Installation and Update of Cartridges in a Multi-Tenant Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) System

Abstract

Implementations for installation and update of cartridges in a multi-tenant Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) system are disclosed. A method of the disclosure includes receiving, by a processing device of a node of a multi-tenant PaaS system, an indication to initiate an update process for cartridges of the node, receiving a cartridge file package for storage at the node, storing the cartridge file package to a cartridge library of the node, and maintaining the cartridge file package in the cartridge library as a newest version of a template cartridge that corresponds to the cartridge file package.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(e) of U.S. Patent Provisional Application No. 61/925,381, filed on Jan. 9, 2014, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The implementations of the disclosure relate generally to computing infrastructures and, more specifically, relate to installation and update of cartridges in a multi-tenant Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) system.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Currently, a variety of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings exist that include software and/or hardware facilities for facilitating the execution of web applications. In some cases, these PaaS offerings utilize a cloud computing environment (the "cloud") to support execution of the web applications. Cloud computing is a computing paradigm in which a customer pays a "cloud provider" to execute a program on computer hardware owned and/or controlled by the cloud provider. It is common for cloud providers to make virtual machines hosted on its computer hardware available to customers for this purpose.

[0004] The cloud provider typically provides an interface that a customer can use to requisition virtual machines and associated resources such as processors, storage, and network services, etc., as well as an interface a customer can use to install and execute the customer's program on the virtual machines that the customer requisitions, together with additional software on which the customer's program depends. For some such programs, this additional software can include software components, such as a kernel and an operating system, and/or middleware and a framework. Customers that have installed and are executing their programs "in the cloud" typically communicate with the executing program from remote geographic locations using Internet protocols.

[0005] PaaS offerings typically facilitate deployment of web applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware, software, and provisioning hosting capabilities, providing the facilities to support the complete life cycle of building, delivering, and servicing web applications that are entirely available from the Internet. Typically, these facilities operate as one or more virtual machines (VMs) running on top of a hypervisor in a host server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] The disclosure will be understood more fully from the detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings of various implementations of the disclosure. The drawings, however, should not be taken to limit the disclosure to the specific implementations, but are for explanation and understanding only.

[0007] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network architecture in which implementations of the disclosure may operate.

[0008] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) system architecture according to an implementation of the disclosure.

[0009] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a communication architecture of a multi-tenant PaaS for providing installation and update of cartridges in the multi-tenant PaaS system according to an implementation of the disclosure.

[0010] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for upgrading a template cartridge in a multi-tenant PaaS according to an implementation of the disclosure.

[0011] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for upgrading a cartridge instance in a multi-tenant PaaS system according to an implementation of the disclosure.

[0012] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of one implementation of a computer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] Implementations of the disclosure provide installation and update of cartridges in a multi-tenant Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) system. In one implementation, a cartridge of the PaaS system may be written by a cartridge author and utilized in deployed applications by application developers. The PaaS provider controller 140 may include a broker server 142 with an update component 150 to manage installation and updates of cartridges at the VMs 111, 112, 121, 122. The update component 150 may communicate with a node update component 155 on each VM 111, 112, 121, 122 of the multi-tenant PaaS to manage installation and update of cartridges for the multi-tenant PaaS.

[0014] In one implementation, the update component 150 determines that one or more nodes (e.g., VMs 111, 112, 121, 122) of the multi-tenant PaaS are to receive a new cartridge installation or a cartridge installation update. The new cartridge installations or updates may arrive in the form of a file package. The node update component 155 manages the install or update process for the corresponding node (e.g., VM 111, 112, 121, 122) by maintaining versions of each file package for a cartridge. For example, if a cartridge of the node has been updated twice, the node update component 155 maintains the three different versions of the cartridge in a cartridge library of the node. The node update component 155 is also responsible for initiating and managing the updates for each instance of the cartridge running on the node.

