Distribution and execution of instructions in a distributed computing environment

Methods and apparatus for distribution and execution of instructions in a distributed computing environment are disclosed. An example method includes accessing, by executing an instruction with a processor implementing a management agent within a deployment environment, an indication of an instruction to be executed, the indication of the instruction to be executed provided by a management endpoint operated at a virtual appliance within the deployment environment. The instruction is retrieved from a repository. The repository is identified by the indication of the instruction to be executed. An instruction executor is directed to execute the instruction. The instruction is to cause the instruction executor to install an update to the management agent.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to cloud computing and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to distribution and execution of instructions in a distributed computing environment.

BACKGROUND

Virtualizing computer systems provides 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 for use across 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 vCloud Automation Center (vCAC) 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 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 some examples, 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 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 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 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. Alternatively, the host operating system may be installed in a virtual machine of a full virtualization environment or a paravirtualization environment. 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. Thus, a process executes within a container that isolates the process 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. Example operating system virtualization environments include Linux Containers LXC and LXD, Docker™, OpenVZ™, 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.

FIG. 1depicts 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. 1includes multiple VMs114. The example VMs114ofFIG. 1provide 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 on other ones of the VMs114.

As illustrated inFIG. 1, 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 vCloud Administrator Center™ (vCAC) 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 environments112ofFIG. 1is vCloud DataCenter cloud computing services available from VMware, Inc.

In some examples disclosed herein, a lighter-weight virtualization is employed by using containers in place of the VMs114in the development environment112. 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 environment112.

The example application director106ofFIG. 1, which may be running in one or more VMs, orchestrates deployment of multi-tier applications onto one of the example deployment environments112. As illustrated inFIG. 1, the example application director106includes a topology generator120, a deployment plan generator122, and a deployment director124.

The example topology generator120generates a basic blueprint126that 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. For example, the basic blueprint126generated by the example topology generator120for an online store application may specify a web application (e.g., in the form of a Java web application archive or “WAR” file comprising 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, comprised 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 (e.g., virtual computing hardware) utilized to implement the components.

The example basic blueprint126ofFIG. 1may 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 catalog130may 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. 1generates a deployment plan128based on the basic blueprint126that includes deployment settings for the basic blueprint126(e.g., virtual computing resources' cluster size, CPU, memory, networks, etc.) and an execution plan of tasks having a specified order in which virtual computing resources are provisioned and application components are installed, configured, and started. The example deployment plan128ofFIG. 1provides 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 environments112(e.g., testing, staging, production). The deployment plan128is separated and distributed as local deployment plans having a series of tasks to be executed by the VMs114provisioned from the deployment environment112. 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 example deployment director124ofFIG. 1executes the deployment plan128by communicating with the cloud computing platform provider110via a cloud interface132to provision and configure the VMs114in the deployment environment112. The example cloud interface132ofFIG. 1provides a communication abstraction layer by which the application director106may communicate with a heterogeneous mixture of cloud provider110and deployment environments112. The deployment director124provides each VM114with a series of tasks specific to the receiving VM114(herein referred to as a “local deployment plan”). Tasks are executed by the VMs114to install, configure, and/or start one or more application components. For example, a task may be a script that, when executed by a VM114, causes the VM114to retrieve and/or install particular instructions from a repository134.

In some examples, the repository134is implemented by a file share. In some examples, the repository134is hosted by one or more VMs114within the deployment environment112. In some examples, the repository134is implemented by one or more servers hosting files via a Server Message Block (SMB) share. Additionally or alternatively, files may be made available via the repository134using any other file sharing and/or networking protocol such as, file transfer protocol (FTP), HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Common Internet File System (CIFS), etc. In some examples, the repository134may be implemented outside of the deployment environment112.

In the illustrated example ofFIG. 1, a single repository134is shown. However, in some examples, multiple repositories located in the same or different locations may be utilized. For example, a first repository may be managed and/or operated by a third party organization (e.g., a professional service organization (PSO)) that manages and/or develops instructions (e.g., develops executable code, develops workflows, etc.) for use within the deployment environment112, while a second repository may be managed and/or operated within the deployment environment112. Using a repository managed and/or operated within the deployment environment enables the administrator116to prepare instructions (e.g., batch files, PowerShell™ commands, etc.) that can be subsequently distributed to management agents for execution.

As noted above, the repository134stores instructions for execution at one or more VMs114. In some examples, the instructions are PowerShell™ commands (e.g., .PS1 files). However, any other type(s) and/or format(s) of instructions may additionally or alternatively be used. For example, the instructions may be executable instructions, archives of executable instructions, installers, batch files, scripts, etc.

In some examples, the instructions, when distributed to and/or executed by the VM114, may cause one or component(s) of the VM114to become updated. In this manner, the administrator116can efficiently upgrade and/or update components of the VMs114in bulk, rather than having to individually administer each VM114. In some examples, prior approaches to upgrading components of multiple VMs114in the deployment environment112(e.g., tens of VMs, hundreds of VMs, etc.) might take an administrator days to complete. Utilizing the approaches disclosed herein where instructions for execution by a management agent of each VM114are administered and distributed via a centralized management endpoint reduces the amount of time required to perform such upgrades and/or updates.

The example deployment director124coordinates with the VMs114to execute the tasks in an order that observes installation dependencies between VMs114according 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 example cloud manager138ofFIG. 1interacts 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 example blueprint manager140of the illustrated example manages the creation of multi-machine blueprints that define the attributes of multiple virtual machines as a single container 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). Accordingly, the blueprint manager140facilitates more efficient management of multiple virtual machines than manually managing (e.g., deploying) virtual machine basic blueprints individually. The management of multi-machine blueprints is described in further detail in conjunction withFIG. 2.

