Categorising software application state

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016140209-A1
Application number	US-201414899731-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 12, 2014
Priority date	Jun 19, 2013
Publication date	May 19, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for categorising a state of operation of a software application in execution in a virtualised computing environment, the application having associated a set of software components being operable to access data associated with the application, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a set of software application state definitions, each state definition including a definition of an application characteristic having associated criteria based on one or more formal parameters; identifying a set of hypothetical states for the application from the set of state definitions based on the data, wherein the data is used to formulate a set of one or more actual parameters corresponding to formal parameters for criteria associated with one or more of the states in the set of hypothetical states; for each of the states in the set of hypothetical states, in response to a determination that criteria associated with a current state is fully evaluable in the negative, removing the current state from the set of hypothetical states; selecting a candidate state from the set of hypothetical states based on a level of satisfaction of criteria associated with each state in the set of hypothetical states, the candidate state having associated one or more absent formal parameters for which no actual parameter is included in the set of actual parameters; and determining if a level of satisfaction of criteria associated with the candidate state fails to meet a threshold level of satisfaction, and in response to the determination undertaking the steps of: a) adjusting the set of software components such that the set of software components is operable to obtain an improved set of actual parameters associated with the application, the improved set of actual parameters including at least one actual parameter corresponding to an absent formal parameter; and b) repeating the removing, selecting and determining steps.

First claim

1 . A method for categorising a state of operation of a software application in execution in a virtualised computing environment into one of a set of software application states, each state being defined by a state definition including a definition of an application characteristic having associated criteria based on one or more formal parameters, the application having associated a set of software components being operable to access data associated with the application, the method comprising the steps of:
identifying a set of hypothetical states for the application from the set of states based on the data, wherein the data is used to formulate a set of one or more actual parameters corresponding to formal parameters for criteria associated with one or more of the states in the set of hypothetical states; for each of the states in the set of hypothetical states, in response to a determination that criteria associated with a state are fully evaluable in the negative, removing the state from the set of hypothetical states; selecting a candidate state from the set of hypothetical states based on a level of satisfaction of criteria associated with each state in the set of hypothetical states, the candidate state having associated one or more formal parameters as absent parameters for which no corresponding actual parameter is included in the set of actual parameters; and determining if a level of satisfaction of criteria associated with the candidate state fails to meet a threshold level of satisfaction, and in response to the determination undertaking the steps of:
a) adjusting the set of software components such that the set of software components is operable to obtain an improved set of actual parameters associated with the application, the improved set of actual parameters including at least one actual parameter corresponding to an absent formal parameter; and
b) repeating the removing, selecting and determining steps.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the candidate state is a generic state including a family of specific states, and wherein the threshold level of satisfaction is a first threshold level of satisfaction, the method further comprising, in response to a determination that the first threshold level of satisfaction is met:
receiving a set of state definitions of the specific states of the candidate state, each specific state definition including a definition of an application characteristic having associated criteria based on one or more formal parameters;
repeating the identifying, selecting and determining steps, wherein the identifying step identifies the set of hypothetical states for the application from the set of state definitions of the specific states, and the threshold level of satisfaction of the determining step is a second threshold level of satisfaction, the second threshold level of satisfaction requiring a further level of satisfaction beyond the first threshold.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the generic state has associated a software compliance requirement, and each of the specific states corresponds to a state having associated a different degree of confidence that the compliance requirement is satisfied.

4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying one or more resources instantiated for execution of the application; and in response to a determination that one or more of the identified resources is changed, repeating the identifying, selecting and determining steps.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
in response to a determination that the level of satisfaction of criteria associated with the candidate state meets the threshold level of satisfaction, categorising the application as being in the candidate state.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the candidate state of operation of the application is suitable for indicating a state of compliance of the application with one or more compliance requirements.

7 . An apparatus for categorising a state of operation of a software application in execution in a virtualised computing environment into one of a set of software application states, each state being defined by a state definition including a definition of an application characteristic having associated criteria based on one or more formal parameters, the application having associated a set of software components being operable to access data associated with the application, the apparatus comprising:
a hypothetical state identifier adapted to identify a set of hypothetical states for the application from the set of states based on the data, wherein the data is used to formulate a set of one or more actual parameters corresponding to formal parameters for criteria associated with one or more of the states in the set of hypothetical states; a hypothetical state rationaliser adapted to remove one or more states from the set of hypothetical states in response to a determination that criteria associated with each of the one or more states are fully evaluable in the negative; a candidate state selector adapted to select a candidate state from the set of hypothetical states based on a level of satisfaction of criteria associated with each state in the set of hypothetical states, the candidate state having associated one or more formal parameters as absent formal parameters for which no corresponding actual parameter is included in the set of actual parameters; and state criteria satisfaction determiner adapted to determine if a level of satisfaction of criteria associated with the candidate state fails to meet a threshold level of satisfaction; and a software component adjuster responsive to the state criteria satisfaction determiner and adapted to adjust the set of software components such that the set of software components is operable to obtain an improved set of actual parameters associated with the application, the improved set of actual parameters including at least one actual parameter corresponding to an absent formal parameter.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the candidate state is a generic state including a family of specific states,
wherein the threshold level of satisfaction is a first threshold level of satisfaction,
wherein the receiver is further adapted to, responsive to a determination that the first threshold level of satisfaction is met, receive a set of state definitions of the specific states of the candidate state, each specific state definition including a definition of an application characteristic having associated criteria based on one or more formal parameters,
wherein the hypothetical state identifier is further adapted to identify the set of hypothetical states for the application from the set of state definitions of the specific states, and
wherein the state criteria satisfaction determiner is further adapted to determine if a level of satisfaction of criteria associated with specific state as a candidate state fails to meet a second threshold level of satisfaction, the second threshold level of satisfaction requiring a further level of satisfaction beyond the first threshold.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the generic state has associated a software compliance requirement, and each of the specific states corresponds to a state having associated a different degree of confidence that the compliance requirement is satisfied.

10 . The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:
a detector adapted to detect one or more resources instantiated for execution of the application.

11 . The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:
a categoriser adapted in response to a determination that the level of satisfaction of criteria associated with the candidate state meets the threshold level of sat

Assignees

• British Telecomm

Inventors

• Dimitrakos Theo
• Georgalas Nektarios
• El-Moussa Fadi
• Pawar Pramod
• Vafiadis George

Classifications

• G06F9/44505 Primary

  Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files · CPC title

• G06F17/30598 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F9/5055

  considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine · CPC title

• G06F16/285 Primary

  Clustering or classification · CPC title

• G06F9/45533

  Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors · CPC title