[0015] Previously, PaaS systems maintained the most recent version of the cartridge. As a result, any applications on the node utilizing the cartridge had to be updated at the time of the template cartridge upgrade. If the node hosted a large number of applications, this could cause outages of applications that may have been in an unknown state while the new files were being installed on the node and the applications' services restarted. Implementations of the disclosure overcome this problem by introducing a node update component to manage the install and update process for the node and maintain isolated versions of each cartridge file package installed at the node. The node update component further oversees the update of each cartridge instance running on the node, thereby providing efficient cartridge updates for each application.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network architecture 100 in which implementations of the disclosure may operate. The network architecture 100 includes a cloud 130 managed by a cloud provider system 104. The cloud provider system 104 provides nodes to execute software and/or other processes. In some implementations, these nodes are virtual machines (VMs), such as VMs 111, 112, 121, and 122 hosted in cloud 130. Each VM 111, 112, 121, 122 is hosted on a physical machine, such as host 1 110 through host N 120, configured as part of the cloud 130. The VMs 111, 112, 121, 122 may be executed by OSes 115, 125 on each host machine 110, 120.

[0017] In some implementations, the host machines 110, 120 are often located in a data center. For example, VMs 111 and 112 are hosted on physical machine 110 in cloud 130 provided by cloud provider 104. Users can interact with applications executing on the cloud-based VMs 111, 112, 121, 122 using client computer systems, such as clients 160, 170 and 180, via corresponding web browser applications 161, 171 and 181. In other implementations, the applications may be hosted directly on hosts 1 through N 110-120 without the use of VMs (e.g., a "bare metal" implementation), and in such an implementation, the hosts themselves are referred to as "nodes".

[0018] Clients 160, 170 and 180 are connected to hosts 110, 120 on cloud 130 and the cloud provider system 104 via a network 102, which may be a private network (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), intranet, or other similar private networks) or a public network (e.g., the Internet). Each client 160, 170, 180 may be a mobile device, a PDA, a laptop, a desktop computer, a tablet computing device, a server device, or any other computing device. Each host 110, 120 may be a server computer system, a desktop computer or any other computing device. The cloud provider system 104 may include one or more machines such as server computers, desktop computers, etc.

[0019] In one implementation, the cloud provider system 104 is coupled to a cloud controller 108 via the network 102. The cloud controller 108 may reside on one or more machines (e.g., server computers, desktop computers, etc.) and may manage the execution of applications in the cloud 130. In some implementations, cloud controller 108 receives commands from PaaS provider controller 140. Based on these commands, the cloud controller 108 provides data (e.g., such as pre-generated images) associated with different applications to the cloud provider system 104. In some implementations, the data may be provided to the cloud provider 104 and stored in an image repository 106, or in an image repository (not shown) located on each host 110, 120, or in an image repository (not shown) located on each VM 111, 112, 121, 122. This data is used for the execution of applications for a multi-tenant PaaS system managed by the PaaS provider controller 140.

[0020] In one implementation, a cartridge of the PaaS system may be written by a cartridge author and utilized in deployed applications by application developers. The PaaS provider controller 140 may include a broker server 142 with an update component 150 to manage installation and updates of cartridges at the VMs 111, 112, 121, 122. The update component 150 may communicate with a node update component 155 on each VM 111, 112, 121, 122 of the multi-tenant PaaS to manage installation and update of cartridges for the multi-tenant PaaS.

[0021] In one implementation, the update component 150 determines that one or more nodes (e.g., VMs 111, 112, 121, 122) of the multi-tenant PaaS are to receive a new cartridge installation or a cartridge installation update. The discovery of new cartridges or cartridge updates may occur dynamically via any upload/notification component. For example, a source code management system (sometimes referred to as a "SCM" or revision control system) may be utilized for cartridge discovery. The new cartridge installations or updates may arrive in the form of a file package. The node update component 155 manages the install or update process for the corresponding node (e.g., VM 111, 112, 121, 122) by maintaining versions of each file package for a cartridge. For example, if a cartridge of the node has been updated twice, the node update component 155 maintains the three different versions of the cartridge in a cartridge library of the node. The node update component 155 is also responsible for initiating and managing the updates for each instance of the cartridge running on the node. Further details of providing installation and update of cartridges in a multi-tenant PaaS system are described below with respect to FIG. 2.