The example blueprint manager140ofFIG. 1additionally 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 is a series of actions and decisions to be executed in a virtual computing platform. The example system100includes 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 manager140annotates basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints with skills that can be performed by a DEM that is labeled with the same skill.

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 and 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) 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 web server(s)210A, application server(s)210B, and database server(s)210C. The number of machines 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 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 blueprint. 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 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 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. 3Aillustrates an example installation of deployed VMs114(also referred to as appliances or virtual appliances (vAs)) and associated 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. 3A, an installation300includes a load balancer (LB)310to assign tasks and/or manage access among a plurality of vAs320,322,324. In some examples, the example vA320executes the example catalog130, the example repository134, the example application director106, the example cloud manager138, etc. Each vA320-324is a deployed VM114, and the vA320communicates with a plurality of component or host servers330,332,334,336which store components for execution by users (e.g., Web server210A with Web components, App server210B with application components, DB server210C with database components, etc.). In some examples, the example component server330,332,334,336executes the example distributed Execution Manager(s)146A. Additionally or alternatively, the example component server330,332,334,336may perform any functionality that is performed by the vA320such as, the example catalog130, the example repository134, the example application director106, the example cloud manager138, etc. Performing functionality that would have been performed by the vA320at the component server330,332,334,336enables processing loads that would otherwise be concentrated at a VM114hosting the vA320to be distributed to a different VM.

As shown in the example ofFIG. 3A, component servers334,336can stem from component server330rather than directly from the virtual appliance320, although the vA320can still communicate with such servers334,336. 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 servers330-336by the respective appliance320, 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 the example installation300, each vA320,322,324includes a management endpoint340,342,344. Each component server330,332,334,336includes a management agent350,352,354,356. The management agents350-356can communicate with their respective endpoint340to facilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc., 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 the installation300. Once the customer has completed the questionnaire and provided firewall access to install the agents350-356, the agents350-356communicate 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 VM114that is managed through the installation300. To the user, he or she is working on a single machine, but behind the scenes, the virtual appliance320is accessing different servers330-336depending 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.

In some examples, a management agent350is included in the virtual appliance320,322,324to facilitate execution of instructions at the virtual appliance320,322,324. For example, the example management endpoint340might instruct a management agent operated at the virtual appliance320to execute an instruction to update the management endpoint340. In some examples, the instructions that can be executed by a management agent operated at the virtual appliance320are different from the instructions that can be executed by a management agent operated at the component server330,332,334,336. For example, if the virtual appliance320were operated in a Linux environment and the component server330were operated in a Microsoft Windows® environment, the instructions supported by a management agent operated in each of those environments may be different (e.g., some of the instructions may be restricted and/or may not be available for execution on one or more of the systems).

FIG. 3Bis a block diagram representing an example arrangement380of the virtual appliance320ofFIG. 3Aoperating the management endpoint340, and the component server330ofFIG. 3Aoperating the management agent350. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3B, both the vA320and the component server330ofFIG. 3Bare operated within the same deployment environment112. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3B, the example vA320includes the management endpoint340and the repository134. In some examples, the repository134is implemented by another component of the deployment environment112that is separate from the vA320. The example component server330includes the management agent350and a PowerShell™ runtime environment386. The example PowerShell™ runtime environment386of the illustrated example ofFIG. 3Bis implemented by the Microsoft PowerShell™ framework. The PowerShell™ runtime environment386executes PowerShell™ scripts, commands, files, etc. at the direction of the management agent350. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3B, the PowerShell™ runtime environment386is specific to implementations on component server(s)330,332,334that implement a Microsoft Windows™ Operating system. However, any other runtime environment and/or instruction execution system may additionally or alternatively be used. For example, the example PowerShell™ runtime environment386may be replaced by a script interpreter (e.g., a Perl interpreter, a Python interpreter, etc.).

In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3B, the example management agent350requests an indication of an instruction to be executed from the management endpoint340(line381). The management endpoint340provides the indication of the instruction to be executed to the management agent350(line382). In some examples, the indication of the instruction to be executed is formatted as an extensible markup language (XML) document that identifies, for example, a name of the instruction to be executed (e.g., “perform_upgrade.ps1”), a location from which the instruction is to be retrieved, one or more parameter (e.g., command line parameters) that are to be used and/or specified when executing the instruction, an expected result of the instruction, and/or any other information to facilitate execution of the instruction at the component server330.

The management agent350retrieves the instruction to be executed from the repository134based on the information included in the indication of the instruction to be executed. (line383). The repository134provides the instruction to the management agent350(line384). The management agent350provides the instruction to the PowerShell™ runtime environment386for execution (line385).

FIG. 3Cis a block diagram representing an example alternative arrangement390of the virtual appliance ofFIG. 3Aoperating the management endpoint, and the component server ofFIG. 3Aoperating the management agent. In contrast to the example arrangement380ofFIG. 3B, the example arrangement390ofFIG. 3Cimplements the example repository134at a third party site399that is outside of the deployment environment112. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3C, the repository134from which the management agent350retrieves instructions for execution is managed and/or operated by a third party organization (e.g., a professional service organization (PSO)) that manages and/or develops instructions (e.g., develops executable code, develops workflows, etc.). Such an approach enables an administrator of the deployment environment to easily work with third party software providers (e.g., consultants, PSOs, etc.) that create instructions (e.g., executable files) that may be customized for the deployment environment112. In this manner, the administrator can simply direct the management endpoint340to cause the management agents350to retrieve the instructions from the repository134hosted at the third party site399by the third party organization, and execute those instructions. Such an approach alleviates storage needs within the deployment environment112. Such an approach also facilitates more rapid development and deployment of instructions, as instructions need not first be populated into a repository within the deployment environment112.

