Managing a computing environment

1 . A computer readable medium including executable instructions which, when executed, manage aspects of a computing environment by:

defining a number of deployment parameters associated with a deployment blueprint, wherein the deployment parameters define a deployment configuration for a number of computing devices to be used in the computing environment;

defining a number of deployment functions associated with the number of deployment parameters, wherein the number of deployment functions can be called to deploy the number of computing devices to include the defined number of deployment parameters; and,

storing the number of deployment parameters and the number of associated deployment functions as a deployment file.

2 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by defining the deployment blueprint to correspond with a data center computing architecture.

3 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by storing the number of deployment parameters and associated deployment functions as an XML-based deployment file.

4 . The computer-readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by validating the XML-based deployment file against a defined schema.

5 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using an object model that comprises an object corresponding with an XML file.

6 . The computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using an XML file object including:

defining an open function to open an XML file;

defining a validation function to validate the XML file; or,

defining an update function to save an updated XML file.

7 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using an object model that comprises an object corresponding with a machine.

8 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using a machine object including:

defining an add function to add a machine to an XML file;

defining an update function to update an existing machine associated with the XML file; or,

defining a delete function to remove an existing machine from the XML file.

9 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using the machine object to define a virtual machine or a logical machine.

10 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using an object model that comprises an object corresponding with a package to be associated with a machine.

11 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using a package object including:

defining an add function to add a package to an XML file;

defining an update function to update an existing package associated with the XML file;

defining a dependency function to update a dependency in a package associated with the XML file;

defining a remove dependency function to remove a dependency in a package associated with the XML file; or,

defining a delete function to delete an existing package associated with the XML file.

12 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using an object model that comprises an include object corresponding with an include path to be associated with an XML file.

13 . The computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using an include object including:

defining an add function to add an include path to the XML file;

defining an update function to update an existing include path associated with the XML file; or,

defining a delete function to delete an existing include path associated with the XML file.

14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using an object model that comprises an object corresponding with a group to be associated with an XML file.

15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed, manage aspects of the computing environment by creating the number of deployment functions using a group object including:

defining an add function to add a group to the XML file;

defining an update function to update an existing group associated with the XML file; or,

defining a delete function to delete an existing group associated with the XML file.

16 . A manager component used to define a deployment configuration, the manager component being configured to:

define a number of deployment parameters associated with a number of computing devices to be deployed as part of a computing architecture;

generate a number of deployment functions associated with the deployment parameters, including using an object model to generate the number of deployment functions, wherein the object model comprises an XML file object, a machine object, and a package object; and,

store the number of deployment functions associated with the deployment parameters as part of a deployment file.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein manager component is further configured to generate the number of deployment functions associated with the deployment parameters, including using the object model to generate the number of deployment functions, wherein the object model further comprises an include object and a group object.

18 . A method of configuring a deployment comprising:

receiving a number of deployment parameters based in part on a number of available deployment options, wherein the deployment parameters are associated with a deployment configuration of a computing architecture;

generating a number of deployment functions based in part on the number of deployment parameters, wherein the number of deployment functions are used when deploying the computing architecture;

creating an XML-based deployment file to include the number of deployment functions; and,

validating the XML-based deployment file using a defined schema.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising transitioning the XML-based deployment file to an SML-based deployment file.

20 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising automatically correcting an invalid XML-based deployment file.