, if an operating system update is applied to a disk image referenced by the web server blueprint202(e.g., a disk image embodying the primary disk of the web server blueprint202), the updated disk image is utilized when deploying the multi-machine blueprint210. Additionally, the blueprints may specify that the machines210A,210B,210C of the multi-machine service210provisioned from the multi-machine blueprint208operate in different environments. For example, some components may be physical machines, some may be on-premise virtual machines, and some may be virtual machines at a cloud service.

Several multi-machine blueprints may be generated to provide one of one or more varied or customized services. For example, if virtual machines deployed in the various States of the United States require different settings, a multi-machine blueprint could be generated for each such state. The multi-machine blueprints could reference the same build profile and/or disk image, but may include different settings specific to each state. For example, the deployment workflow may include an operation to set a locality setting of an operating system to identify a particular State in which a resource is physically located. Thus, a single disk image may be utilized for multiple multi-machine blueprints reducing the amount of storage space for storing disk images compared with storing a disk image for each customized setting.

FIG. 3illustrates an example installation of deployed appliances or virtual appliances (vAs) (e.g. VMs114and or containers114a) and associated virtualized servers acting as hosts for deployment of component servers (e.g., Web server, application server, database server, etc.) for a customer. The vAs can be deployed as an automation tool, for example, used to deliver VMs and associated applications for on-premise automation and/or handling of external cloud resources (e.g., Microsoft Azure™, Amazon Web Services™, etc.).

As shown in the example ofFIG. 3, an installation300includes a load balancer (LB)310to assign tasks and/or manage access among a plurality of vAs320,322,324. Each vA320-324is a deployed VM114or container114a. In this example, the vA320communicates with a plurality of component or host servers330a,334a,336awhich store components for execution by users (e.g., Web server210A with Web components, App server210B with application components, DB server210C with database components, etc.). As shown in the example ofFIG. 3, component servers334a,336acan stem from component server330arather than (or in addition to) directly from the virtual appliance320, although the vA320can still communicate with such servers334a,336a. The LB310enables the multiple vAs320-324and multiple servers330-336to appear as one device to a user. Access to functionality can then be distributed among appliances320-324by the LB310and among servers330a-336aby the respective appliance320, for example.

In the example installation300, each vA320,322,324includes a management endpoint340,342,344. Each component server330a,334a,336aincludes a management agent350a,354a,356a. The management agents350a-356acan communicate with their respective endpoint340to facilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc., for example. The LB310can use least response time, round-robin, and/or other method to balance traffic to vAs320-324and servers330-336, for example.

In certain examples, a graphical user interface associated with a front end of the load balancer310guides a customer through one or more questions to determine system requirements for an installation300to be performed. Once the customer has completed the questionnaire and provided firewall access to install the agents350a-356a, the agents350a-356acommunicate with the endpoint340without customer involvement. Thus, for example, if a new employee needs a Microsoft Windows® machine, a manager selects an option (e.g., clicks a button, etc.) via the graphical user interface to install a VM114and/or container114athat is managed through the installation300. To the user, he or she is working on a single machine, but behind the scenes, the virtual appliance (e.g. vA320) is accessing different servers (e.g. Component Servers330a-336a) depending upon what functionality is to be executed.

In certain examples, agents350-356are deployed in a same data center as the endpoint340to which the agents350-356are associated. The deployment can include a plurality of agent servers330-336distributed worldwide, and the deployment can be scalable to accommodate additional server(s) with agent(s) to increase throughput and concurrency, for example.

As will be discussed in greater detail subsequently herein, one or more of the virtual appliances (vAs) can be configured as a Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324. Similar to vA320communicating with the plurality of component or host servers330a,334a,336a, the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324can similarly communicate with another plurality of component or host servers330b,334b,336b, which can likewise store components for execution by users (e.g., Web server210A with Web components, App server210B with application components, DB server210C with database components, etc.). Each component server330b,334b,336bassociated with the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324can include a respective management agent350b,354b,356b. These management agents350b-356bcan communicate with their respective endpoint344of Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324to facilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc., for example.

FIGS. 4A-4Gillustrate example implementations of virtual appliances. It should be understood thatFIG. 4Aillustrates a generalized example implementation of a vA320ofFIG. 3.FIGS. 4B-4Fillustrate a more particularized implementation of the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324. Looking first at the example ofFIG. 4A, the vA320of this example includes a Service Provisioner410a, an orchestrator420a, an event broker430a, an authentication provider440a, an internal reverse proxy450a, and a database460a. The components410a,420a,430a,440a,450a,460aof the vA320may be implemented by one or more of the VMs114or containers114a. The example Service Provisioner410aprovides services to provision interfaces (e.g., Web interface, application interface, etc.) for the vA320. The example orchestrator (e.g., vCO)420ais an embedded or internal orchestrator for processing workflows, which can leverage a provisioning manager, such as the application director106and/or catalog database130and/or cloud manager138, to provision VM services but is embedded in the vA320. For example, the vCO420acan be used to invoke a blueprint to provision a manager for services.

Example services can include catalog services, identity services, component registry services, event broker services, IaaS, XaaS, etc. Catalog services provide a user interface via which a user can request provisioning of different preset environments (e.g., a VM including an operating system and software and some customization, etc.), for example. Identity services facilitate authentication and authorization of users and assigned roles, for example. The component registry maintains information corresponding to installed and deployed services (e.g., uniform resource locators for services installed in a VM/vA, etc.), for example. The event broker provides a messaging broker for event-based communication, for example. The IaaS provisions one or more VMs and/or containers for a customer via the vA320. The XaaS extends this to also request, approve, provision, operate, and decommission any type of catalog items (i.e storage, applications, accounts, and anything else that the catalog provides as a service).

The example event broker430aofFIG. 4Aprovides a mechanism to handle tasks which are transferred between services with the orchestrator420a. The example authentication provider440a(e.g., VMware Horizon™ services, etc.) authenticates access to services and data, for example.

The components of the vA320access each other through REST API calls behind the internal reverse proxy450a(e.g., a high availability (HA) proxy HAProxy) which provides a high availability load balancer and proxy for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) based application requests. In this example, the proxy450aforwards communication traffic from within the vA320and/or between vAs320,322,324ofFIG. 3to the appropriate component(s) of the vA320. In certain examples, services access the local host/proxy450aon a particular port, and the call is masked by the proxy450aand forwarded to the particular component of the vA320. Since the call is masked by the proxy450a, components can be adjusted within the vA320without impacting outside users.