[0022] While various implementations are described in terms of the environment described above, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the facility may be implemented in a variety of other environments including a single, monolithic computer system, as well as various other combinations of computer systems or similar devices connected in various ways. For example, the data from the image repository 106 may run directly on a physical host 110, 120 instead of being instantiated on a VM 111, 112, 121, 122.

[0023] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a PaaS system architecture 200 according to an implementation of the disclosure. The PaaS architecture 200 allows users to launch software applications in a cloud computing environment, such as cloud computing environment provided in network architecture 100 described with respect to FIG. 1. The PaaS system architecture 200, in one implementation, includes a client layer 210, a broker layer 220, and a node layer 230.

[0024] In one implementation, the client layer 210 resides on a client machine, such as a workstation of a software developer, and provides an interface to a user of the client machine to a broker layer 220 of the PaaS system 200. For example, the broker layer 220 may facilitate the creation and deployment on the cloud (via node layer 230) of software applications being developed by an end user at client layer 210.

[0025] In one implementation, the client layer 210 includes a source code management system 212, sometimes referred to as "SCM" or revision control system. One example of such an SCM or revision control system is Git, available as open source software. Another example of an SCM or revision control system is Debian, also available as open source software. Git, Debian, and other such distributed SCM systems, usually include a working directory for making changes, and a local software repository for storing the changes for each application associated with the end user of the PaaS system 200. The packaged software application can then be "pushed" from the local SCM repository to a remote SCM repository, such as app repos 233a, 233b, 233c, at the node(s) 232a, 232b, 232c running the associated application. From the remote SCM repository 233a, 233b, 233c, the code may be edited by others with access, or the application may be executed by a machine. Other SCM systems work in a similar manner.

[0026] The client layer 210, in one implementation, also includes a set of command line tools 214 that a user can utilize to create, launch, and manage applications. In one implementation, the command line tools 214 can be downloaded and installed on the user's client machine, and can be accessed via a command line interface or a graphical user interface, or some other type of interface. In one implementation, the command line tools 214 make use of an application programming interface ("API") of the broker layer 220 and perform other applications management tasks in an automated fashion using other interfaces, as will be described in more detail further below in accordance with some implementations.

[0027] In one implementation, the broker layer 220 acts as middleware between the client layer 210 and the node layer 230. The node layer 230 includes the nodes 232a-c on which software applications 235a-c are provisioned and executed. In one implementation, each node 232a-c is a VM provisioned by an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider. In other implementations, the nodes 232a-c may be physical machines (e.g., bare metal) or VMs residing on a single physical machine and running gears (discussed below) that provide functionality of applications of a multi-tenant PaaS system. In one implementation, the broker layer 220 is implemented on one or more machines, such as server computers, desktop computers, etc. In some implementations, the broker layer 220 may be implemented on one or more machines separate from machines implementing each of the client layer 210 and the node layer 230, or may implemented together with the client layer 210 and/or the node layer 230 on one or more machines, or some combination of the above.

[0028] In one implementation, the broker layer 220 includes a broker 222 that coordinates requests from the client layer 210 with actions to be performed at the node layer 230. One such request is new application creation. In one implementation, when a user, using the command line tools 214 at client layer 210, requests the creation of a new application 235a-c, or some other action to manage the application 235a-c, the broker 222 first authenticates the user using an authentication service 224. In one implementation, the authentication service may comprise custom authentication methods, or standard protocols such as SAML, OAuth, etc. Once the user has been authenticated and allowed access to the system by authentication service 224, the broker 222 uses a server orchestration system 226 to collect information and configuration information about the nodes 232a-c.

[0029] In one implementation, the broker 222 uses the Marionette CollectiveTM ("MCollective.TM.") framework available from Puppet LabsTM as the server orchestration system 226, but other server orchestration systems may also be used. The server orchestration system 226, in one implementation, functions to coordinate server-client interaction between multiple (sometimes a large number of) servers. In one implementation, the servers being orchestrated are nodes 232a-c, which are acting as application servers and web servers.

