Systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for aligning service containers

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the micro-level service patterns is automatically performed by a container alignment engine that is distributed across one or more of the resources included in the environment.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 , wherein defining one or more container rules includes: storing the one or more container rules in a database that is accessed by a container alignment engine configured to align the application and system service containers while providing the one or more services to the consumer.

Claim 5

The method of claim 3 , wherein the container alignment engine is configured to align the application and system service containers by adjusting at least one of dependencies between the application and system service containers, scaling characteristics, availability characteristics, and security characteristics associated with a resource that hosts at least one of the application and system service containers.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 , wherein defining one or more macro-level service patterns includes: defining the one or more macro-level service patterns based on a type of service provided by one or more of the resources in the environment.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 , wherein the application service metrics are associated with one or more application service attributes corresponding to a type of service hosted by the application service container.

Claim 8

The method of claim 6 , wherein the system service metrics are associated with one or more system service attributes corresponding to one or more of the application service attributes.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 , further including: determining one or more alignment scenarios for the system service and application service containers.

Claim 10

The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more alignment scenarios includes at least one of aligning a single application service container to a single system service container, aligning multiple application service containers to a single system service container, aligning a single application service container to multiple system service containers, and aligning multiple application service containers to multiple system service containers.

Claim 11

The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the one or more container rules includes: defining the one or more container rules based on at least one of a service level agreement associated with a service and a business goal provided to the environment from an external source.

Claim 12

The method of claim 1 , wherein the application service and system service containers are service containers associated with an open network architecture.

Claim 13

The method of claim 1 , wherein the application service container is a service container associated with a Sun ONE architecture.

Claim 14

The method of claim 1 , wherein the system service container is a service container provided by an operating system.

Claim 15

The method of claim 13 , wherein the operating system is a Solaris operating system.

Claim 16

The method of claim 13 , wherein the operating system is deployed on a distributed platform operating in an N1 architecture.

Claim 19

The system of claim 16 , wherein the means for defining the micro-level service patterns is automatically performed by a container alignment engine that is distributed across one or more of the resources included in the environment.

Claim 20

The system of claim 16 , wherein the means for defining one or more container rules includes: means for storing the one or more container rules in a database that is accessed by a container alignment engine configured to align the application and system service containers while providing the one or more services to the consumer.

Claim 21

The system of claim 18 , wherein the container alignment engine is configured to align the application and system service containers by adjusting at least one of dependencies between the application and system service containers, scaling characteristics, availability characteristics, and security characteristics associated with a resource that hosts at least one of the application and system service containers.

Claim 22

The system of claim 16 , wherein the means for defining one or more macro-level service patterns includes: means for defining the one or more macro-level service patterns based on a type of service provided by one or more of the resources in the environment.

Claim 23

The system of claim 16 , wherein the application service metrics are associated with one or more application service attributes corresponding to a type of service hosted by the application service container.

Claim 24

The system of claim 21 , wherein the system service metrics are associated with one or more system service attributes corresponding to one or more of the application service attributes.

Claim 25

The system of claim 16 , further including: means for determining one or more alignment scenarios for the system service and application service containers.

Claim 26

The system of claim 23 , wherein the one or more alignment scenarios includes at least one of aligning a single application service container to a single system service container, aligning multiple application service containers to a single system service container, aligning a single application service container to multiple system service containers, and aligning multiple application service containers to multiple system service containers.

Claim 27

The system of claim 16 , wherein the means for defining the one or more container rules includes: means for defining the one or more container rules based on at least one of a service level agreement associated with a service and a business goal provided to the environment from an external source.

Claim 28

The system of claim 16 , wherein the application service and system service containers are service containers associated with an open network architecture.

Claim 29

The system of claim 16 , wherein the application service container is a service container associated with a Sun ONE architecture.

Claim 30

The system of claim 16 , wherein the system service container is a service container provided by an operating system.

Claim 31

The system of claim 28 , wherein the operating system is a Solaris operating system.

Claim 32

The system of claim 28 , wherein the operating system is deployed on a distributed platform operating in an N1 architecture.

Claim 33

A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor, for deploying a container alignment environment including service containers distributed across resources in the environment that provides one or more services to a consumer, the method including: defining one or more macro-level service patterns representing predetermined resource configurations in the environment; defining, based on the defined one or more macro-level patterns, one or more micro-level service patterns representing additional resource configurations within a corresponding macro-level service pattern; defining one or more application service metrics associated with an application service container distributed across the resources; defining one or more system service metrics associated with a system service container distributed across the resources; defining one or more container rules that initiate an action based on a detected event by at least one of the application service container and the system service container; and providing the one or more services to the consumer, such that the one or more container rules are used to maintain a predetermined service level for the one or more services.

Claim 34

A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor, for deploying a container alignment environment including service containers distributed across resources in the environment that provides one or more services to a consumer, the method including: defining one or more macro-level service patterns representing predetermined resource configurations in the environment; defining, based on the defined one or more macro-level patterns, one or more micro-level service patterns representing additional resource configurations within a corresponding macro-level service pattern; defining one or more application service metrics associated with an application service container distributed across the resources; defining one or more system service metrics associated with a system service container distributed across the resources; defining one or more container rules that initiate an action based on a detected event by at least one of the application service container and the system service container; and providing the one or more services to the consumer, such that the one or more container rules are used to maintain a predetermined service level for the one or more services.