FIG. 4illustrates an example implementation of the vA320. In the example ofFIG. 4, the vA320includes a service provisioner410, an orchestrator420, an event broker430, an authentication provider440, an internal reverse proxy450, a database460, and the management endpoint340(seeFIG. 3A). The components410,420,430,440,450,460,340of the vA320may be implemented by one or more of the VMs114. The example service provisioner410provides services to provision interfaces (e.g., Web interface, application interface, etc.) for the vA320. The example orchestrator (e.g., vCO)420is an embedded or internal orchestrator that can leverage a provisioning manager, such as the application director106and/or cloud manager138, to provision VM services but is embedded in the vA320. For example, the vCO420can be used to invoke a blueprint to provision a manager for services. The example management endpoint340interfaces within management agents (e.g., management agent350) of respective component servers (e.g., component server330) to provide indications of instructions to be executed by the management agent(s)350and/or receive results and/or statuses of execution of those instructions. An example implementation of an example management agent350is disclosed below in connection withFIG. 6.

Example services can include catalog services, identity services, component registry services, event broker services, IaaS, repository services, 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 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 for a customer via the vA320.

Repository services enable the vA320to operate a repository such as, the repository134ofFIG. 1. In this manner, the repository134may be implemented within the deployment environment112(e.g., as a component of the vA320) and/or external to the deployment environment112. Implementing the repository134within the deployment environment112enables an administrator116of the deployment environment112to host instructions for execution at monitoring agents within the deployment environment. In this manner, an administrator can implement configurations that are specific to their deployment environment112without having to reference a third party and/or publicly available repository. In contrast, in some examples, the repository134may be hosted outside of the deployment environment112(e.g., within another deployment environment hosted by the cloud provider110, outside of the control of the cloud provider110, etc.) Implementing the repository134outside of the deployment environment112enables the administrator116to configure the management endpoint340to instruct one or more management endpoints350to retrieve and/or execute instructions hosted by a third party (e.g., a developer, a professional services organization (PSO), a publicly available website, etc.). Such an approach is useful when a third party provides instructions (e.g., executables) that may be updated by the third party.

The example event broker430provides a mechanism to handle tasks which are transferred between services with the orchestrator420. The example authentication provider440(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 proxy450(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. The proxy450forwards communication traffic from within the vA320and/or between vAs320,322,324ofFIG. 3Ato the appropriate component(s) of the vA320. In certain examples, services access the local host/proxy450on a particular port, and the call is masked by the proxy450and forwarded to the particular component of the vA320. Since the call is masked by the proxy450, components can be adjusted within the vA320without impacting outside users.

FIG. 5is a block diagram representing an example implementation of the example management endpoint340of the example VA320ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or4. The example management endpoint340ofFIG. 5includes a management agent interface510, a queue manager520, an instruction queue530, a result data store540, and a result interface550.

The example management agent interface510of the illustrated example ofFIG. 5implements a REST (Representational State Transfer) API (Application Programming Interface) that is responsive to requests from the management agent350for indications of instructions in the instruction queue530. In some examples, the example management agent interface510handles incoming requests from management agent(s), and identifies an instruction stored in the instruction queue530to be executed by the management agent from which the request was received. The example management agent interface510responds to the request with an indication of the instruction to be executed. In some examples, the indication of the instruction to be executed is formatted as an extensible markup language (XML) document that identifies, for example, a name of the instruction to be executed (e.g., “perform_upgrade.ps1”), a location from which the instruction is to be retrieved, one or more parameter (e.g., command line parameters) that are to be used and/or specified when executing the instruction, an expected result of the instruction, and/or any other information to facilitate execution of the instruction at the component server330. Of course, any other type and/or format for the indication of the instruction to be executed may additionally or alternatively be used.

As noted above, the example management agent interface510implements a REST API. However, any other approach to implementing the example management agent interface510may additionally or alternatively be used. In some examples, the management agent350periodically and/or aperiodically polls and/or otherwise requests instructions from the management agent interface510. The example management agent interface510responds to such requests with an indication of an instruction (if any) to be executed by the example management agent350. However, any other approach to informing the example management agent350may additionally or alternatively be used. For example, the example management agent interface510may provide an interface for the management agent350to subscribe to indications of instructions from the management endpoint340such that the management agent interface510contacts the management agent350to inform the management agent350of the instruction for execution. Such an approach may be implemented using a REST subscription interface. However, any other type of subscription interface may additionally or alternatively be used.

The example queue manager520of the illustrated example ofFIG. 5manages a queue of instructions to be executed by the example management agent350. In some examples, instructions are added to the queue at the request of an administrator. However, instructions may be added to the queue in response to any other event such as, a scheduled task, an error identified by a management agent, etc. In some examples, multiple different queues are managed corresponding to multiple different management agents that work in communication with the management endpoint340. Upon receipt of an indication of whether an instruction in the queue has been executed at a component server, the example queue manager520removes the instruction from the instruction queue530associated with that component server. However, in some examples, the instruction may remain in the queue, but be labeled with a status of the execution of the instruction. In this manner, when a request is received for an instruction to be executed, a result of such query might be limited to only those instructions where execution has not already been attempted.

The example instruction queue530of the illustrated example ofFIG. 5stores indications of instructions to be executed at a component servers330(at the direction of the management agent350of each component server330). In some examples, additional parameters concerning the indication of the instructions are also stored in the instruction queue530such as, a name of the instruction to be executed (e.g., “perform_upgrade.ps1”), a location from which the instruction is to be retrieved, one or more parameters (e.g., command line parameters) that are to be used and/or specified when executing the instruction, an expected result of the instruction, an indication of one or more instructions to be executed and/or actions to be performed when a result of the execution of the instruction does not match the expected result, and/or any other information to facilitate execution of the instruction at the component server330. In some examples, the example instruction queue530may be any device for storing data such as, flash memory, magnetic media, optical media, etc. Furthermore, the data stored in the example instruction queue530may be in any data format such as, binary data, comma delimited data, tab delimited data, structured query language (SQL) structures, etc. While, in the illustrated example, the example instruction queue530is illustrated as a single database, the example instruction queue530may be implemented by any number and/or type(s) of databases.