[0030] In one implementation, the broker 222 manages the business logic and model representing the nodes 232a-c and the applications 235a-c residing on the nodes, and acts as a controller that generates the actions requested by users via an API of the client command line tools 214. The server orchestration system 226 then takes the actions generated by the broker 222 and orchestrates their execution on the many nodes 232a-c managed by the system.

[0031] In one implementation, the information collected about the nodes 232a-c can be stored in a data store 228. In one implementation, the data store 228 can be a locally-hosted database or file store, or it can be a cloud based storage service provided by a Storage-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider, such as Amazon.TM. S3.TM. (Simple Storage Service). The broker 222 uses the information about the nodes 232a-c and their applications 235a-c to model the application hosting service and to maintain records about the nodes. In one implementation, data of a node 232a-c is stored in the form of a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) blob or string that maintains key-value pairs to associate a unique identifier, a hostname, a list of applications, and other such attributes with the node.

[0032] In implementations of the disclosure, the PaaS system architecture 200 of FIG. 2 is a multi-tenant PaaS environment. In a multi-tenant PaaS environment, each node 232a-c runs multiple applications 235a-c that may be owned or managed by different users and/or organizations. As such, a first customer's deployed applications 235a-c may co-exist with any other customer's deployed applications on the same node 232 (VM) that is hosting the first customer's deployed applications 235a-c. In some implementations, portions of an application are run on multiple different nodes 232a-c. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, components of application 1 235a are run in both node 232a and node 232b. Similarly, application 2 235b is run in node 232a and node 232c, while application 3 235c is run in node 232b and node 232c.

[0033] In addition, each node also maintains a cartridge library 237. The cartridge library 237 maintains multiple software components (referred to herein as cartridges) that may be utilized by applications 235a-c deployed on node 232a-c. A cartridge can represent a form of support software (or middleware) providing the functionality, such as configuration templates, scripts, and/or dependencies, to run an application 235a-c and/or add a feature to an application, 235a-c. In one implementation, the cartridges support languages such as, but not limited to, JBoss.TM., PHP, Ruby, Python, Perl, and so on. In addition, cartridges may be provided that support databases, such as MySQL.TM., PostgreSQL.TM., Mongo.TM., and others. Cartridges may also be available that support the build and continuous integration environments, such as a Jenkins cartridge. Lastly, cartridges may be provided to support management capabilities, such as PHPmyadmin, RockMongo.TM., 10gen-mms-agent, cron scheduler, and HAProxy, for example. Adding an instance 242 of a cartridge from cartridge library 237 to an application 235a-c provides a capability for the application 235a-c, without the customer who owns the application having to administer or update the included capability.

[0034] In one implementation, each node 232a-c is implemented as a VM and has an operating system 234a-c that can execute applications 235a-c using the app repos 233a-c and cartridge libraries 237 that are resident on the nodes 232a-c. Each node 302a-b also includes a server orchestration system agent (not shown) configured to track and collect information about the node 232a-c and to perform management actions on the node 232a-c. Thus, in one implementation, using MCollectiveTM as the server orchestration system 226, the server orchestration system agent (not shown) at the node 232a-c can act as a MCollectiveTM server. The server orchestration system 226 would then act as the MCollectiveTM client that can send requests, queries, and commands to the MCollectiveTM server agent on node 232a-c.

[0035] As previously mentioned, cartridges provide the underlying support software that implements the functionality of applications 235a-c. In one implementation, an application 235a-c may utilize one or more cartridge instances 242 that are run in one or more resource-constrained gears 240 on nodes 232a-c. Cartridge library 237 provides an OS-based location, outside of all application gears 240, that acts as a source for cartridge instantiations 242 that provide functionality for an application 235a-c.