FIGS. 4B-4Gillustrate a more particularized example implementation of the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324. In the example ofFIGS. 4B-4Gthe Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324includes a Service Provisioner410band a Deployment Approval Manager Service420b. The Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan include a Deployment Approval Event Record422, Deployment Approval Event Information423, a Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424, a Deployment Approval Timer425and a Deployment Approval Processor426, as shown in detail in the example ofFIG. 4C. The Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324further includes Extensible Approval Service420c, which includes Plugin420d. The Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324further includes Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e. The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e, as shown in detail in the example ofFIG. 4E, can include a Deployment Approval Workflow Communications Manager427, a Deployment Approval Workflow Execution Unit428, and Deployment Approval Workflow429. The Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324further includes a Deployment Event Broker430b. The Deployment Event Broker430bcan include a Deployment Event Subscription Manager431, a Deployment Approval Topic Registry432, and a Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433aincluding a Pre-Approval Provisioning Schema434a, and a Post-Approval Provisioning Topic433bincluding a Post-Approval Provisioning Schema434b. The Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324further includes an Authentication Provider440b, a Proxy450band a Catalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database460b. As shown in greater detail in the example ofFIGS. 4F and 4Gthe Catalog Item Approval Database460bcan include Application Component150. Application Component150can include Initial Application Component Properties154a, Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154b, Processed application component approval proposals154c, Processed Application Component Properties and Applied Deployment Approval Policy159. Initial Application Component Properties154acan include Initial Virtual Machine Naming Properties156a, Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties157aand Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties158a. Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154bcan include an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal156b, Initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal157band Initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal158b. Processed application component approval proposals154ccan include Processed Virtual Machine Naming Approval156c, Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval157cand Processed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval158c. Processed Application Component Properties can include Processed Virtual Machine Naming Properties, Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Properties, Processed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties, application deployment approval policy159, approver designation159aand approval level159b.

The components150,154a,154b,154c,156a,156b,156c,157a,157b,157c,158a,158b,158c,159,159a,159b,410b,420b,420c,420d,420e,422,423,424,425,426,427,428,429,430b,431,432,433,434,440b,450b, and460bof the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324may be implemented by one or more VM's114or containers114a.

Accordingly, similar to what was discussed previously in connection withFIG. 4A, in the example ofFIGS. 4B-4G, the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324likewise includes a Service Provisioner410band an internal reverse proxy450b. The Service Provisioner410bprovides services to provision interfaces (e.g., Web interface, application interface, etc.) for the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324. The proxy450bforwards communication traffic from within the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324and/or between vAs320,322,324ofFIG. 3to the appropriate component(s) of the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324. The components of the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324access each other through REST API calls behind the internal reverse proxy450b(e.g., a high availability (HA) proxy HAProxy) which provides a high availability load balancer and proxy for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) based application requests.

Further, the previous discussions of the example orchestrator (e.g., vCO)420aare likewise applicable to the Deployment Approval Manager Service420band the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e. The Deployment Approval Manager Service420band the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan likewise be embedded or internal, but also can be external, and can function as orchestrators for processing workflows. The Deployment Approval Manager Service420band the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan likewise leverage the provisioning manager, such as the application director106and/or catalog database130and/or cloud manager138, to provision VM services. The application director106and/or catalog database130and/or cloud manager138can be embedded in the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324. In an example, the Deployment Approval Manager Service420b, and the example Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan be used to invoke a blueprint to provision a manager for services.

As another example, the Catalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database460bshown inFIG. 4B(and shown in greater detail inFIGS. 4F and 4G) can leverage the catalog database130shown inFIG. 1A, so that Catalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database460bcan include Application Component150including Initial Application Component Properties154aand Applied Deployment Approval Policy159. Examples of Application Component Properties154afrom the example ofFIG. 1Band also in the example ofFIG. 4Finclude an Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property, an Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Property, and an Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Property. In other examples: the example Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property can be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine Naming Properties156a, an example Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Property can be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties157a, and an example Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Property can be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties158a. The forgoing are related to VM's and/or containers. For example, the Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties158acan be broadly directed to examples such as an initial Central Processing Unit (CPU) allocation property for VM's and/or containers, and an initial memory allocation property for VM's, and/or containers etc.

The deployment approval policy can be applied to the application component in the database. The deployment approval manager can select from among the plurality of initial application component properties to propose for approval in the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal in accordance with the Deployment Approval Policy. For example, the plurality of Initial Application Component Properties can include a first grouping of Initial Application Component Properties. In another example the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal proposing approval of one of the Initial Application Component Properties is the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal proposing approval of the first grouping of Initial Application Component Properties.

Examples of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154bshown inFIG. 4Finclude Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal156b, Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal157band Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal158b. Examples of the Processed Application Component Approval Proposals154cshown inFIG. 4Ginclude Processed Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal156c, Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal157cand Processed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal158c.

As will be discussed in greater detail subsequently herein, after the Deployment Event Broker430breplies back to the Approval Manager Service420bwith the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal, the Approval Manager Service420bcan use the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to determine approval of one of the initial application component properties based upon the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

The Application Component150can provide a logical template of Application102,102afor deployment in an Application Deployment Environment112. The Catalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database460bcan include the Application Component150to provide the logical template of the Application102,102a.

The example Deployment Approval Manager Service, also referenced more generally as Deployment Approval Manager420b, can be implemented as a service. As mentioned previously, various services can include catalog services, identity services, component registry services, event broker services, IaaS, XaaS, etc. Using the IaaS, the Deployment Approval Manager Service420band/or the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan provision one or more VMs for the customer via the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324. This can be extended using the XaaS, so that the Deployment Approval Manager Service420band/or the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan provide for various deployment activities (e.g. requesting, approving, provisioning, operating, and/or decommissioning) with respect to any type of catalog database130items (e.g., storage, applications, accounts, and anything else that the catalog database130provides as a service).

