Patent ID: 8290998

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising causing a computer to execute executable program instructions to perform steps of: receiving information, from a sending computer, comprising a landscape definition which identifies a plurality of servers and dependencies between at least some of the servers, the landscape definition received being selected from among a plurality of landscape definitions; and for each server specified in the landscape definition received: retrieving a server image from a repository of previously stored server images, the server image being identified based on information in the landscape definition associated with said each server; and instantiating said each server on the cloud computing system including causing the retrieved server image to execute on the cloud computing system, wherein the sending computer performs steps of: generating a landscape instance; receiving a landscape command directed to the landscape instance; mapping the landscape command to a plurality of server commands corresponding to the plurality of servers in the landscape definition; and executing the server commands on the plurality of servers on the cloud computing system.