[0036] An application 235a-c may use more than one cartridge instance 240 as part of providing functionality for the application 235a-b. One example of this is a JavaEE application that uses a JBoss.TM. AS7 cartridge with a supporting MySQLTM database provided by a MySQL.TM. cartridge. Each cartridge instance 242 may include a software repository that provides the particular functionality of the cartridge instance 242.

[0037] As mentioned above, a gear 240 is a resource-constrained process space on the node 232a-c to execute functionality of an application 235a-c. In some implementations, a gear 240 is established by the node 232a-c with resource boundaries, including a limit and/or designation of the amount of memory, amount of storage, and security types and/or labels to be applied to any functions executed by the gear 240. In one implementation, gears 240 may be established using the Linux Containers (LXC) virtualization method. In further implementations, gears 240 may also be established using cgroups, SELinux.TM., and kernel namespaces, to name a few examples. As illustrated in FIG. 2, cartridges instances 242 for an application 235a-c may execute in gears 240 dispersed over more than one node 232a-b. In other implementations, cartridge instances 242 for an application 235a-c may run in one or more gears 240 on the same node 232a-c.

[0038] Implementations of the disclosure provide installation and updates of a cartridge instance 242 by the multi-tenant PaaS. In one implementation, broker layer 220 includes an update component 250 to provide support for the installation and updates of cartridge instances 242 of the multi-tenant PaaS 200. In one implementation, the update component 250 is part of broker 222. The update component 250 may be the same as update component 150 described with respect to FIG. 1. In addition, nodes 232a-c each include a node update component 255 that is communicably coupled to update component 250 of broker 222. In one implementation, node update component 255 may be the same as node update component 155 described with respect to FIG. 1. Further details of the interaction between update component 250 and node update component 2555 to install and update template cartridges of cartridge library 237 and cartridge instances 242 are described below with respect to FIG. 3.

[0039] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a communication architecture 300 of a multi-tenant PaaS for implementing installation and update of cartridges. Architecture 300 includes the broker 222 in communication with a node 232. Broker 222 and node 232, and their sub-components, may be the same as their counterparts described with respect to FIG. 2. Broker 222 may include an update component 250 as described with respect to FIG. 2. The broker 222 utilizes its update component 250 to assist in managing installation and updates of cartridges 310, 312, 314, 320, 322, 324 at node 232. The update component 250 may communicate with a node update component 255 on the node 232 to manage installation and update of cartridges 310, 312, 314, 320, 322, 324 for the multi-tenant PaaS.

[0040] In one implementation, the update component 250 determines that the node 232 is to receive a new or updated cartridge installation. As discussed above, the discovery of new cartridges or cartridge updates by the update component 250 may occur dynamically via any upload/notification component. For example, the SCM of the multi-tenant PaaS may be utilized for cartridge discovery. The update component 250 may then contact the node update component 255 to initiate the update process. The node update component 255 then oversees the install/update process at the node 232. Node update component 255 may oversee the install/update process for both of template cartridges 310, 312, 314 maintained in the cartridge library 237 and instances 320, 322, 324 of the template cartridges deployed to gears 240 of applications 235a, 235b hosted by the node 232. New cartridge installations or updates may arrive in the form of a file package.

[0041] The node update component 255 saves the file package to the cartridge library 237, which may be considered an indexed data store. The node update component 255 maintains in the cartridge library 237 every version of file packages received for a cartridge. As such, the node update component 255 provides cartridge version maintenance for the cartridges maintained in the cartridge library 237.

[0042] For example, assume that cartridge library 237 includes a template cartridge A, versions 1 310a and 2 310b. When the node update component 255 receives notice that a new version 3 of cartridge A is available and then initiates download of that cartridge A, version 3 310c. The node update component 255 saves the file package to the cartridge library 237 as template cartridge A, version 3 310c. The previous versions 310a, 310b of the template cartridge A are also still maintained in the cartridge library 237 and isolated from one another. As shown, template library 237 may also include other cartridges B and C and their corresponding isolated versions 312a, 312b, 314, as well.