As mentioned previously, Catalog services provide the user interface via which the user can request provisioning of different preset environments (e.g., a VM including an operating system and software and some customization, etc.), for example. When a user requests a catalog item to which an approval policy is applied that includes the “Use Event Subscription” Approver designation, this is an example of an occurrence of a deployment approval event (a deployment approval event occurrence.) For example, the catalog item can be an Application Component150, and an Applied Deployment Approval Policy154can be associated with the Application Component150, wherein the Applied Deployment Approval Policy159can have both a designated Approver: Use Event Subscription159aand also a designated Approval Level: External159b, as shown as included in the database Catalog130ofFIGS. 1B and 1nthe Catalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database460bofFIG. 4F. Accordingly, a user request for the Application Component150is an example of a deployment approval event occurrence.

The Approval Manager Service420bshown inFIG. 4B(and shown in greater detail inFIG. 4C) can be associated with the Applied Deployment Approval Policy159in the Catalog Item Approval Database460b. The Approval Manager Service420bcan include a Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event information423about the Deployment Approval Event Occurrence. For example, the Approval Manager Service420bcan include a Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event Information423about the user requesting the Application Component150. The Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event Information423about the deployment approval event occurrence can include a Deployment Approval Event Log.

The Deployment Approval Event Information423can also include information of at least one of, property names, property values, information about the request, identifier for the source request, name of the requested item, description of the requested item, justification provided by the user specifying why the request is required, description entered by the user specifying the purpose of the request, an approval level identifier (ID), an approval level name, a time the approval request is created, a principal identifier (ID) of the user for whom the source request is initiated, a business group identified (ID), a principal identifier id of the user who actually submits the request, information about the source of the request, identifier of the source object, as defined by an intiator service, identifier of the service which initiated the approval, and/or identifier of a class to which the source object belongs. The Deployment Approval Event Information423can be included in the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal in a First Approval Payload of a First Deployment Approval Event Notification.

For example, the Deployment Approval Manager Service420bshown inFIG. 4B(and shown in greater detail inFIG. 4C) can include a Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event Information423about the Deployment Approval Event Occurrence. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan include a Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event information423about the user requesting the Application Component150. For example, the Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event Information423about the deployment Approval event occurrence can include the Deployment Approval Event Log.

The Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan include a Deployment Approval Processor426to process the Deployment Approval Event Information, and can further include a Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424. The Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424of the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan generate a First Deployment Approval Event Notification in response to the Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event Information423about a deployment approval event occurrence. The first Deployment Approval Event Notification can include Deployment Approval Event Information423, and can include a First Approval Payload including the initial application component approval proposal.

The initial application component approval proposal of the First Approval Payload can include at least one of an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, an initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal, and an initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal. The initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal can be broadly directed to examples such as an initial Central Processing Unit (CPU) allocation approval proposal for VM's, and an initial memory allocation approval proposal for VM's, etc.

An example deployment approval policy can be applied to the Application Component150in the database460b(e.g. Applied Deployment Approval Policy159.) The example deployment approval manager420bcan generate the initial application component approval proposal, for example via the Deployment Approval Processor426and the Applied Deployment Approval Policy159. The Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can include at least one of: an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, an initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal, and an initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal.

In another example, the initial application component approval proposal can be a plurality of Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154b. The deployment approval policy is applied to the Application Component150in the Database460b(e.g. Applied Deployment Approval Policy159). The Deployment Approval Manager420can select from among the plurality of Initial Application Component Properties154ato select for the Initial application component approval proposals154bin accordance with the deployment approval policy159. The Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154bcan include at least one of: an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, an initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal, and an initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal. In yet another example, the selected initial application component property can be a first selected grouping of initial application component properties. The generating of the initial application component approval proposal can include selecting the first selected grouping of initial application component properties to generate the initial application component approval proposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager420can select the first selected grouping of initial application component properties to select for the initial application component approval proposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager420can use wildcards and/or have multiple sub-values in a value field, which can be separated by a pre-defined symbol, to select the first selected grouping of initial application component properties to select for the initial application component approval proposal.

As already mentioned, the First Deployment Approval Event Notification can include Deployment Approval Event Information423, and can include a First Approval Payload including the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal. The First Approval Payload of the First Deployment Event Notification can include a serialized form of at least a portion of the Deployment Approval Event Record422that records the Deployment Approval Event Information423about the deployment approval event occurrence. The Deployment Approval Manager420bcan generate the First Deployment Approval Event Notification in response to the Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event Information423about the deployment approval event occurrence.

The Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424of the Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan send the First Deployment Approval Event Notification to the Deployment Event Broker430b. For example, the Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424of the Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan submit the First Deployment Approval Event Notification to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433(selected from Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433aand Post Approval Provisioning Topic433b) of the Deployment Event Broker430bfor publication to the Extensible Approval Service420c. The Deployment Event Broker430bcan consume the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501submitted by the Deployment Approval Manager Service420b. Authentication provider440bcan authenticate access to the Deployment Event Broker430b.

The Deployment Approval Event Broker430bof this example includes a scalable distributed service. The Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan start the Deployment Approval Timer425running, after the Deployment Approval Manager Service420bsends the First Deployment Approval Event Notification to the Deployment Event Broker430b. The Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan wait, for a predetermined period of time as indicated using the Deployment Approval Timer425, for a responsive event notification (e.g. a reply-back) from the Deployment Event Broker430b. For example, if the predetermined time period is 24 hours, then the Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan wait for 24 hours a reply-back from the Deployment Event Broker430b. If the Deployment Approval Manager Service420breceives no reply-back from the Deployment Event Broker430bwithin the predetermined time period as indicated by the Deployment Approval Timer425, then the Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan notify the user.

The Deployment Event Broker430bshown inFIG. 4B, and shown in greater detail inFIG. 4Dcan include a Deployment Event Subscription Manager431and a Deployment Approval Topic Registry432. The Deployment Event Broker430bcan include Approval Provisioning Topics433. At least one of the Approval Provisioning Topics433can be selected (e.g., at least one of Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433aand Post-Approval Provisioning Topic433bcan be selected) to publish a First Deployment Approval Event Notification received from the Approval Manager Service420b. For example, the Deployment Event Broker430bcan include selectable first and second Approval Provisioning Topics, wherein the first Approval Provisioning Topic433aof the Deployment Event Broker433can be a Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433ahaving a Preapproval Provisioning Schema434a, and the second Approval Provisioning Topic433bof the Deployment Event Broker can be a Post-Approval Provisioning Topic433bhaving a Post-Approval Provisioning Schema434b. The Deployment Event Broker430bcan publish the First Deployment Approval Event Notification, via a selected Approval Provisioning Topic433from among the first and second Approval Provisioning Topic433a,433b(e.g. selected from Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433aand Post-Approval Provisioning Topic433b), in response to receiving the First Deployment Approval Event Notification received the Approval Manager Service420b.