The example result data store540of the illustrated example ofFIG. 5stores results of the execution of instructions by the management agents350. In some examples, the example result data store540may be any device for storing data such as, flash memory, magnetic media, optical media, etc. Furthermore, the data stored in the example result data store540may be in any data format such as, binary data, comma delimited data, tab delimited data, structured query language (SQL) structures, etc. While, in the illustrated example, the example result data store540is illustrated as a single database, the example result data store540may be implemented by any number and/or type(s) of databases.

The example result interface550of the illustrated example ofFIG. 5enables an administrator to review the results of the instruction execution(s) stored in the example result data stored540. In some examples, the example result interface550is implemented as a webpage. However, any other approach to implementing the result interface550may additionally or alternatively be used.

FIG. 6is a block diagram representing an example implementation of the example component server330of the illustrated example ofFIG. 3A. The example component server330includes the management agent350, an instruction executor610, and an instruction cache620. The example management agent350includes a management endpoint interface630, an instruction retriever640, an instruction validator650, an instruction executor interface660, and a result cache670.

The example instruction executor610of the illustrated example ofFIG. 6executes instructions stored in the instruction cache620at the request of the instruction executor interface660. The example instruction executor610is implemented by a command execution framework such as, for example the Microsoft™ PowerShell™ framework. However, any other type of command execution framework such as, a scripting interpreter framework (e.g., Perl, Python, etc.), an executable framework, an operating system kernel, etc. may additionally or alternatively be used.

In some examples, the example instruction executor610is separate from the management agent350. Since the instruction executor610is separate from the management agent350, the instruction executor610can execute instructions that affect the operation of the management agent350. For example, the instruction executor610may execute an instruction that causes the management agent350to become updated and/or upgraded. Such an upgrade and/or installation of the management agent350may involve uninstalling the management agent350having a first version and subsequently installing the management agent350having a second version. In some examples, the management agent350might alternatively be downgraded to address, for example, an issue encountered subsequent to a prior upgrade and/or installation. Enabling the management agent350to be updated and/or upgraded by the instruction executor610is beneficial because, through the use of distributed execution of such installations, upgrades can be completed in a more timely fashion as compared to manual installation of an upgrade. In this manner, hundreds or thousands of management agents can rapidly be upgraded, rebooted, restarted, etc.

The example instruction cache620of the illustrated example ofFIG. 6is a local storage of the component server330. In some examples, the example instruction cache620is a directory within a file system hosted by the example component server330. However, in some examples, the example instruction cache620may be implemented by any type of file storage system. In some examples, the example instruction cache620may be remote from the component server330.

The example management endpoint interface630of the illustrated example ofFIG. 6transmits a request to the management endpoint340for an indication of an instruction to be executed at the component server330. In some examples, the request is formatted using a representational state transfer (REST) protocol. However, any other past, present, and/or future protocol and/or approach for requesting an indication of an instruction to be executed may additionally or alternatively be used. In some examples, the example management endpoint340responds to the request with an indication of the instruction to be executed. As noted above, the example indication of the instruction to be executed is formatted as an extensible markup language (XML) document that identifies, for example, a name of the instruction to be executed (e.g., “perform_upgrade.ps1”), a location from which the instruction is to be retrieved, one or more parameter (e.g., command line parameters) that are to be used and/or specified when executing the instruction, an expected result of the instruction, and/or any other information to facilitate execution of the instruction at the component server330. However, any other type and/or format for the indication of the instruction to be executed may additionally or alternatively be used.

In some examples, the management endpoint interface630periodically polls and/or otherwise requests instructions from the management endpoint340. However, any other periodic and/or aperiodic approach to requesting an indication of an instruction from the management endpoint340may additionally or alternatively be used such as, polling the management endpoint340when resources of the component server330are idle, polling the management endpoint340in response to completion of execution of a prior instruction, etc. In some examples, the example management endpoint interface630may subscribe to indications of instructions from the management endpoint340such that the management endpoint340contacts the management endpoint interface630via the subscription connection to inform the management agent350of the instruction for execution. Such an approach may be implemented using a REST subscription interface. However, any other type of subscription interface may additionally or alternatively be used.

The example instruction retriever640of the illustrated example ofFIG. 6determines whether instructions identified in the indication received from the management endpoint340are stored in the instruction cache620and, if not, attempts to retrieve the instructions. In some examples, the example instruction retriever640retrieves the instructions from the repository134at the direction of the indication of the instruction to be executed provided by the management endpoint340. That is, when providing the indication of the instruction to be executed, the management endpoint340identifies the repository and/or another location where the instructions may be retrieved. In some examples, the indication of the instruction to be executed also identifies a version of the instruction (e.g., version 1.2) to be executed. In such an example, in addition to determining that the instruction is present in the instruction cache620, the example instruction retriever640verifies whether a specified version of the instruction is present in the instruction cache620. If the specified version is not present, the specified version of the instruction is retrieved from the repository134.

The example instruction validator650of the illustrated example ofFIG. 6validates and/or otherwise verifies that the instructions retrieved from the repository134by the instruction retriever640are valid. In some examples, the example repository134, when providing the instructions, additionally provides a checksum (e.g., an MD5 hash) of the instructions. The example instruction validator650computes a checksum of the retrieved instructions and compares the computed checksum to the checksum provided by the repository134. If the checksums do not match, the instructions are not valid and should not be executed (as unexpected results could occur). While in some examples the example instruction validator650validates based on a checksum, any other approach to validating whether the instructions are valid for execution at the component server330may additionally or alternatively be used. For example, the example instruction validator650may verify that any pre-requisites of the instructions have already been installed and/or are otherwise available for execution of the instructions, the example instruction validator650may perform a virus scan on the instructions, the example instruction validator650may verify a syntax and/or structure of the instructions, etc.

