Abstract: Described herein is a system and method for virtual assembly patching in a cloud environment. In accordance with an embodiment, a virtual assembly builder can be used to virtualize installed components in a reference environment, and then deploy those components into another destination environment. A user can capture the configuration and binaries of software components into software appliance artifacts, which can be grouped and their relationships defined as software assembly artifacts. In accordance with an embodiment, assemblies stored as disk images in a repository can be patched by creating replacement images, importing the replacement images into the virtualization environment, and then performing a replacement or swap of an instance's existing virtual disks, with patched versions of those disks.

Abstract: A system and method for dynamic modification of service definition packages for use with a cloud computing environment. In accordance with an embodiment, a cloud platform enables provisioning of enterprise software applications (e.g., Fusion Middleware applications) within a cloud environment. In an embodiment, enterprise applications can be packaged as service definition packages (SDP). To support maintenance of services (e.g., bug fixes, security updates, and configuration changes), a service's characteristics and requirements can be modified dynamically, by reconfiguring the cloud platform itself and/or by mounting a disk volume that corresponds to the service's SDP, and modifying its contents directly.

Abstract: Described herein is a system and method for virtual assembly patching in a cloud environment. In accordance with an embodiment, a virtual assembly builder can be used to virtualize installed components in a reference environment, and then deploy those components into another destination environment. A user can capture the configuration and binaries of software components into software appliance artifacts, which can be grouped and their relationships defined as software assembly artifacts. In accordance with an embodiment, assemblies stored as disk images in a repository can be patched by creating replacement images, importing the replacement images into the virtualization environment, and then performing a replacement or swap of an instance's existing virtual disks, with patched versions of those disks.

Abstract: A system and method for dynamic modification of service definition packages for use with a cloud computing environment. In accordance with an embodiment, a cloud platform enables provisioning of enterprise software applications (e.g., Fusion Middleware applications) within a cloud environment. In an embodiment, enterprise applications can be packaged as service definition packages (SDP). To support maintenance of services (e.g., bug fixes, security updates, and configuration changes), a service's characteristics and requirements can be modified dynamically, by reconfiguring the cloud platform itself and/or by mounting a disk volume that corresponds to the service's SDP, and modifying its contents directly.