Semi-automatic discovery and generation of useful service blueprints
View Patent ↗According to one general aspect, a method of semi-automatically discovering and generating useful service blueprints may include collecting, by an apparatus, a plurality of configuration information sets regarding a plurality of network service applications. The method may also include converting, by the apparatus, the plurality of configuration information sets into one or more normalized application instance graphs. The method may further include generating, by the apparatus, one or more application blueprint files based, at least in part, upon the one or more normalized application instance graphs.
1. A method comprising:
collecting, by an apparatus, a plurality of configuration information sets regarding a plurality of network service applications;
converting, by the apparatus, the plurality of configuration information sets into a number of normalized application instance graphs;
identifying, by the apparatus, at least one sub-graph that is sufficiently common, based on a pre-defined criteria, to the number of the normalized application instance graphs; and
generating, by the apparatus, one or more application blueprint files based, at least in part, upon the number of normalized application instance graphs including the at least one identified sub-graph.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the plurality of configuration information sets into the number of normalized application instance graphs includes:
mapping the plurality of configuration information sets into at least one canonical application graph.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein mapping the plurality of configuration information sets into at least one canonical application graph includes:
reconciling multiple configuration information sets regarding the same network service into a single canonical application graph.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the plurality of configuration information sets into the number of normalized application instance graphs includes:
receiving a set of user specified equivalence rules; and
modifying the canonical application graph based, at least in part, upon the user specified equivalence rules.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the plurality of configuration information sets into the number of normalized application instance graphs includes:
normalizing a configuration information set by converting a node included by the configuration information set into an equivalent node included by a normalized application instance graph,
wherein the equivalence between the node included by the configuration information set and the node included by the normalized application instance graph is specified by a domain model.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein each configuration information set includes a first number of nodes representing either software or hardware components associated with a respective network service application;
wherein each normalized application instance graphs includes a second number of nodes representing either software or hardware components associated with the respective network service application;
wherein the first number is greater than the second number; and
wherein converting the plurality of configuration information sets into a number of normalized application instance graphs includes: removing nodes from each configuration information set based upon the set of pre-defined criteria.
7. A method comprising:
collecting, by an apparatus, a plurality of configuration information sets regarding a plurality of network service applications;
converting, by the apparatus, the plurality of configuration information sets into one or more normalized application instance graphs; and
generating, by the apparatus, one or more application blueprint files based, at least in part, upon the one or more normalized application instance graphs,
wherein each configuration information set includes a first number of nodes representing either software or hardware components associated with a respective network service application,
wherein each normalized application instance graph includes a second number of nodes representing either software or hardware components associated with the respective network service application,
wherein the first number is greater than the second number,
wherein converting a configuration information set into a normalized application instance graph includes removing nodes from the configuration information set based upon a set of pre-defined criteria,
wherein each node of the configuration information set includes a node type, and
wherein removing nodes from the configuration information set based upon a set of pre-defined criteria includes removing nodes that are of a hardware node type.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a request, from a user of a second apparatus, for at least one blueprint file,
wherein each blueprint file represents a template of a configuration of a network service application;
receiving a set of equivalence rules, from the user, that includes one or more software components that the user considers to be functionally equivalent; and
providing, to the user, at least one blueprint file that was generated based, at least in part, upon the one or more normalized application instance graphs.
9. An apparatus comprising:
a memory configured to store a plurality of configuration information sets regarding a plurality of network service applications; and
a processor configured to:
convert the plurality of configuration information sets into a number of normalized application instance graphs,
identify at least one sub-graph that is sufficiently common, based on a pre-defined criteria, to the number of the normalized application instance graphs, and
generate one or more application blueprint files based, at least in part, upon the number of normalized application instance graphs including the at least one identified sub-graph.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to map the plurality of configuration information sets into at least one canonical application graph.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to reconcile multiple configuration information sets regarding the same network service into a single canonical application graph.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 , further including a network communications port configured to receive a set of user specified equivalence rules; and
wherein the processor is configured to modify the canonical application graph based, at least in part, upon the user specified equivalence rules.
13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to:
normalize a configuration information set by converting a node included by the configuration information set into an equivalent node included by a normalized application instance graph,
wherein the equivalence between the node included by the configuration information set and the node included by the normalized application instance graph is specified by a domain model.
14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein each configuration information set includes a first number of nodes representing either software or hardware components associated with a respective network service application;
wherein each normalized application instance graphs includes a second number of nodes representing either software or hardware components associated with the respective network service application;
wherein the first number is greater than the second number; and
wherein the processor is configured to remove nodes from each configuration information set based upon the set of pre-defined criteria.
15. An apparatus comprising:
a memory configured to store a plurality of configuration information sets regarding a plurality of network service applications; and
a processor configured to:
convert the plurality of configuration information sets into one or more normalized application instance graphs, and
generate one or more application blueprint files based, at least in part, upon the one or more normalized application instance graphs,
wherein each configuration information set includes a first number of nodes representing either software or hardware components associated with a respective network service application,
wherein each normalized application instance graphs includes a second number of nodes representing either software or hardware components associated with the respective network service application,
wherein the first number is greater than the second number,
wherein the processor is configured to remove nodes from the configuration information set based upon a set of pre-defined criteria,
wherein each node of the configuration information set includes a node type, and
wherein the processor is configured to remove nodes that are of a hardware node type.
16. The apparatus of claim 9 , further including a network communications port configured to:
receive a request, from a user of a second apparatus, for at least one blueprint file, wherein each blueprint file represents a template of a configuration of a network service application;
receive a set of equivalence rules, from the user, that includes one or more software components that the user considers to be functionally equivalent; and
provide, to the user, at least one blueprint file that was generated based, at least in part, upon the the number of normalized application instance graphs.
17. A computer program product for semi-automatically generating a blueprint file, the computer program product being tangibly and non-transitorily embodied on a computer-readable medium and including executable code that, when executed, is configured to cause a data processing apparatus to:
collect a plurality of configuration information sets regarding a plurality of network service applications;
convert the plurality of configuration information sets into a number of normalized application instance graphs;
identify at least one sub-graph that is sufficiently common, based on a pre-defined criteria, to the number of the normalized application instance graphs; and
generate one or more application blueprint files based, at least in part, upon the number of normalized application instance graphs including the at least one identified sub-graph.
18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the executable code is configured to, when executed, cause the apparatus to:
receive a request, from a user of a second apparatus, for at least one blueprint file, wherein each blueprint file represents a template of a configuration of a network service application;
receive a set of equivalence rules, from the user, that includes one or more software components that the user considers to be functionally equivalent; and
provide, to the user, at least one blueprint file that was generated based, at least in part, upon the the number of normalized application instance graphs.