The example instruction executor interface660of the illustrated example ofFIG. 6interacts with the instruction executor610to cause the instruction executor610to execute the instructions stored in the instruction cache620by the instruction retriever640. In some examples, the example instruction executor interface660provides input parameters to the instruction executor610specified in the indication of the instruction to be executed provided by the management endpoint340.

The example instruction executor interface660of the illustrated example ofFIG. 6monitors an output of the instruction executor610. In some examples, the example instruction executor interface660monitors a standard output (e.g., a command line output) of the instruction executor610. However, any other approach to monitoring an output of the example instruction executor610may additionally or alternatively be used such as, a standard error interface, an event log, an output file, etc. The example instruction executor interface660stores the result of the execution of the instruction in the example result cache670.

The example result cache670of the illustrated example ofFIG. 6stores execution results collected by the instruction executor interface660. Results stored in the example result cache670may be cleared (e.g., deleted and/or otherwise removed) from the result cache670when the example management endpoint interface630transmits the results stored in the result cache670to the management endpoint340. In some examples, the example result cache670may be any device for storing data such as, flash memory, magnetic media, optical media, etc. Furthermore, the data stored in the example result cache670may be in any data format such as, binary data, comma delimited data, tab delimited data, structured query language (SQL) structures, etc. While, in the illustrated example, the example result cache670is illustrated as a single database, the example result cache670may be implemented by any number and/or type(s) of databases.

While an example manner of implementing the example management endpoint340ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or4is illustrated inFIG. 5, and an example manner of implementing the example management agent350ofFIG. 3Ais illustrated inFIG. 6, one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated inFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, 5, and/or6may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, the example management agent interface510, the example queue manager520, the example instruction queue530, the example result data store540, the example result interface550, and/or, more generally, the example management endpoint340ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or5, and/or the example management endpoint interface630, the example instruction retriever640, the example instruction validator650, the example instruction executor interface660, the example result cache670, and/or, more generally, the example management agent350ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or6may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the example management agent interface510, the example queue manager520, the example instruction queue530, the example result data store540, the example result interface550, and/or, more generally, the example management endpoint340ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or5, and/or the example management endpoint interface630, the example instruction retriever640, the example instruction validator650, the example instruction executor interface660, the example result cache670, and/or, more generally, the example management agent350ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or6could 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)). When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example management agent interface510, the example queue manager520, the example instruction queue530, the example result data store540, the example result interface550, and/or, more generally, the example management endpoint340ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or5, and/or the example management endpoint interface630, the example instruction retriever640, the example instruction validator650, the example instruction executor interface660, the example result cache670, and/or, more generally, the example management agent350ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or6is/are hereby expressly defined to include a tangible computer readable storage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storing the software and/or firmware. Further still, the example management endpoint340ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or5, and/or the example management agent350ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or6may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated inFIG. 3A, 4, 5, and/or6, and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

Flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example management endpoint340ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or5and/or the example management agent350ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or6are shown inFIGS. 7 and/or 8. In these examples, the machine readable instructions implement programs for execution by a processor such as the processor912,1012shown in the example processor platform900,1000discussed below in connection withFIGS. 9 and/or 10. 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 processor912,1012, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor912,1012and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example programs are described with reference to the flowcharts illustrated inFIGS. 7 and/or 8, many other methods of deploying, managing, and updating workload domains 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.

FIG. 7is a sequence diagram700representative of operations performed by the example management agent350ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or6, the example management endpoint340ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or5, and the example repository134ofFIG. 1. The example sequence700ofFIG. 7begins with the example queue manager520of the example management endpoint340managing a queue of instructions to be executed by the management agent350(block705). In some examples, the example queue manager520utilizes a first-in-first-out approach to scheduling execution of instructions at the management agent(s)350. That is, instructions are queued for execution at the management agent(s) in the order in which they are identified for execution (e.g., by an administrator). However, any other approach to scheduling may additionally or alternatively be used such as, a first-in-last-out approach. When the example management agent350identifies that execution of an instruction has completed (e.g., a successful execution, a failure, etc.) the example queue manager520removes such instructions from the queue of instructions to be executed.

The example management agent350queries the management endpoint340for an indication of instructions to be executed by the management agent350(block710). The example management endpoint340identifies an instruction to be executed by the management agent and responds to the request received from the management agent350with an indication of the instruction to be executed (block715). In some examples, the indication of the instruction includes a name of the instruction to be executed (e.g., “perform_upgrade.ps1”), a location from which the instruction is to be retrieved, one or more parameter (e.g., command line parameters) that are to be used and/or specified when executing the instruction, an expected result of the instruction, and/or any other information to facilitate execution of the instruction at the component server330.

In some other examples, the example management endpoint340may determine that no instructions are to be executed, and a response indicative of the same may be sent to the example management endpoint interface530. In such an example, the example sequence ofFIG. 7may be terminated, and the management agent350may subsequently periodically and/or aperiodically solicit an indication of an instruction to be executed from the management endpoint340.

