US 11,675,620 B2
Methods and apparatus to automate deployments of software defined data centers based on automation plan and user-provided parameter values
Pavel Mitkov Dobrev, Sofia (BG)
Assigned to VMWARE, INC., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed by VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 18, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/687,267.
Application 16/687,267 is a continuation of application No. 15/373,831, filed on Dec. 9, 2016, granted, now 10,481,949.
Prior Publication US 2020/0159573 A1, May 21, 2020
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 9/48 (2006.01); G06F 8/60 (2018.01); G06F 9/455 (2018.01); G06F 8/38 (2018.01); G06F 9/50 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 9/4881 (2013.01) [G06F 8/38 (2013.01); G06F 8/60 (2013.01); G06F 9/45558 (2013.01); G06F 9/5038 (2013.01); G06F 2009/4557 (2013.01); G06F 2009/45562 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system to automate user deployment of a software defined data center based on an automation plan generated by a service provider and accessible by a user, the system comprising:
memory;
programmable circuitry;
instructions in the system to program the programmable circuitry to:
generate a task list based on the automation plan and user-provided parameter values;
determine dependencies between tasks in the task list prior to executing the tasks;
identify first and second tasks in the task list, the first task to allocate a resource, the second task to execute after the resource is allocated;
configure a third task in the task list to allocate the resource before the first task to remove a first dependency of the second task on the first task;
rearrange an execution order of the tasks in the task list by changing a second dependency between the tasks in the task list when at least one of the tasks is unnecessary to deploy the software defined data center;
associate user-provided parameter values for user-configurable parameters with corresponding ones of the tasks from the task list;
generate an execution schedule based on the dependencies, at least some of the tasks in the task list, task metadata, and the user-provided parameter values, the execution schedule to alter execution of the automation plan to modify deployment of the software defined data center without recompiling the automation plan; and
execute the at least some of the tasks in the task list based on the execution schedule to deploy the software defined data center.