Patent ID: 8769494

Claim:
One or more hardware devices having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method of updating a datacenter configuration, the method comprising: organizing the datacenter configuration into configuration components, wherein the configuration components are collections of configuration data that correspond to aspects of the datacenter configuration, and wherein each configuration component includes a versioned interface, wherein for a given configuration component, each version of the interface defines one or more configuration settings available for query by a consumer of the configuration component, and wherein each version of the interface defines one or more data types associated with configuration settings that are returned as a result of a query; providing a first configuration component to a developer, wherein the first configuration component is available to the developer for modification apart from the datacenter configuration; receiving a modified first configuration component from the developer, wherein the modified first configuration component is a modified version of the first configuration component; determining whether an interface of the modified first configuration component is well formed, wherein the determining includes determining whether data types for configuration values returned by the modified first configuration component are consistent with the one or more configuration settings as defined in the interface of the first configuration component; when the interface is well formed, accepting the modified first configuration component into a managed set of datacenter configuration, wherein the modified first configuration component is available for deployment, receiving a request to commit the modified first configuration component, determining whether the modified first configuration component is globally consistent with a committed version of the datacenter configuration, when the modified first configuration component is globally consistent with the committed version of the datacenter configuration, accepting the modified first configuration component into a managed set of datacenter configuration, wherein the modified first configuration component is available for deployment by another developer, and when the modified first configuration component is not globally consistent with the committed version of the datacenter configuration, rejecting the modified first configuration component; when the modified first configuration component is not well formed, rejecting the modified first configuration component.