Application runtime expert for deployment of an application on multiple computer systems

Abstract

An application Runtime Expert (ARE) manages deployment of application software on multiple computer systems. The ARE assists the user in verifying and fixing configuration and environment details of an application deployed on multiple computer systems. The ARE creates a user configurable XML template that contains configuration and environment details based on information collected from a master system that has a known good deployment. The ARE allows a user to edit the XML logic in the template and add plug-ins to the template. The XML template with the added plug-ins are sent to a target system and used to verify the deployment on the target system compared to the master system and to make fixes to the target system's configuration.

1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a master computer system comprising at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor having an installed application;   an Application Runtime Expert (ARE) that verifies a deployment of the application on a target computer system, wherein the deployment of the application includes the runtime configuration and environment of the application;   wherein the ARE creates a deployment template for verification of the deployment of the application, wherein the deployment template is user configurable and contains runtime configuration details, and environment details collected from a reference system with a known good deployment of the application; and   wherein the ARE sends the deployment template to the target computer to be used by an ARE core executing on the target computer to verify the deployment of the application on the target computer system.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the ARE allows a user to customize the deployment template by editing one or more logic files used by plugins to verify corresponding details of the deployment of the application on a target computer system. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the ARE allows the user to edit the deployment template to add a user defined plugin that implements a user specified verification of the deployment of the application on a target computer system. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the deployment template includes logic to fix a deployment detail of the deployment of the application on the target computer system. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the target computer system is located remotely from the master system. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the reference system with the known good deployment is on the master system. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the deployment template comprises one or more extensible markup language (XML) files compressed into a Java Archive file (JAR). 
     
     
         8 . A computer-implemented method for verifying a deployment of an application on a target computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
 (A) collecting deployment details from a known good deployment of the application on a reference system where the deployment details comprise configuration details and environment details of the application;   (B) building a user configurable deployment template that contains logic files to verify the deployment details;   (C) customizing the deployment template with user input;   (D) receiving the deployment template on the computer target system;   (E) executing code on the target system that uses the deployment template to collect deployment details from the target system;   (F) comparing deployment details of the reference system with deployment details from the target system;   (G) reporting results of the comparing step; and   (H) wherein the method steps are implemented in a computer software program stored in computer memory and executed by a computer processor.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the step of customizing the deployment template allows a user to edit the logic files. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the step of customizing the deployment template allows the user to edit the deployment template to add a user defined plugin that implements a user specified verification of the deployment of the application on a target computer system. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the deployment template includes logic to fix a deployment detail of the deployment of the application identified in the comparison step. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the deployment template comprises one or more extensible markup language (XML) files compressed into a Java Archive file (JAR). 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising the step of allowing the user to select which deployment detail checks to place in the deployment template. 
     
     
         14 . An article of manufacture comprising: an application runtime expert stored on a computer recordable media that when executed by a computer processor performs the steps of:
 (A) collecting deployment details from a known good deployment of an application on a reference system where the deployment details comprise configuration details and environment details of the application;   (B) building a user configurable deployment template that contains logic files to verify the deployment details;   (C) customizing the deployment template with user input;   (D) receiving the deployment template on a target system;   (E) executing code on the target system that uses the deployment template to collect deployment details from the target system;   (F) comparing deployment details of the reference system with deployment details from the target system;   (G) reporting results of the comparing step.   
     
     
         15 . The article of manufacture of  claim 14  wherein the step of customizing the deployment template allows a user to edit the logic files. 
     
     
         16 . The article of manufacture of  claim 14  wherein the step of customizing the deployment template allows the user to edit the deployment template to add a user defined plugin that implements a user specified verification of the deployment of the application on a target computer system. 
     
     
         17 . The article of manufacture of  claim 14  wherein the deployment template includes logic to fix a deployment detail of the deployment of the application identified in the comparison step. 
     
     
         18 . The article of manufacture of  claim 14  wherein the deployment template comprises one or more extensible markup language (XML) files compressed into a Java Archive file (JAR). 
     
     
         19 . The article of manufacture of  claim 14  further comprising the step of allowing the user to select which deployment detail checks to place in the deployment template. 
     
     
         20 . A computer-implemented method for verifying a deployment of an application on a target computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
 (A) allowing the user to select which deployment detail checks to place in the deployment template   (B) collecting deployment details from a known good deployment of the application on a reference system where the deployment details comprise configuration details and environment details of the application;   (C) building a user configurable deployment template that comprises one or more extensible markup language (XML) files, and one or more plugin runtime files   (D) customizing the deployment template with user input by allowing a user to edit the XML files, and further customizing the deployment template by adding a user defined plugin that implements a user specified verification of the deployment of the application on a target computer system;   (E) compressing the deployment template into a Java Archive file (JAR) to verify deployment details of a target computer system;   (F) receiving the deployment template on the target system;   (G) executing an ARE core on the target system that uses the XML files, plugin runtimes and user defined plugin in the deployment template to collect deployment details from the target system;   (H) comparing deployment details of the reference system with deployment details from the target system;   (I) fix deployment details on the target system based on the comparison;   (J) reporting results of the comparing step; and   wherein the method steps are implemented in a computer software program stored in computer memory and executed by a computer processor.