The Approval Manager Service420bcan select the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433from among the first and second Approval Provisioning Topics433a,433bbased on the Applied Deployment Approval Policy154for approving provisioning of the associated Application Component150. For example, if the Applied Deployment Approval Policy154for approving provisioning of the associated Application Component150is to provision the Application Component150prior to the Approval Manager Service420bindicating that approval is complete, then the Approval Manager Service420bcan select the Pre-approval Provisioning Topic433. If the Applied Deployment Approval Policy154for approving provisioning of the associated Application Component150is to provision the Application Component150after the Approval Manager Service420bindicating that approval is complete, then the Approval Manager Service420bcan select the Post-approval Provisioning Topic435. The Deployment Event Broker430bcan include a Deployment Event Subscription Manager431to manage subscriptions to the topics433a,433b. Topic subscriptions can be registered in the Deployment Approval Topic Registry432.

Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433aincludes a Pre-Approval Provisioning Schema434a. Post-Approval Provisioning Topic433bincludes a Post-Approval Provisioning Schema434b. The Deployment Event Broker430bincludes Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433aand/or Post-Approval Provisioning Topic433b, e.g., selected Approval Provisioning Topic433, to publish the First Deployment Approval Event Notification502to the Extensible Approval Service420c, in response to the Deployment Event Broker430bconsuming the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501.

The Extensible Approval Service420ccan include at least one Plugin420dso as to facilitate extensibility of the Extensible Approval Service420c. The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan be employed to process a deployment approval workflow429. The Plugin420dof the Extensible Approval Service420ccan facilitate communication between the Extensible Approval Service420cand the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e. The Extensible Approval Service420ccan generate a Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request511in response to the First Deployment Approval Notification502. The Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request511can include the Initial application component approval proposal.

Examples of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eshown inFIG. 4Bare shown in greater detail inFIG. 4E. As shown inFIG. 4E, the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan include a Deployment Approval Workflow Communications Manager427to manage communications with the Deployment Approval Workflow Processors420e. Additionally, the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan include Deployment Approval Workflow Execution Unit428to process the Deployment Approval Workflow429.

The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan process the Deployment Approval Workflow429to process the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to be included in the Second Approval Payload. As mentioned previously, The Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload can include at least one of an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, an Initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal, and an Initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal. The Processed Application Component Approval Proposal of the Second Approval Payload can include at least one of a Processed Virtual Machine Naming Approval, a Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval, and a Processed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal.

The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan process the Deployment Approval Workflow429in response to the Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request511. The Deployment Approval Workflow429can process the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. In another example, the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can be a plurality of Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154b, and the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor can process the Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154binto a plurality of Processed Application Component Approval Proposals154c.

For example, an Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload can be processed by the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420einto a Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to be included in a Second Approval Payload of a Second Deployment Approval Event Notification. The Processed Application Component Approval Proposal can indicate approval and/or disapproval of at least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal. Further, in the case of disapproval of at least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal, the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal can include an approved counterproposal to at least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal.

For example, part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can include the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example “foo-machine-name”). When processed by the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e, the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example “foo-machine-name”) part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can be processed to indicate approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example approval or disapproval of example “foo-machine-name”). The indication of approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal can be included in the Processed Application Component Approval. Moreover, in the case of disapproval, for example disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example disapproval of “foo-machine-name”), the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal can include an approved counterproposal to at least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal, e.g., an approved counterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal, e.g., “my-foo-machine-name” can be included as an approved counterproposal to “foo-machine-name”. The approved counter proposal “my-foo-machine-name” can be included in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal, to be included in the Second Approval Payload of the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification.

As another example, the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal (for example an address reservation “198.111.111”) can be processed into a Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal, indicating approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal. Moreover, in the case of disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal, e.g., disapproval of an address reservation “198.111.111”, the Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal can include an approved counterproposal, for example an approved counterproposal address reservation “198.999.999”.

As another example, the Initial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal (for example “4 Gigabytes of Memory”) of the First Approval Payload can be processed into a Processed Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal, indicating approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal. Moreover, in the case of disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal, e.g., disapproval of “4 Gigabytes of Memory”, the Processed Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal can include an approved counterproposal, for example an approved counterproposal “2 Gigabytes of Memory”, to be included in the Second Approval Payload.

As another example, the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal (for example “4 CPUs”) of the First Approval Payload can be processed into the Processed Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal, indicating approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal. Moreover, in the case of disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal, e.g., disapproval of “4 CPUs”, the Processed Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal can include an approved counterproposal, for example an approved counterproposal “2 CPU's” to be included in the Second Approval Payload.

Processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow429can start an external approval interaction with one or more users through, for example, email or other user notification and/or can go to an external 3rd party service for approval. Processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow429can await finishing processing for receiving an approval (and/or disapproval) answer from the external approval interaction with one or more users and/or the 3rd party service. For example, when the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ereceives an approval answer (and/or disapproval answer) from the external approval interaction with one or more users and/or the 3rd party service, processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow429can finish. The approval answer (and/or disapproval answer) can provide for indication of approval or disapproval, depending on whether approval is approved or disapproved by the external approval interaction with one or more users and/or the 3rd party service.

The Extensible Approval Service420ccan be in communication with the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eto determine whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eis finished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow429(e.g. whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eis finished processing the Initial application component approval proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.) The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan respond to the Extensible Approval Service420cwith the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to be included in the Second Approval Payload, after the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420efinishes processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow429(e.g. after the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eis finished processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.) The Extensible Approval Service420ccan generate the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503in response to an occurrence of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420efinishing processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow429(e.g. generate the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503in response to an occurrence of the Workflow Processor420efinishing processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.) The Second Deployment Approval Event Notification includes the Second Approval Payload. The Second Approval Payload includes the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

The selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan be repliable. For example, as among the Approval Provisioning Topics433at least one of Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433aand Post-Approval Provisioning Topic433bcan be selected, and the of Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433aand Post-Approval Provisioning Topic433bcan be repliable. The Extensible Approval Service420ccan reply back to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bwith the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503including the Second Approval Payload. In turn, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan reply back to the Deployment Approval Manager420bwith the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification504including the second approval payload. The Deployment Approval Manager420bcan determine approval of one of the Initial Application Component Properties based upon the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

In another example, the Processed application component approval proposal can be a plurality of Processed Application Component Approval Proposals154c, and the Deployment Approval Manager can determine approval of the Initial Application Component Properties based upon the Processed Application Component Approval Proposals154c.