[0043] The cartridge library 237 of implementations of the disclosure allows the node 232 of a multi-tenant PaaS to retrieve all versions of a given set of files currently being used by an application 235a, 235b hosted by the node 232. As such, applications 235a, 235b can be upgraded safely within any provided or indicated maintenance windows as both new and old versions of the file packages for the cartridges are available. In addition, the multi-tenant PaaS is also able to create new applications utilizing older versions of cartridges, which some users of the multi-tenant PaaS may request and/or prefer. For example, environments or enterprises that are heavily-regulated and/or audited, such as the pharmaceutical industry, may prefer such a feature. This is illustrated in FIG. 3 where app 1 235a maintains an older version 1 of cartridge A 320a, instead of the newest version 3 310c of cartridge A that is available in the template directory 237.

[0044] Once the template cartridge 310, 312, 314 has been updated, the node update component 255 may manage the cartridge instance 320, 322, 324 upgrade process as well. The node update component 255 may examine each gear 240 running on the node 232, and determine whether the cartridge instances 320, 322, 324 running on the gear 240 are up-to-date. In some implementations, the application developer of the application 235a may prefer not to upgrade the cartridge instance 320, 322, 324 (e.g., for the reasons discussed above such as heavy regulation or auditing). In such a case, the application developer may set a flag or other indicator that instructs the node update component 255 to bypass the cartridge instance 320, 322, 324 for upgrade purposes.

[0045] If the node update component 255 does not identify a flag or other indicator to prohibit upgrades, then the node update component 255 compares the version of the cartridge instance 320, 322, 324 deployed to the gear 240 to the most-recent version of the corresponding template cartridge 310, 312, 314 maintained in the cartridge library 237. If the cartridge instance is not up-to-date, then the node update component 255 oversees the upgrade of the cartridge instance 320, 322, 324 to the most recent version of the template cartridge 310, 312, 324.

[0046] In some implementations, once all applications 235a, 235b on the node 232 have been upgraded to the newest cartridge versions, the old version(s) of the cartridge that is no longer being used on the node 232 may be removed. The node update component 255 may run a removal process at predetermined time intervals that scans all gears 240 of the node 232 to determine whether any of the older versions of template cartridges 310, 312, 314 can be removed (as they are not running or being utilized on any gears 240). Any identified unused old versions of the template cartridge 310, 312, 314 may then be removed from the cartridge repository 237 by the node update component 255.

[0047] In one implementation, the cartridge library 237 also allows the multi-tenant PaaS to share read-only files across multiple applications 235a, 235b without intervention from an application developer. This sharing of real-only, immutable files may be enabled by including a pointer 335a-c to a user directory 330a-c of a template cartridge 310a-c in the cartridge instance 320a-c of that template cartridge 310a-c. The user directory 330a-c of a template cartridge 310a-c may refer to the directory of the cartridge 310a-c that stores the cartridge binaries that are run by the application 235a, 235b. By including a pointer 335a-c to the user directory 330a-c of the template cartridge 310a-c, implementations of the disclosure allow for efficient use of disk space by avoiding unnecessary duplication of files between the template cartridge 310a-c and cartridge instance 320a-c. In one implementation, when a cartridge instance 320a-c that includes a pointer 335a-c to a user directory 330a-c of a template cartridge 310a-c is upgraded to a new version, the node update component 255 also updates the pointer 335a-c to point to the newer version of the user directory 330a-c in the new version of the template cartridge 310a-c.

[0048] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 400 for upgrading a template cartridge in a multi-tenant PaaS according to an implementation of the disclosure. Method 400 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as instructions run on a processing device), firmware, or a combination thereof. In one implementation, method 400 is performed by node update component 255 described with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0049] Method 400 begins at block 410, where an indication is received at a node update component to initiate an update process for cartridges of the node. In one implementation, the indication may be received from an update component of a broker of a multi-tenant PaaS hosting the node. Then, at block 420, a cartridge file package is received at the node.

[0050] At block 430, the node determines that the download of the cartridge file package is complete. Lastly, at block 440, the downloaded cartridge file package is saved to a cartridge library of the node as a newest version of a template cartridge corresponding to the cartridge file package. In one implementation, the cartridge library maintains one or more previous versions of the template cartridge and these versions are each isolated from one another.

