Managing application programs in a computer network by using a database of application objects

A method of managing an application in a network, comprising the steps of:

• selecting attributes for the application, one attribute capable of having as its value a brief identifier;
• extending a database schema which defines a central database by defining and adding to the database schema at least one application object class having the attributes selected during the selecting step;
• and
• accessing an application object which has the selected attributes and which is an instance of the application object class in the database, the accessing step being performed after the extending step by using the brief identifier.

A method of managing an application in a multi-server network, comprising the steps of:

• selecting attributes for the application, one attribute capable of having as its value a brief identifier and another attribute capable of having as its value at least one file path specifying a location of an executable code of the application, the file path specifying both a network server name and an executable file name;
• extending an API-extensible database schema which defines a hierarchical synchronized-partition database by defining and adding at least one application object class having the attributes selected during the selecting step;
• accessing an application object in the hierarchical synchronized-partition database after the extending step by using the brief identifier;
• and
• launching the application by using information obtained during the accessing step.

A method of using a directory service to help create an execution environment for an application program in a computer network, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

• selecting the application program from a collection of application programs;
• locating an executable code for the application program in the network;
• determining a value for at least one attribute of the execution environment by accessing the directory service and specifying at least the selected application program;
• and
• creating the execution environment for the located executable code based on at least the attribute value that was determined during the determining step.