For example, as mentioned previously herein, the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal can indicate approval and/or disapproval of at least part of the Initial Application Component Proposal. Accordingly, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan determine approval of one of the Initial Application Component Properties based upon the indication of approval and/or disapproval of at least part of the Initial Application Component Proposal in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

Further, as mentioned previously herein, in the case of disapproval of at least part of the Initial Application Component Proposal, the Processed Application Component Approval can include the approved counterproposal to at least part of the Initial Application Component Proposal. Accordingly, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan modify one of the Initial Application Component Properties based upon the approved counterproposal to at least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. For example, as mentioned previously, part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can include the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example “foo-machine-name”). When processed by the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e, the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example “foo-machine-name”) part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can be processed to indicate approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example approval or disapproval of example “foo-machine-name”). The indication of approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal can be included in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. Moreover, in the case of disapproval, for example disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example disapproval of “foo-machine-name”), the Processed Application Component Approval can include an approved counterproposal to at least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal, e.g., the approved counterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal, e.g., “my-foo-machine-name” can be included as the approved counterproposal to “foo-machine-name”. The approved counter proposal “my-foo-machine-name” can be included in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal, to be included in the Second Approval Payload of the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification. Accordingly, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan determine approval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property based upon the indication of approval and/or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal, e.g. can determine disapproval of “foo-machine-name” based on the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. Moreover, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan modify the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property, e.g., modify “foo-machine-name” to “my-foo-machine-name”, based upon the approved counterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

Similarly, as another example, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan determine approval of the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Property based upon the indication of approval and/or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal in the Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal, e.g., can determine disapproval of the address reservation “198.111.111” based on the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. Moreover, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan modify the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Property, e.g., modify “198.111.111” to “198.999.999”, based upon the approved counterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

Similarly, as another example, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan determine approval of the Initial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Property based upon the indication of approval and/or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal in the Processed Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal, e.g., can determine disapproval of “4 Gigabytes of Memory” based on the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. Moreover, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan modify the Initial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Property, e.g., can modify “4 Gigabytes of Memory” to “2 Gigabytes of Memory” based upon the approved counterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

Similarly, as another example, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan determine approval of the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Property based upon the indication of approval and/or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal in the Processed Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal, e.g. can determine disapproval of “4 CPUs” based on the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. Moreover, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan modify the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Property, e.g., modify “4 CPUs” to “2 CPUs” based upon the approved counterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

FIG. 5illustrates deployment approval event notifications occurring in the context of the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324ofFIGS. 4B-4G. In the example ofFIG. 5, included are Deployment Approval Manager Service420b, Deployment Event Broker430b, Extensible Approval Service420cincluding Plugin420dand Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e. The Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan generate a First Deployment Approval Event Notification that includes a First Approval Payload. The First Approval Payload includes the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal. The Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan submit the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501, including the First Approval Payload, to the Deployment Event Broker430bfor publication. Example Schemas434a,434bof the Approval Provisioning Topics433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan use a data structure having a variable-length element like a property array, or in this case an initial approval array (e.g. key-value pair) for storing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload, as shown for example inFIG. 5. As a general matter, in the example topic-based system shown in the figures, event notifications are published by event notification producers/generators to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430b, and in turn the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433publishes the event notifications to subscribers registered with the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433to receive the event notifications. The selected Approval Provisioning Topic433functions as a named logical channel for subscribers registered with the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433to receive the event notifications. The selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan perform a store and forward function to route event notifications from event notification producers/generators to subscribers. So in the example shown inFIG. 5, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan route/publish the First Deployment Approval Event Notification from the Deployment Approval Manager Service420b(as event notification generator/producer) to the Extensible Approval Service420c(as event notification subscriber).

In particular, as shown in the example ofFIG. 5, the Deployment Event Broker430bcan consume the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501(including the First Approval Payload) submitted by the Deployment Approval Manager Service420b. The Deployment Event Broker430bthen routes/publishes the First Deployment Approval Event Notification502to the Extensible Approval Service420cas subscriber to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433, in response to the Deployment Event Broker430bconsuming the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501. It should be noted that the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan be repliable. For example, since the example selected Approval Provisioning Topic433is repliable, the example selected Approval Provisioning Topic433can accept the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification as a reply back notification from the Extensible Approval Service420csubscriber, in reply back to the prior First Deployment Approval Event Notification received by the Extensible Approval Service420csubscriber from the repliable selected Approval Provisioning Topic433. A repliable topic can be defined as capable of accepting a reply back notification from a subscriber, in reply back to a prior notification received by the subscriber from the repliable topic. As will be discussed in greater detail subsequently herein, the Extensible Approval Service420ccan reply back to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bwith a Second Deployment Approval Event Notification504. However, in the example ofFIG. 5, prior to any replying back, the Deployment Event Broker430bfirst publishes the First Deployment Approval Event Notification502to the Extensible Approval Service420c, in response to the Deployment Event Broker430bconsuming the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501.

The Extensible Approval Service420ccan generate a Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request511in response to the First Deployment Approval Notification502. The Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request511can include the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal.

In response to the Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request511, the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan process the Deployment Approval Workflow429, so as to process the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload into the Processed application component approval proposal, to be included in the Second Approval Payload. The Extensible Approval Service420ccan be in communication with the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eto determine whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eis finished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow429(e.g. whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eis finished processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed application component approval proposal.) For example, this may be accomplished with Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420esetting a flag of occurrence for the Extensible Approval Service420c, or by the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eissuing some sort of notification or notification message.