[0051] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 500 for upgrading a cartridge instance in a multi-tenant PaaS system according to an implementation of the disclosure. Method 500 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as instructions run on a processing device), firmware, or a combination thereof. In one implementation, method 500 is performed by node update component 255 described with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0052] Method 500 begins at block 510, where a new version of a template cartridge is added to a template library of a node. In one implementation, the new version of the template cartridge is added according to method 400 described with respect to FIG. 4. At block 520, gears running on the node are accessed and cartridge instances deployed on the accessed gears are also accessed. For each accessed cartridge instance, method 500 then proceeds through blocks 530-570.

[0053] At decision block 530, it is determined whether the cartridge instance is flagged for no upgrades. If so, then method 500 ends. If not, then method 500 proceeds to decision block 540 where it is determined whether the version of the cartridge instance is the same as the newest version of the corresponding template cartridge maintained in the cartridge library. If so, then the cartridge instance is up-to-date and does not have to be updated. If the cartridge instance version is not the same as the newest version of the corresponding cartridge template, then method 500 proceeds to block 550.

[0054] At block 550, the cartridge instance is upgraded to the newest version of the template cartridge. Subsequently, at decision block 560, it is determined whether the previous cartridge instance (prior to upgrade) included a pointer to a user directory of the corresponding template cartridge. If not, then method 500 ends. On the other hand, if the prior cartridge instance did include a pointer to the template cartridge user directory, then method 500 continues to block 570. At block 570, the pointer to the user directory in the cartridge instance is updated to point to the user directory in the newest version of the template directory. After all cartridge instances in the node have been accessed, method 500 ends.

[0055] FIG. 6 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the example form of a computer system 600 within which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In alternative implementations, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client device in a client-server network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a server, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

[0056] The computer system 600 includes a processing device 602 (e.g., processor, CPU, etc.), a main memory 604 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) (such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or DRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 606 (e.g., flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 618, which communicate with each other via a bus 608.

[0057] Processing device 602 represents one or more general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. More particularly, the processing device may be complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, or processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processing device 602 may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or the like. The processing device 602 is configured to execute the processing logic 626 for performing the operations and steps discussed herein.

[0058] The computer system 600 may further include a network interface device 622 communicably coupled to a network 664. The computer system 600 also may include a video display unit 610 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 614 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 620 (e.g., a speaker).

[0059] The data storage device 618 may include a machine-accessible storage medium 624 on which is stored software 626 embodying any one or more of the methodologies of functions described herein. The software 626 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604 as instructions 626 and/or within the processing device 602 as processing logic 626 during execution thereof by the computer system 600; the main memory 604 and the processing device 602 also constituting machine-accessible storage media.

[0060] The machine-readable storage medium 624 may also be used to store instructions 626 to implement a node update component 255 to manage installation and update of cartridges in a multi-tenant PaaS, such as node update component 255 described with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3, and/or a software library containing methods that call the above applications. While the machine-accessible storage medium 624 is shown in an example implementation to be a single medium, the term "machine-accessible storage medium" should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term "machine-accessible storage medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instruction for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the disclosure. The term "machine-accessible storage medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media.

[0061] In the foregoing description, numerous details are set forth. It will be apparent, however, that the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the disclosure.

[0062] Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

[0063] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "sending", "receiving", "attaching", "forwarding", "caching", "referencing", "determining", "providing", "implementing", "translating", "causing", or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

[0064] The disclosure also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a machine readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, each coupled to a computer system bus.

[0065] The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the method steps. The structure for a variety of these systems will appear as set forth in the description below. In addition, the disclosure is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the disclosure as described herein.

[0066] The disclosure may be provided as a computer program product, or software, that may include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer system (or other electronic devices) to perform a process according to the disclosure. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) medium includes a machine (e.g., a computer) readable storage medium (e.g., read only memory ("ROM"), random access memory ("RAM"), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, etc.), etc.

