System and method for federated configuration in an application server environment

1. A system for providing federated configuration in an application server, enterprise computing, or other computing environment, comprising:

a computer including a microprocessor, which executes one of an application server, enterprise computing, or other computing environment; and

a federated configuration component which enables a server's runtime domain configuration to be derived from:

a base configuration, that is parsed to create an in-memory representation of a domain configuration;

one or more configuration fragments, wherein the configuration fragments are gathered by one or more pluggable fragment locators which operate to find or otherwise determine configuration fragments to process, wherein each configuration fragment provides additional configuration information that indicates an action including at least one of an addition, replacement, or deletion of an indicated portion of the base configuration with a modified configuration; and

one or more pluggable configuration transformers that modify the in-memory representation of the domain configuration as specified by the configuration fragments;

wherein changes made to the in-memory representation of the domain configuration created by the actions of the configuration fragments are then used to control configuration and behavior of the server.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the server's runtime domain configuration is derived from the base configuration provided as an XML configuration file, and external descriptors referenced therefrom.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein each of the one or more configuration fragments provide a subset of a descriptor's XML.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more pluggable configuration transformers revises a config descriptor's in-memory representation by at least one of adding, deleting, or changing configuration elements within that representation.

5. A method for providing federated configuration in an application server, enterprise computing, or other computing environment, comprising:

performing, at a computer including a microprocessor, which executes one of an application server, enterprise computing, or other computing environment, a process of federated configuration which enables a server's runtime domain configuration to be derived from:

a base configuration, that is parsed to create an in-memory representation of a domain configuration;

one or more configuration fragments, wherein the configuration fragments are gathered by one or more pluggable fragment locators which operate to find or otherwise determine configuration fragments to process, wherein each configuration fragment provides additional configuration information that indicates an action including at least one of an addition, replacement, or deletion of an indicated portion of the base configuration with a modified configuration; and

one or more pluggable configuration transformers that modify the in-memory representation of the domain configuration as specified by the configuration fragments; and

applying changes made to the in-memory representation of the domain configuration created by the actions of the configuration fragments to control configuration and behavior of the server.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the server's runtime domain configuration is derived from the base configuration provided as an XML configuration file, and external descriptors referenced therefrom.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein each of the one or more configuration fragments provide a subset of a descriptor's XML.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein each of the one or more pluggable configuration transformers revises a config descriptor's in-memory representation by at least one of adding, deleting, or changing configuration elements within that representation.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, including instructions stored therein which when executed by one or more computers including a processor perform a method comprising:

performing, at a computer including a microprocessor, which executes one of an application server, enterprise computing, or other computing environment, a process of federated configuration which enables a server's runtime domain configuration to be derived from:

a base configuration, that is parsed to create an in-memory representation of a domain configuration;

one or more configuration fragments, wherein the configuration fragments are gathered by one or more pluggable fragment locators which operate to find or otherwise determine configuration fragments to process, wherein each configuration fragment provides additional configuration information that indicates an action including at least one of an addition, replacement, or deletion of an indicated portion of the base configuration with a modified configuration; and

one or more pluggable configuration transformers that modify the in-memory representation of the domain configuration as specified by the configuration fragments; and

applying changes made to the in-memory representation of the domain configuration created by the actions of the configuration fragments to control configuration and behavior of the server.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the server's runtime domain configuration is derived from the base configuration provided as an XML configuration file, and external descriptors referenced therefrom.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein each of the one or more configuration fragments provide a subset of a descriptor's XML.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein each of the one or more pluggable configuration transformers revises a config descriptor's in-memory representation by at least one of adding, deleting, or changing configuration elements within that representation.