Upon receipt of an indication of an instruction to be executed, the example management agent350validates the indication of the instructions (block720). In some examples, the indication of the instructions may be incomplete, malformed, and/or not supported. If the example management agent350determines that the indication of the instructions is valid, the example management endpoint interface530provides a status update to the management endpoint340indicating that the management agent350is processing the indication of the instruction (block722). The example management agent350transmits a request to the repository134to retrieve the instructions (block725). The example repository134provides the instructions and a checksum (e.g., an MD5 hash) to facilitate verification of the instructions. In some examples, the checksum may be provided to the management agent350as part of the indication of the instruction(s) (e.g., provided in block715). The checksum enables the management agent350to verify that the proper instructions were retrieved from the repository134. The example management agent350stores the instructions in the instruction cache620(block735). In the illustrated example ofFIG. 7, the instructions are retrieved (block725) from the repository134upon each indication of instructions to be executed. In some examples, the retrieved instructions overwrite previously stored instructions. In some examples, the instructions are removed after execution such that only those instructions to be executed are locally stored at the management agent350. While in the illustrated example ofFIG. 7, the instructions are not retrieved from the repository134each time and may, for example, be cached at the management agent350. In such examples, the example management agent350determines whether the instruction to be executed is known (e.g., locally stored at the management agent350and/or accessible by the management agent350) prior to retrieving the instruction (block725) from the repository134.

The example management agent350determines whether the retrieved instructions are valid (block740). The example management agent350may determine whether the retrieved instructions are valid by, for example, computing a checksum of the retrieved instructions stored in the instruction cache620and comparing the computed checksum against the checksum provided by the repository134(and/or the management endpoint340). However, any other approach to validating retrieved instructions may additionally or alternatively be used. For example, validating the instructions may involve verifying that any pre-requisites of the instructions have already been installed and/or are otherwise available for execution of the instructions, performing a virus scan on the instructions, etc.

The example management agent350causes the instructions to be executed (block750). When the instructions are executed, results of the execution are output via, for example, a standard out interface, a standard error interface, an event log, an output file, etc. The example management agent350collects the output of the execution of the instructions (block755) and stores the output of the execution of the instructions as a result (block760). The example management agent350collects the output of the execution of the instructions by, for example, monitoring the standard out interface, monitoring the standard error interface, monitoring the event log, monitoring the output file, etc. Such monitoring of the output of the execution of the instruction is performed until execution of the instruction is complete (e.g., until the instruction completes its normal operation, until the instruction execution is terminated, until a timeout is reached, etc.) When the execution of the instruction is complete, the example management agent350provides a status of the execution of the instruction to the management endpoint340indicating that execution of the instruction has completed (block765).

If the example management agent350determines that the indication of the instructions are not valid (block720), the example management agent350provides a status update to the management endpoint340indicating that the instructions and/or the indication of the instructions were rejected (block770). The example management agent350stores a result indicating that the validation failed (block775). In some examples, the result indicates a reason for the failed validation (e.g., a checksum failure, a missing pre-requisite, a virus scan, etc.).

In some examples, the example management agent350deletes the instructions from the instruction cache620(block780). Deleting and/or otherwise removing the instructions from the instruction cache620ensures that instructions that failed validation (e.g., an instruction where a computed checksum did not match a checksum provided by the repository, an instruction that failed a virus scan, etc.) are not left on the component server330.

The collected results are sent to the monitoring endpoint340by the management agent350(block785). The example management endpoint340stores the received results in the result data store540(block790). In this manner, results of the execution of the instruction(s) across multiple management agents are centralized to a single management endpoint340such that the management endpoint can report upon the status of the execution of the instruction(s) across the multiple management agents using a single interface. The example queue manager520of the example management endpoint340de-queues the instruction identified to the management agent (see block715) such that the instruction is not provided to the management agent350in response to subsequent requests (block795). The example sequence700ofFIG. 7is then repeated periodically and/or aperiodically to solicit an indication of an instruction to be executed from the management endpoint340.

FIG. 8is a flowchart representative of example machine-readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example management agent350ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or6. The example process800ofFIG. 8begins at block810when the example management endpoint interface630queries the management endpoint340for an indication of instructions to be executed by the management agent350(block810). As noted in connection withFIG. 7, the example management endpoint340determines whether an instruction is to be executed and, if so, responds to the request received from the management endpoint interface630with an indication of the instruction to be executed. In some examples, the example management endpoint340may determine that no instructions are to be executed, and a response indicative of the same may be sent to the example management endpoint interface630. In such an example, the example process ofFIG. 8may be repeated periodically and/or aperiodically to solicit in an indication of an instruction to be executed from the management endpoint. Upon receipt of an indication of an instruction to be executed, the example instruction retriever640determines whether the instruction to be executed is stored in the instruction cache620(block820). As noted above, the instruction to be executed may be, for example, a command, a script (e.g., a Windows™ batch file, a Windows™ PowerShell™ script, a Perl script, etc.), an executable file, an installed program, etc. In some examples, the example instruction retriever640inspects the instruction cache620of the component server330to determine whether the instruction is known (e.g., is the identified instruction stored in the instruction cache620).

If the example instruction retriever540determines that the instruction is not stored in the instruction cache620(e.g., block820returns a result of NO), the example instruction retriever640retrieves the instructions from the repository134(block825). In some examples, the repository134is implemented by a file share. The example instruction retriever640retrieves the instruction by, for example, transmitting a request to the repository134and receiving one or more response messages including the instructions. However, any other approach to obtaining instructions from a repository may additionally or alternatively be used. In some examples, the example repository134, in addition to providing the instructions, also provides a checksum (e.g., an MD5 hash) to facilitate verification of the instructions. However, any other validation scheme may additionally or alternatively be used. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 8, the instructions are provided in a compressed format (e.g., as a .zip file). However, any other compression format may additionally or alternatively be used. The example instruction retriever decompresses the instructions to an uncompressed state (block826). Providing instruction packages in a compressed state is useful when, for example, the instructions are binary instructions for execution by the operating system of the component server330, as such compression reduces data transmission requirements as well as storage requirements of the repository134. In contrast, instructions that are formatted as script instructions (which may be, for example, only a few lines and/or bytes of instructions) for execution by a script interpreter such as the Microsoft™ PowerShell™ Framework might not be compressed because the storage space reduction does not outweigh the processing requirements on each of the component servers330to decompress the instructions. The example instruction retriever640stores the instructions in the instruction cache620(block835).