As shown in the example ofFIG. 5, the Extensible Approval Service420ccan generate a Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503in response to an occurrence of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420efinishing processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow429(e.g. generate the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503in response to an occurrence of the Workflow Processor420efinishing processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed application component approval proposal.) The Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503includes the Second Approval Payload. The Second Approval Payload includes the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. As mentioned previously, example Schemas434a,434bof the Approval Provisioning Topics433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan use a data structure having a variable-length element like a property array, or in this case a processed approval array (e.g. key-value pair) for storing the Processed application component approval proposal of the Second Approval Payload, as shown for example inFIG. 5.

As mentioned previously, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan be repliable. The Extensible Approval Service420ccan reply back to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bwith the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503including the Second Approval Payload. In turn, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan reply back to the Deployment Approval Manager420bwith the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification504including the Second Approval Payload. Accordingly, in addition to being capable of accepting a reply back notification from a subscriber, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433is also capable of sending a reply back notification to a generator/producer, in reply back to a prior notification received by the topic from the generator/producer. For example, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433can reply back to the Deployment Approval Manager420bwith the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification504, in reply back to the prior First Deployment Approval Event Notification received by the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433from the Deployment Approval Manager420b, as generator/producer of the First Deployment Approval Event Notification.

While an example manner of implementing the system100is illustrated inFIGS. 1A-1C, and an example manner of implementing the blueprints202-208and an example manner of implementing the multimachine service210is illustrated inFIG. 2, and an example manner of implementing installation300is illustrated inFIG. 3, and an example manner of implementing virtual appliance320, Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324, Deployment Approval Manager Service420b, Deployment Event Broker430bDeployment Approval Workflow Processor420eand Catalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database460bis illustrated inFIGS. 4A-4G, and an example manner of operating the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324is illustrated inFIG. 5, one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated in these foregoing figures may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.

Further, the example application102,102a, the example deployment environment104, the example application director106, the example virtual infrastructure navigator108, the example cloud provider110, the example deployment environments112, the example VMs114, the example containers114a, the example topology generator120, the example deployment plan generator122, the example deployment director124, the example blueprint126,127, the example deployment plans128, the example catalog database130, the example cloud interface132, the example central package repository134, the example blueprint display135, the example cloud manager138, the example blueprint manager140, the example distributed execution managers146A,146B, the example application component150, the example initial application component properties154a, the example initial virtual machine naming properties156a, the example initial virtual machine addressing properties157a, the example initial virtual machine resource allocation properties158a, the example applied deployment approval policy159, the example visual depiction of application component160, and/or, more generally, the example system100ofFIGS. 1A-1Cmay be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware.

Thus, for example, any of the example application102,102a, the example deployment environment104, the example application director106, the example virtual infrastructure navigator108, the example cloud provider110, the example deployment environments112, the example VMs114, the example containers114a, the example topology generator120, the example deployment plan generator122, the example deployment director124, the example blueprints126,127, the example deployment plans128, the example catalog130, the example cloud interface132, the example central package repository134, the example blueprint display135, the example cloud manager138, the example blueprint manager140, the example distributed execution managers146A,146B, the example application component150, the example initial application component properties154a, the example initial virtual machine naming properties156a, the example initial virtual machine addressing properties157a, the example initial virtual machine resource allocation properties158a, the example applied deployment approval policy159, the example visual depiction of application component160, and/or, more generally, the example system100ofFIGS. 1A-1Ccould be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further, the example blueprints202,206,208, the example servers210A,210B,210C, and/or, more generally, the example multi-machine blueprints ofFIG. 2may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the example blueprints202,206,208, the example servers210A,210B,210C, and/or, more generally, the example multi-machine blueprints ofFIG. 2could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further, the example load balancer310, the example Virtual Appliances320,322, the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324, the example Component Servers330a-336a,330b-336b, the example Management Endpoints340-344, the example Management Agents350a-356a,350b-356band/or, more generally, the example installation300ofFIG. 3may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the example load balancer310, the example Virtual Appliances320,322, the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324, the example Component Servers330a-336a,330b-336b, the example Management Endpoints340-344, the example Management Agents350a-356a,350b-356band/or, more generally, the example installation300ofFIG. 3could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further, the example Service Provisioner410a, example Service Provisioner410b, example Orchestrator420a, example Deployment Approval Manager Service420b, example Deployment Approval Event Record422, example Deployment Approval Event Information423, example Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424, example Deployment Approval Timer425, example Deployment Approval Processor426, example Extensible Approval Service420c, example Plugin420d, example Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e, example Deployment Approval Workflow Communications Manager427, example Deployment Approval Workflow Execution Unit428, example Deployment Approval Workflow429, example Event Broker430a, example Deployment Event Broker430b, example Deployment Event Subscription Manager431, example Deployment Approval Topic Registry432, example Approval Provisioning Topics433, example Deployment Approval Schema434, example Authentication Provider440a, example Authentication Provider440b, example Proxy450a, example Proxy450b, example Database460a, example Catalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database460b, example Application Component150, example Initial Application Component Properties154a, example Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154b, example Processed application component approval proposals154c, example Applied Deployment Approval Policy159, example Initial Virtual Machine Naming Properties156a, example Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties157a, example Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties158a, example Initial virtual machine naming approval proposal156b, example Initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal157b, example Initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal158b, example Processed Virtual Machine Naming Approval156c, example Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval157c, example Processed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal158c, and/or, more generally, example Virtual Appliance320and example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324ofFIGS. 4A-4Gmay be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware.

Thus, for example, any of the example Service Provisioner410a, example Service Provisioner410b, example Orchestrator420a, example Deployment Approval Manager Service420b, example Deployment Approval Event Record422, example Deployment Approval Event Information423, example Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424, example Deployment Approval Timer425, example Deployment Approval Processor426, example Extensible Approval Service420c, example Plugin420d, example Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e, example Deployment Approval Workflow Communications Manager427, example Deployment Approval Workflow Execution Unit428, example Deployment Approval Workflow429, example Event Broker430a, example Deployment Event Broker430b, example Deployment Event Subscription Manager431, example Deployment Approval Topic Registry432, example Approval Provisioning Topics433, example Deployment Approval Schema434, example Authentication Provider440a, example Authentication Provider440b, example Proxy450a, example Proxy450b, example Database460a, example Catalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database460b, example Application Component150, example Initial Application Component Properties154a, example Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154b, example Processed application component approval proposals154c, example Applied Deployment Approval Policy159, example Initial Virtual Machine Naming Properties156a, example Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties157a, example Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties158a, example Initial virtual machine naming approval proposal156b, example Initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal157b, example Initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal158b, example Processed Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal156c, example Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal157c, example Processed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal158c, and/or, more generally, example Virtual Appliance320and example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324ofFIGS. 4A-4Gcould be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further, example Deployment Approval Manager Service420b, example Deployment Event Broker430b, example Extensible Approval Service420c, example Plugin420d, example Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e, example Consume First Deployment Approval Event Notification501, example Publish First Deployment Approval Event Notification502, example Reply Back With Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503, example Reply Back With Second Deployment Approval Event Notification504, example Approval Workflow Processing Request511and/or example manner of operating the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324as inFIG. 5may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware.