[0067] Whereas many alterations and modifications of the disclosure will no doubt become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art after having read the foregoing description, it is to be understood that any particular implementation shown and described by way of illustration is in no way intended to be considered limiting. Therefore, references to details of various implementations are not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which in themselves recite only those features regarded as the disclosure.

Claims

1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a processing device of a node of a multi-tenant Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) system, an indication to initiate an update process for cartridges of the node; receiving, by the processing device, a cartridge file package for storage at the node; storing, by the processing device, the cartridge file package to a cartridge library of the node; and maintaining, by the processing device, the cartridge file package in the cartridge library as a newest version of a template cartridge that corresponds to the cartridge file package.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cartridges each provide functionality to execute applications on the multi-tenant PaaS system, the functionality comprising at least one of configuration templates, scripts, dependencies, or features to add to the applications.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cartridge library maintains one or more previous versions of the template cartridge that are isolated from one another.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for each cartridge instance deployed on the node, when the cartridge instance implements an older version of the template cartridge, updating the cartridge instance with the newest version of the template cartridge.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the cartridge instance is not updated to the newest version of the template cartridge when the cartridge instance is flagged for no upgrades.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein an application utilizing the cartridge instance flags the cartridge instance for no upgrades.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein when the cartridge instance comprises a pointer to a user directory of the template cartridge, updating the pointer to reference a user directory of the newest version of the template cartridge.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user directory comprises binaries of the cartridge instance that are executed by an application utilizing the cartridge instance.

9. A system, comprising: a memory; and a processing device communicably coupled to the memory; and a node update component executable from the memory by the processing device, the node update component to: receive an indication to initiate an update process for cartridges of a node comprising the node update component, wherein the node is part of a multi-tenant Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) system; receive a cartridge file package for storage at the node ; store the cartridge file package to a cartridge library of the node; and maintain the cartridge file package in the cartridge library as a newest version of a template cartridge that corresponds to the cartridge file package.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the cartridges each provide functionality to execute applications on the multi-tenant PaaS system, the functionality comprising at least one of configuration templates, scripts, dependencies, or features to add to the applications.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the cartridge library maintains one or more previous versions of the template cartridge that are isolated from one another.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the node update component further to, for each cartridge instance deployed on the node, when the cartridge instance implements an older version of the template cartridge, update the cartridge instance with the newest version of the template cartridge.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the cartridge instance is not updated to the newest version of the template cartridge when the cartridge instance is flagged for no upgrades.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein an application utilizing the cartridge instance flags the cartridge instance for no upgrades.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein when the cartridge instance comprises a pointer to a user directory of the template cartridge, updating the pointer to reference a user directory of the newest version of the template cartridge.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions that, when accessed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising: receiving, by the processing device of a node of a multi-tenant Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) system, an indication to initiate an update process for cartridges of the node; receiving, by the processing device, a cartridge file package for storage at the node; storing, by the processing device, the cartridge file package to a cartridge library of the node; and maintaining, by the processing device, the cartridge file package in the cartridge library as a newest version of a template cartridge that corresponds to the cartridge file package.

17. The non-transitory machine -readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the cartridges each provide functionality to execute applications on the multi-tenant PaaS system, the functionality comprising at least one of configuration templates, scripts, dependencies, or features to add to the applications.

18. The non-transitory machine -readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the cartridge library maintains one or more previous versions of the template cartridge that are isolated from one another.

19. The non-transitory machine -readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising, for each cartridge instance deployed on the node, when the cartridge instance implements an older version of the template cartridge, updating the cartridge instance with the newest version of the template cartridge, wherein the cartridge instance is not updated to the newest version of the template cartridge when the cartridge instance is flagged for no upgrades.

20. The non-transitory machine -readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein when the cartridge instance comprises a pointer to a user directory of the template cartridge, updating the pointer to reference a user directory of the newest version of the template cartridge, wherein the user directory comprises binaries of the cartridge instance that are executed by an application utilizing the cartridge instance.