The example instruction validator650determines whether the retrieved instructions are valid (block840). The example instruction validator650may determine whether the retrieved instructions are valid by, for example, computing a checksum of the retrieved instructions stored in the instruction cache620and comparing the computed checksum against the checksum provided by the repository134. However, any other approach to validating retrieved instructions may additionally or alternatively be used. For example, validating the instructions may involve verifying that any pre-requisites of the instructions have already been installed and/or are otherwise available for execution of the instructions, performing a virus scan on the instructions, etc.

If the example instruction validator650determines that the retrieved instructions are valid (e.g., block840returns a result of YES), the example management endpoint interface630provides a status update to the management endpoint340indicating that the management agent350is processing the instruction (block845). The example instruction executor interface660instructs the instruction executor610to execute the instructions stored in the instruction cache620(block850). The example instruction executor610then executes the instructions. When executing the instructions, the example instruction executor610may output results of the execution of the instructions via, for example, a standard out interface, a standard error interface, an event log, an output file, etc.

The example instruction executor interface660collects the output of the execution of the instructions (block855) and stores the output of the execution of the instructions in the result cache670as a result of the execution of the instruction (block860). The example instruction executor interface660collects the output of the execution of the instructions by, for example, monitoring the standard out interface, monitoring the standard error interface, monitoring the event log, monitoring the output file, etc. Such monitoring of the output of the execution of the instruction is performed until execution of the instruction is complete (e.g., until the instruction completes its normal operation, until the instruction execution is terminated, until a timeout is reached, etc.)

In some examples, the example management endpoint interface630evaluates the result of the execution of the instruction to determine if the instruction completed as expected (as defined in the indication of the instruction received from the management endpoint340) (block861). Upon determining that the result of the execution of the instruction does not match the expected result (block861returns a result of NO), the example management endpoint interface630may determine whether the execution of the instruction should be retried (block862). In some examples, a retry counter is used to indicate a number of times that execution of the instruction has already been attempted. If the number of times that execution of the instruction has already been attempted is below a retry threshold, the example management endpoint interface630provides an updated status (e.g., retrying) to the management endpoint340(block863). In some examples, additional information such as, the number of retries already performed, a description of the reason for the failure that caused the retry, etc. may additionally or alternatively be communicated to the management endpoint.

While in the illustrated example ofFIG. 8, the instructions are re-executed as a result of a failure, in some examples, other responsive actions may be taken such as, a rollback of the execution of the instructions may be triggered (e.g., to return the component server330to a state prior to the failed execution of the instructions), an alert may be sent to an administrator to direct the administrators review into the failure, etc. Control then proceeds to block850, where the instructions are re-executed. Blocks850through863are then repeated until an expected result is returned (block861returns a result of YES) or the retry threshold is exceeded (block862returns a result of NO).

Returning to block862, if the example management endpoint interface630determines that the retry threshold is exceeded (block862returning a result of NO). The example management endpoint interface630provides an updated status (e.g., failed) to the management endpoint340(block864). In some examples, additional information such as, the number of retries already performed, a description of the reason for the failure that caused the retry, etc. may additionally or alternatively be communicated to the management endpoint. Such additional information may be useful when diagnosing the failure. The results collected in the result cache670by the instruction executor interface660are transmitted to the management endpoint340by the management endpoint interface630(block885). In this manner, results of the execution of the instruction(s) across multiple management agents are centralized to a single management endpoint340such that the management endpoint can report upon the status of the execution of the instruction(s) across the multiple management agents using a single interface.

Returning to block861, when the execution of the instruction is complete and has returned an expected result (block861returns a result of YES), the example management endpoint interface630provides a status of the execution of the instruction to the management endpoint340indicating that execution of the instruction has completed (block865). The results collected in the result cache670by the instruction executor interface660are transmitted to the management endpoint340by the management endpoint interface630(block885).

While in the illustrated example ofFIG. 8, the determination of whether to retry execution of the instruction (block862) is made by the example management endpoint interface630(e.g., at the management agent350), in some examples, the management endpoint interface630may consult the management endpoint340to determine whether execution of the instruction should be retried. Additionally or alternatively, the management endpoint340may, upon receipt of the results transmitted in connection with block885, determine that the instructions did not produce an expected result, and may re-queue the instructions for execution in the instruction queue530.

Returning to block840, if the example instruction validator650determines that the retrieved instructions are not valid (e.g., block840returns a result of NO), the example management endpoint interface630provides a status update to the management endpoint340indicating that the instructions were rejected (block870). In some examples, instead of informing the management endpoint340of the failure to validation of the instructions, control may return to block825, where the example instruction retriever640may re-attempt to retrieve the instructions from the repository134. Such re-attempts may be performed up to, for example, a threshold number of re-attempts (e.g., three re-attempts, five re-attempts, etc.) before the example management endpoint interface630informs the management endpoint340of the rejected status of the instructions (block870).