Thus, for example, any of the example Deployment Approval Manager Service420b, example Deployment Event Broker430b, example Extensible Approval Service420c, example Plugin420d, example Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e, example Consume First Deployment Approval Event Notification501, example Publish First Deployment Approval Event Notification502, example Reply Back With Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503, example Reply Back With Second Deployment Approval Event Notification504, example Approval Workflow Processing Request511and/or example manner of operating the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324as inFIG. 5could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further still, the example system100ofFIGS. 1A-1C, and the example blueprints202-208and the example multimachine service210ofFIG. 2, and the example installation300ofFIG. 3, and the example virtual appliance320and the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324, the example Deployment Approval Manager Service420band the example deployment event broker430bofFIGS. 4A-4Gand the example Deployment Approval Event Notification system500ofFIG. 5may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in these foregoing figures, and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

Example flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324ofFIGS. 4B-4Gto manage deployment customization of an application for deployment in an application deployment environment of a cloud computing platform provider are shown in the flowchart ofFIGS. 6A-6C.

In these examples, the machine readable instructions implement programs for execution by a processor such as the processor712shown in the example processor platform700discussed below in connection withFIG. 7. The programs may be embodied in software stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor712, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor712and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example programs are described with reference to the flowchart illustrated inFIGS. 6A-6C, many other methods of managing customizations via approval in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure may alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

A flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324ofFIGS. 4B-4Gto manage deployment customization of an application for deployment in an application deployment environment of a cloud computing platform provider are shown inFIGS. 6A-6C.FIGS. 6A-6Cdepict a first flowchart representative of computer readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324ofFIGS. 4B-4Gto manage deployment customization of an application for deployment in an application deployment environment of a cloud computing platform provider. An example program600is illustrated beginning inFIG. 6A. Initially at block602, at least one processor executes an instruction to apply a deployment approval policy to an application component that provides a logical template of an application for deployment in an application deployment environment of a cloud computing provider. The application component includes a plurality of initial application component properties associated with the application. The at least one processor executes an instruction to select a selected initial application component property, based on the deployment approval policy (block604). The selected Initial Application Component Approval Proposal is included in generation of an Initial Application Component Approval Proposal (block606).

For example, an example deployment approval policy can be applied to the Application Component150in the database460b(e.g. Applied Deployment Approval Policy159.) The example deployment approval manager420bcan generate the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal, for example via the Deployment Approval Processor426and the Applied Deployment Approval Policy159. Generating the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can include selecting a respective one of the initial application component properties154a. For example, via the Deployment Approval Processor426, the Deployment Approval Manager420can select from among the plurality of Initial Application Component Properties154ato select for the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal, in accordance with the Applied Deployment Approval Policy159. The Initial Application Component Property can include at least one of: an initial virtual machine naming property, an initial virtual machine addressing property, and an initial virtual machine resource allocation property. The Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can include at least one of: an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, an initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal, and an initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal.

In another example, the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can be a plurality of Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154b. The deployment approval policy is applied to the Application Component150in the database460b(e.g. Applied Deployment Approval Policy159). The Deployment Approval Manager420can select from among the plurality of Initial Application Component Properties154ato select for the Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154bin accordance with the deployment approval policy159. The Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154bcan include at least one of: an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, an initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal, and an initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal. In yet another example, the selected initial application component property can be a first selected grouping of initial application component properties. The generating of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can include selecting the first selected grouping of initial application component properties to generate the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager420can select the first selected grouping of initial application component properties to select for the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager420can use wildcards and/or have multiple sub-values in a value field, which can be separated by a pre-defined symbol, to select the first selected grouping of initial application component properties to select for the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal.

In the example ofFIG. 6A, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, the at least one processor executes an instruction to generate a First Deployment Approval Notification including a First Approval Payload (block608). For example, The Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424of the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan generate a First Deployment Approval Event Notification in response to a Deployment Approval Event Record422that records Deployment Approval Event Information423about a deployment approval event occurrence. The first Deployment Approval Event Notification can include Deployment Approval Event Information423, and can include a First Approval Payload including the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator424of the Deployment Approval Manager Service420bcan submit the First Deployment Approval Event Notification to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bfor publication to the Extensible Approval Service420c.

In the example ofFIG. 6A, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, the Deployment Approval Manager Service can select a selected Approval Provisioning Topic of the Deployment Event Broker from among a Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic and a Post-Approval Provisioning Topic (block610). The Deployment Event Broker can consume the First Deployment Event Notification (block612). The Deployment Event Broker430bcan consume the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501submitted by the Deployment Approval Manager Service420b. Authentication provider440bcan authenticate access to the Deployment Event Broker430b.

In the example ofFIG. 6A, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, the first deployment approval event notification can be published from a selected Approval Provisioning Topic of the Deployment Event Broker to an Extensible Approval Service (block614). For example, the Deployment Event Broker430bshown inFIG. 4B, and shown in greater detail inFIG. 4Dcan include a Deployment Event Subscription Manager431, a Deployment Approval Topic Registry432and a selected Approval Provisioning Topic433. The Deployment Event Broker430bincludes a selected Approval Provisioning Topic433to publish the First Deployment Approval Event Notification502to the Extensible Approval Service420c, in response to the Deployment Event Broker430bconsuming the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501. The Extensible Approval Service420ccan include a Plugin420dto facilitate extensibility of the Extensible Approval Service420c.

