Dynamic activation of web applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9544353-B2
Application number	US-201113162274-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2011
Priority date	Jun 16, 2011
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

Techniques are described herein that are capable of dynamically activating web applications. For instance, such applications may not be configured on a machine until requests for those applications are received by the machine. For example, upon receipt of such a request, the machine may automatically configure an application that is identified by the request on the machine. The machine may then forward the request to the application for processing. In another example, the machine may run an application-agnostic worker process (AAWP), which configures an application on the machine upon receipt of a request for the application. An AAWP is a worker process that is capable of processing requests for web application(s) that are not previously associated with the AAWP. The AAWP may cause a specified worker process to run on the machine, so that the specified worker process may process the request and/or subsequent requests for the application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
at least one element comprising at least one of (a) one or more processors, (b) hardware logic, or (c) electrical circuitry; and
a dynamic activation module implemented using the at least one element and configured to defer configuration of each of a plurality of web applications on a machine until a request for the respective web application is received at the machine, the dynamic activation module comprising:
a request router configured to determine whether web applications that correspond to respective requests that are received at the machine are configured on the machine, the request router further configured to route a request for a specified web application to an application-agnostic worker process in response to the specified web application not being configured on the machine, the request router further configured to route the request for the specified web application to a specified worker process that corresponds to the specified web application in response to the specified web application being configured on the machine;
an application-agnostic worker process module configured to execute the application-agnostic worker process, the application-agnostic worker process module comprising:
a configuration module configured to configure the specified web application on the machine in response to receipt of the request for the specified web application at the application-agnostic worker process, the configuration module configured to initiate execution of the specified worker process on the specified worker process module;
a provision module configured to provide the request for the specified web application to the specified worker process;
a binding module configured to establish a network binding for the specified web application that causes subsequent requests for the specified web application to be routed to the specified web application without first being routed to the application-agnostic worker process; and
a determination module configured to determine that no requests for the specified web application are received at the machine for a specified duration of time,
the configuration module further configured to automatically de-configure the specified web application on the machine in response to a determination that no requests for the specified web application are received at the machine for the specified duration of time; and

a specified worker process module configured to execute the specified worker process.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic activation module is configured to defer registration of each of a plurality of uniform resource identifiers that correspond to the plurality of respective web applications on the machine until a request for the corresponding web application is received at the machine; and
wherein the configuration module is configured to register a specified uniform resource identifier of the plurality of uniform resource identifiers that corresponds to the specified web application on the machine in response to receipt of the request for the specified web application at the application-agnostic worker process.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic activation module further comprises:
a registration module configured to register the application-agnostic worker process with a network stack of an operating system that is running on the machine to enable the application-agnostic worker process to process requests that are received from the request router;
wherein the application-agnostic worker process module further comprises:
a determination module configured to determine whether each of the requests that are received by the application-agnostic worker process module corresponds to a web application that is included in the plurality of web applications; and

wherein the configuration module is configured to configure the specified web application on the machine in response to a determination by the determination module that the request for the specified web application corresponds to the specified web application.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the specified worker process module is configured to provide a response that corresponds to the request for the specified web application to the application-agnostic worker process; and
wherein the provision module is further configured to forward the response toward a source of the request.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic activation module is configured to obtain configuration information regarding the specified web application from a source that is external to the machine, the configuration information specifying how the specified web application is to be configured; and
wherein the configuration module is configured to configure the specified web application on the machine based on the configuration information.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the binding module is configured to establish the network binding based at least in part on information that is included in a host header of a packet that is included in the request for the specified web application, the information identifying the specified web application.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an identification module configured to perform a lookup operation with respect to a lookup table in a store to determine that information that is included in the request for the specified web application corresponds to the specified web application.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the identification module is configured to retrieve at least a portion of the information from a host header that is included in a packet of the request for the specified web application.

9. A method performed using at least one processor of a processor-based system, the method comprising:
deferring configuration of each of a plurality of web applications on a machine until a request for the respective web application is received at the machine;
determining whether web applications that correspond to respective requests that are received at the machine are configured on the machine;
routing a request for a specified web application to an application-agnostic worker process or to a specified worker process that corresponds to the specified web application depending on whether the specified web application is configured on the machine, the request being routed to the application-agnostic worker process if the specified web application is not configured on the machine, the request being routed to the specified worker process if the specified web application is configured on the machine;
configuring the specified web application on the machine in response to receipt of the request for the specified web application at the application-agnostic worker process;
providing the request for the specified web application to the specified worker process;
establishing a network binding for the specified web application that causes subsequent requests for the specified web application to be routed to the specified web application without first being routed to the application-agnostic worker process;
determining that no requests for the specified web application are received at the machine for a specified duration of time; and
automatically de-configuring the specified web application on the machine in response to determining that no requests for the specified web application are received at the machine for the specified duration of time.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein deferring the configuration of each of the plurality of web applications comprises:
deferring registration of each of a plurality of uniform resource identifiers that correspond to the plurality of respective web applications on the

Assignees

• Alam Bilal
• Yeon Fabio Alexandre
• Dunajsky Jaroslav
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Alam Bilal
• Yeon Fabio Alexandre
• Dunajsky Jaroslav

Classifications

• H04L67/34

  involving the movement of software or configuration parameters  (network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416) · CPC title

• H04L67/02 Primary

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• H04L41/0813

  characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings · CPC title

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• H04L41/0886 Primary

  Fully automatic configuration · CPC title