The example instruction executor interface660stores a result indicating that the validation failed in the result cache670(block875). In some examples, the result indicates a reason for the failed validation (e.g., a checksum failure, a missing pre-requisite, a virus scan, etc.). In some examples, the example instruction retriever640deletes the instructions from the instruction cache620(block880). Deleting and/or otherwise removing the instructions from the instruction cache620ensures that instructions that failed validation (e.g., an instruction where a computed checksum did not match a checksum provided by the repository, an instruction that failed a virus scan, etc.) are not left on the component server330. In some examples, the instructions may be removed regardless of whether the validation (of block840) returns YES or NO. For example, the deletion of the instructions (block880) may be performed after the results are sent to the monitoring endpoint340(block885). Removing the instruction(s) reduces the likelihood that versioning issues might occur (e.g., a prior version of an instruction is executed despite a newer version being available at the repository134). Removing the instruction(s) also reduces an amount of space within the instruction cache620utilized by such instructions. As a result, smaller instruction caches620may be utilized. When considered across the deployment environment112, having hundreds or even thousands of copies of an instruction in each of the respective instruction caches can consume large amounts of storage space (e.g., a 1 MB instruction file stored one thousand times will consume approximately 1 GB of storage resources).

The results collected in the result cache670by the instruction executor interface660are transmitted to the management endpoint340by the management endpoint interface630(block885). In this manner, results of the execution of the instruction(s) across multiple management agents are centralized to a single management endpoint340such that the management endpoint can report upon the status of the execution of the instruction(s) across the multiple management agents using a single interface. The example process800ofFIG. 8is then repeated periodically and/or aperiodically to solicit an indication of an instruction to be executed from the management endpoint340.

Although the example program800ofFIG. 8is described in connection with executing instructions at a single management agent350, the example program800ofFIG. 8implemented in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure can be used in a multi management agent scenario in which hundreds or thousands of management agents operate at the direction of the management endpoint340. For example, while executing instructions 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 distribute and execute large quantities of instructions in an efficient and streamlined fashion without burdening and frustrating end users with long wait times resulting from upgrades and/or operations performed by the instructions.

FIG. 9is a block diagram of an example processor platform900capable of executing the instructions ofFIG. 7to implement the example management endpoint340ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or5. The processor platform900of the illustrated example includes a processor912. The processor912of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor912can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer.

The processor platform900of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit920. The interface circuit920may 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 devices922are connected to the interface circuit920. The input device(s)922permit(s) a user to enter data and commands into the processor912. 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 platform900of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices928for storing software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devices928include 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. The example mass storage928may implement the example instruction queue530and/or the example result data store540.

Coded instructions932representative of the example machine readable instructions ofFIG. 7may be stored in the mass storage device928, in the volatile memory914, in the non-volatile memory916, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

FIG. 10is a block diagram of an example processor platform1000capable of executing the instructions ofFIGS. 7 and/or 8to implement the example management agent350ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or6. The processor platform1000of the illustrated example includes a processor1012. The processor1012of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor1012can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer.

The processor1012of the illustrated example includes a local memory1013(e.g., a cache), and executes instructions to implement the example management endpoint interface630, the example instruction retriever640, the example instruction validator650, and/or the example instruction executor interface660. The processor1012of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memory1014and a non-volatile memory1016via a bus1018. The volatile memory1014may 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 memory1016may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory1014,1016is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform1000of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit1020. The interface circuit1020may 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 devices1022are connected to the interface circuit1020. The input device(s)1022permit(s) a user to enter data and commands into the processor1012. 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 platform1000of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices1028for storing software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devices1028include 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. The example mass storage device1028may implement the example result cache670.

Coded instructions1032representative of the example machine readable instructions ofFIGS. 7 and/or 8may be stored in the mass storage device1028, in the volatile memory1014, in the non-volatile memory1016, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the above disclosed methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture enable deployment of instructions to component servers via management agents. In some examples, the management agent is separate from an instruction executor of the component server. In this manner, the instruction executor can execute instructions that affect the operation(s) of the management agent. For example, the instruction executor may execute an instruction that causes the management agent to become updated and/or upgraded. Such functionality alleviates the need for a user (e.g., an administrator) to manually update each management agent of each component server. Such an approach is beneficial because, through the use of distributed execution of such installations, upgrades can be completed in a more timely fashion as compared to manual installation of an upgrade. In this manner, hundreds or thousands of management agents, for example, can rapidly be upgraded.

In some examples, instructions are retrieved by a management agent for execution at a component server from a repository. In some examples, upon completion of the execution of the instructions, the instruction(s) are removed from the component server. Removing the instruction(s) reduces the likelihood that versioning issues might occur (e.g., a prior version of an instruction is executed despite a newer version being available at the repository). Removing the instruction(s) also reduces an amount of space within an instruction cache utilized by such instructions. When considered across the deployment environment, having hundreds or even thousands of copies of an instruction in each of the respective instruction caches can consume large amounts of storage space (e.g., a 1 MB instruction file stored one thousand times will consume approximately 1 GB of storage resources). Because of the removal of the instructions disclosed herein, smaller instruction caches may be utilized, resulting in lower system requirements for distributed deployment environments.

In some examples disclosed herein, instructions are provided to the management agent in a compressed format (e.g., as a .zip file). Providing instruction packages in a compressed state is useful when, for example, the instructions are binary instructions for execution at the component server, as such compression reduces data transmission requirements as well as storage requirements of the repository. In contrast, instructions that are formatted as script instructions (which may be, for example, only a few lines and/or bytes of instructions) for execution at the component server might not be compressed because the storage space reduction does not outweigh the processing requirements on each of the component servers to decompress the instructions.

In some examples, the repository from which the management agent retrieves instructions for execution may be managed and/or operated by a third party organization (e.g., a professional service organization (PSO)) that manages and/or develops instructions (e.g., develops executable code, develops workflows, etc.). Such an approach enables an administrator of the deployment environment to easily work with third party software providers (e.g., consultants, PSOs, etc.) that create instructions (e.g., executable files) that may be customized for the deployment environment. In this manner, the administrator can simply direct the management endpoint to cause the management agents to retrieve the instructions from a repository hosted by the third party organization, and execute those instructions. Such an approach alleviates storage needs within the deployment environment. Such an approach also facilitates more rapid development and deployment of instructions.