In the example ofFIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, the Extensible Approval Service can communicate a Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request to a Deployment Approval Workflow Processor via the Plug-In Extensible Approval Service (block616). This can include communicating the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal from the extensible approval service to a deployment approval workflow processor. For example, the Extensible Approval Service420ccan include at least one Plugin420dso as to facilitate extensibility of the Extensible Approval Service420c. The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan be employed to process a deployment approval workflow429. The Plugin420dof the Extensible Approval Service420ccan facilitate communication between the Extensible Approval Service420cand the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e. The Extensible Approval Service420ccan generate a Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request in response to the First Deployment Approval Notification. The Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request can include the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal.

In the example ofFIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor can process a Deployment Approval Workflow in response to the Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request (block618). This can include processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the processed Application Component Approval (block620). For example, the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan process the Deployment Approval Workflow429to process the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload into the Processed application component approval proposal to be included in the Second Approval Payload. As mentioned previously, the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload can include at least one of an Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal, an Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal, and an Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal. The Processed Application Component Approval Proposal of the Second Approval Payload can include at least one of a Processed Virtual Machine Naming Proposal Approval, a Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Proposal Approval, and a Processed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Proposal Approval. The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan process the Deployment Approval Workflow429in response to the Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request511. The Deployment Approval Workflow429can process the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. In another example, the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can be a plurality of Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154b, and the deployment approval workflow processor can process the Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154binto a plurality of Processed Application Component Approval Proposals154c. For example, an Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload can be processed by the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420einto a Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to be included in a Second Approval Payload.

In the example ofFIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, at block622the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor determines whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor is finished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow (e.g. processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.) If the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor determines that the processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow is finished (e.g. processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal is finished), then execution of example program600continues at block624.

In the example ofFIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, at block634the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor communicates the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to the Extensible Approval Service, after the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor is finished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow (e.g. is finished processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.) For example, the Extensible Approval Service420ccan be in communication with the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eto determine whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eis finished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow429(e.g. whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eis finished processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.) The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420ecan respond to the Extensible Approval Service420cwith the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to be included in the Second Approval Payload, after the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420efinishes processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow429(e.g. after the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420eis finished processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.)

In the example ofFIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, at block626the Extensible Approval Service generates a Second Deployment Approval Event Notification in response to an occurrence of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor finishing processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. The Second Deployment Approval Event Notification includes a Second Approval Payload. The Second Approval Payload includes the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. For example, the Extensible Approval Service420ccan generate a Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503in response to an occurrence of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420efinishing processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow429(e.g. generate the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503in response to an occurrence of the Workflow Processor420efinishing processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.) The Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503includes the second approval payload. The second approval payload includes the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

In the example ofFIG. 6C, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, at block628the Extensible Approval Service replies back to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic of the Deployment Event Broker with the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification including the Second Approval Payload. The Second Approval Payload includes the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. For example, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan be repliable. The Extensible Approval Service420ccan reply back to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bwith the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503including the Second Approval Payload.

In the example ofFIG. 6C, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, at block630the Deployment Event Broker can reply back to the Deployment Approval Manager with the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification including the Second Approval Payload. The Second Approval Payload includes the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. For example, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433of the Deployment Event Broker430bcan reply back to the Deployment Approval Manager420bwith the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification504including the Second Approval Payload.

In the example ofFIG. 6C, in accordance with flowchart of example program600, at block632, the Deployment Approval Manager420bcan determine approval of one of the Initial Application Component Properties based upon the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. In another example, the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal can be a plurality of Processed Application Component Approval Proposals154c, and the Deployment Approval Manager can determine approval of the Initial Application Component Properties based upon the Processed Application Component Approval Proposals154c. After executing block632, execution of example program600can end.

Although the example program600ofFIGS. 6A-6Cis described in connection with managing deployment customization of an application for deployment in an application deployment environment of a cloud computing platform provider, the example program600ofFIGS. 6A-6Cimplemented in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure can be used in a multi-user scenario in which hundreds or thousands of users obtain deployment customization using Approvals from Cloud Provider110. For example, while manually managing deployment customizations in a manual fashion for such quantities of users would be overly burdensome or near impossible within required time constraints, examples disclosed herein may be used to process deployment customizations via approval and using the operations and Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324to manage deployment customizations via approval and deploy large quantities of virtual machines114and/or containers114ain an efficient and streamlined fashion without burdening and frustrating end users with long customization times to access such virtual machines114and/or containers114a.

FIG. 7is a block diagram of an example processor platform700capable of executing the instructions of the flowchart ofFIGS. 6A-6Cto implement the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance ofFIGS. 4B-4G. The processor platform700of the illustrated example includes a processor712. The processor712of the illustrated example is hardware employing virtualization. For example, the processor712can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer. As already discussed in detail previously herein, the hardware of processor712is virtualized using virtualization such as VMs and/or containers. In the example ofFIG. 7, the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324may be implemented by one or more VM's or containers, so as to virtualize the hardware of processor712. In the example ofFIG. 7, the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324includes Service Provisioner410b, Deployment Approval Manager Service420b, Extensible Approval Service420cincluding Plugin420d, Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420e, Deployment Event Broker430b, Authentication Provider440band Catalog Item Approval Database460b.

The processor712of the illustrated example includes a local memory713(e.g., a cache), and executes instructions to implement the example operations and management component406or portions thereof. The processor712of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memory714and a non-volatile memory716via a bus718. The volatile memory714may be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM) and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatile memory716may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory714,716is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform700of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit720. The interface circuit720may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices722are connected to the interface circuit720. The input device(s)722permit(s) a user to enter data and commands into the processor712. The input device(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

The processor platform700of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices728for storing software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devices728include flash devices, floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, optical compact disk (CD) drives, optical Blu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and optical digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.

Coded instructions732representative of the example machine readable instructions ofFIGS. 6A-6Cmay be stored in the mass storage device728, in the volatile memory714, in the non-volatile memory716, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

Copending U.S. patent application entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Limiting Data Transferred Over the Network by Interpreting Part of the Data as a Metaproperty”, filed on the same day as the present application, by Ventsyslav Raikov, Lazarin Lazarov, Boris Savov and Rostislav Georgiev is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Copending U.S. patent application entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Event-Based Extensibility of System Logic”, filed on the same day as the present application, by Boris Savov, Igor Stoyanov and Rostislav Georgiev is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The various aspects, features and/or implementations as disclosed above can be used alone or in various combinations. Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the claims of this patent.