System and method for dynamic reconfiguration in a multitenant application server environment

A method for supporting dynamic reconfiguration in a multitenant application server environment, comprising:

• providing, at one or more computers, an application server for deployment and execution of software applications,
• wherein the application server includes a domain configuration that is used at runtime to define a domain for execution of the software applications, and a plurality of partitions of the domain;
• wherein each partition, of the plurality of partitions, is associated with a partition identifier and a partition configuration, and provides an administrative and runtime subdivision of the domain, for use by a tenant, and wherein the partition includes one or more partition-specific resource groups being a collection of deployable applications or resources for use within the partition;
• wherein each partition, of the plurality of partitions, is associated with a virtual target information that defines a virtual target, including a first virtual target associated with a first partition, and a second virtual target associated with a second partition, wherein the virtual target associated with a partition operates to accept incoming traffic received at a web tier and directed to the applications or resources of the resource groups in that partition;
• and
• wherein each partition, of the plurality of partitions, is configured in accordance with one or more configuration attributes associated with the partition configuration, at least some of which configuration attributes are annotated as dynamic attributes;
• wherein the application server includes a plurality of change notification listeners, and a partition restart function;
• wherein each change notification listener listens for changes to a particular configuration attribute associated with the plurality of partitions;
• and
• wherein, in response to a change notification listener detecting, for a particular partition, a change to its particular configuration attribute, and determines that the change is directed to a dynamic attribute, a determination is made whether to restart the particular partition, to apply the change to the configuration attribute associated with the particular partition, using the partition restart function.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, including instructions stored thereon which when read and executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform the steps comprising:

• providing an application server environment for deployment and execution of software applications,
• wherein the application server includes a domain configuration that is used at runtime to define a domain for execution of the software applications, and a plurality of partitions of the domain;
• wherein each partition, of the plurality of partitions, is associated with a partition identifier and a partition configuration, and provides an administrative and runtime subdivision of the domain, for use by a tenant, and wherein the partition includes one or more partition-specific resource groups being a collection of deployable applications or resources for use within the partition;
• wherein each partition, of the plurality of partitions, is associated with a virtual target information that defines a virtual target, including a first virtual target associated with a first partition, and a second virtual target associated with a second partition, wherein the virtual target associated with a partition operates to accept incoming traffic received at a web tier and directed to the applications or resources of the resource groups in that partition;
• and
• wherein each partition, of the plurality of partitions, is configured in accordance with one or more configuration attributes associated with the partition configuration, at least some of which configuration attributes are annotated as dynamic attributes;
• wherein the application server includes a plurality of change notification listeners, and a partition restart function;
• wherein each change notification listener listens for changes to a particular configuration attribute associated with the plurality of partitions;
• and
• wherein, in response to a change notification listener detecting, for a particular partition, a change to its particular configuration attribute, and determines that the change is directed to a dynamic attribute, a determination is made whether to restart the particular partition, to apply the change to the configuration attribute associated with the particular partition, using the partition restart function.