System and method for supporting partitions in a multitenant application server environment

A method for supporting multi-tenancy in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

• providing one or more computers including one or more processors and a cloud computing environment executing thereon, and having a domain configuration that is used at runtime to define a domain for execution of software applications, and a plurality of partitions;
• associating each partition-level resource group within a partition with a virtual target information that defines a target to which that resource group is deployed, including that:
• a first partition includes a first partition-level resource group that contains one or more resources or applications for use with the first partition and wherein the first partition-level resource group is accessible via a first virtual target, and
• a second partition includes a second partition-level resource group that contains one or more resources or applications for use with the second partition and wherein the first partition-level resource group is accessible via a second virtual target;
• wherein the first and second virtual targets associated with the first and second partition-level resource groups are mapped to one or more servers, for use in directing requests to the partitions;
• and
• wherein software applications deployed to a particular partition execute at a virtual target and with the resources or applications associated with the particular partition, including wherein upon receipt of a request directed to the particular partition, the system associates a partition invocation context with the received request, and executes the request at its partition-specific resources or applications.

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 a method comprising:

• providing one or more computers including one or more processors and a cloud computing environment executing thereon, and having a domain configuration that is used at runtime to define a domain for execution of software applications, and a plurality of partitions;
• associating each partition-level resource group within a partition with a virtual target information that defines a target to which that resource group is deployed, including that:
• a first partition includes a first partition-level resource group that contains one or more resources or applications for use with the first partition and wherein the first partition-level resource group is accessible via a first virtual target, and
• a second partition includes a second partition-level resource group that contains one or more resources or applications for use with the second partition and wherein the first partition-level resource group is accessible via a second virtual target;
• wherein the first and second virtual targets associated with the first and second partition-level resource groups are mapped to one or more servers, for use in directing requests to the partitions;
• and
• wherein software applications deployed to a particular partition execute at a virtual target and with the resources or applications associated with the particular partition, including wherein upon receipt of a request directed to the particular partition, the system associates a partition invocation context with the received request, and executes the request at its partition-specific resources or applications.