Model-based policy application

A method comprising:

• establishing, by a computing device configured to provide model-based policy functionality, a plurality parts of a model of a system,
• the establishing including associating, by the computing device, a type, an instance, and one or more configurations with components of the system, each type, instance, and configuration having its own information page corresponding to a particular component, wherein:
• the type is a general template having corresponding information page that describes the type to which the particular component corresponds;
• the configuration is a specific template including specific information for a particular class of the type;
• the instance is a specific occurrence of the type or the configuration and corresponding to the particular component;
• information contained in information page associated with the instance is more specific or restrictive than the information contained in information pages associated with the configuration, unless instructed otherwise by a user;
• and
• information contained in information page associated with the configuration is more specific or restrictive than the information contained in information pages associated with the type, unless instructed otherwise by the user;
• the information page includes one or more policies;
• receiving, by the computing device, multiple policies for a part of the model of the system
• for a first policy of the multiple policies:
• identifying, by the computing device, a first part of the model of the system to which the first policy applies;
• associating, by the computing device, the first policy with the identified first part;
• and
• invoking, by the computing device, a deployment agent to apply the first policy to components of the system corresponding to the identified first part of the model;
• and
• for a second policy of the multiple policies:
• identifying, by the computing device, a second part of the model of the system to which the second policy applies;
• associating, by the computing device, the second policy with the identified second part;
• and
• invoking, by the computing device, the deployment agent to apply the second policy to components of the system corresponding to the identified second part of the model,
• wherein:
• the first policy is different from the second policy;
• and
• the first part of the model is different from the second part of the model.

A method comprising:

• associating, by a computing device configured to provide model-based policy functionality, one or more information pages with components of a system to define a model of the system,
• the associating including associating, by the computing device, a type, an instance, and one or more configurations with components of the system, each type, instance, and configuration having its own information page corresponding to a particular component, wherein;
• the type is a general template having corresponding information page that describes the type to which the particular component corresponds;
• the configuration is a specific template including specific information for a particular class of the type;
• the instance is a specific occurrence of the type or the configuration and corresponding to the particular component;
• information contained in information page associated with the instance is more specific or restrictive than the information contained in information pages associated with the configuration, unless instructed otherwise by a user;
• and
• information contained in information page associated with the configuration is more specific or restrictive than the information contained in information panes associated with the type, unless instructed otherwise by the user;
• wherein:
• each component comprises at least one of;
• an application,
• a particular hardware on a computer,
• a virtual machine,
• a computer, or
• a group of multiple computers;
• each information page represents a specification for an associated component, each information page comprising at least two of following distinct pages:
• a policy page,
• an installation page,
• a constraint page,
• a monitoring page
• a service level agreement page, or
• a description page,
• the model defines one or more relationships among the components, the relationships including:
• a containment relationship;
• a hosting relationship;
• or
• a communication relationship;
• and
• the model supports deployment of a plurality of policies, wherein each policy applies to a subset of the system such that a system component affected by a first policy is not affected by a second policy;
• associating, by the computing device, two or more policies with particular components based on the information in a policy page associated with the particular components, the two or more policies comprising:
• a software deployment policy;
• a software configuration management policy;
• a data protection policy;
• an inventory data policy;
• a health monitoring policy;
• a workload deployment policy;
• or
• a task execution policy;
• making, by the computing device, the model accessible to various utilities or other applications involved in managing the system;
• receiving, by the computing device, an indication of a change to a policy of the system;
• identifying, by the computing device, appropriate components of the model of the system that are affected by the change, each of the one or more components having an associated policy;
• modifying, by the computing device, each policy associated with the identified appropriate components to reflect the change, the modifying comprising adding, deleting, or replacing a changed policy in the policy page;
• and
• invoking, by the computing device, a deployment agent to apply the changed policy to the identified appropriate components of the system.