Abstract: An example system includes a number of nodes each including a processor and a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a copy of an operating system image. Each copy of the operating system image may include a minimum set of artifacts of a cloud platform application and lifecycle manager program instructions that when executed by any of the nodes instantiate a lifecycle manager for the respective node. The lifecycle manager may be configured to in response to receiving a platform cluster creation request automatically establish a cloud platform of the cloud platform application including the respective node as a sole member and then invite others of the nodes to join the cloud platform. The lifecycle manager may also be configured to in response to receiving an invitation to join an established cloud platform of the cloud platform application and automatically integrate the respective node into the established cloud platform.

Abstract: Example implementations relate to virtual appliances. In an example, a processor-based appliance abstraction engine exposes a programming interface for accessing undifferentiated resources of a computing environment irrespective of the type of the computing environment. Computing environment types may include physical infrastructure, virtual infrastructure, or cloud infrastructure. The appliance abstraction engine discovers available resources of the computing environment and creates a virtual appliance by configuring the discovered available resources of the computing environment according to capabilities defined in a specification and by populating the computing environment with artifacts for a computing platform defined in the specification.

Abstract: An example system includes a number of nodes, each including a processor and a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a copy of an operating system image. Each copy of the operating system image may include a minimum set of artifacts of a cloud platform application, and lifecycle manager program instructions that, when executed by any of the nodes, instantiate a lifecycle manager for the respective node. The lifecycle manager may be configured to, in response to receiving a platform cluster creation request, automatically establish a cloud platform of the cloud platform application including the respective node as a sole member, and then invite others of the nodes to join the cloud platform. The lifecycle manager may also be configured to, in response to receiving an invitation to join an established cloud platform of the cloud platform application that was established by another one of the nodes, automatically integrate the respective node into the established cloud platform.

Abstract: An example system includes a number of nodes, each including a processor and a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a copy of an operating system image. Each copy of the operating system image may include a minimum set of artifacts of a cloud platform application, and lifecycle manager program instructions that, when executed by any of the nodes, instantiate a lifecycle manager for the respective node. The lifecycle manager may be configured to, in response to receiving a platform cluster creation request, automatically establish a cloud platform of the cloud platform application including the respective node as a sole member, and then invite others of the nodes to join the cloud platform. The lifecycle manager may also be configured to, in response to receiving an invitation to join an established cloud platform of the cloud platform application that was established by another one of the nodes, automatically integrate the respective node into the established cloud platform.

Abstract: Example implementations relate to virtual appliances. In an example, a processor-based appliance abstraction engine exposes a programming interface for accessing undifferentiated resources of a computing environment irrespective of the type of the computing environment. Computing environment types may include physical infrastructure, virtual infrastructure, or cloud infrastructure. The appliance abstraction engine discovers available resources of the computing environment and creates a virtual appliance by configuring the discovered available resources of the computing environment according to capabilities defined in a specification and by populating the computing environment with artifacts for a computing platform defined in the specification.

Abstract: An example system includes a number of nodes, each including a processor and a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a copy of an operating system image. Each copy of the operating system image may include a minimum set of artifacts of a cloud platform application, and lifecycle manager program instructions that, when executed by any of the nodes, instantiate a lifecycle manager for the respective node. The lifecycle manager may be configured to, in response to receiving a platform cluster creation request, automatically establish a cloud platform of the cloud platform application including the respective node as a sole member, and then invite others of the nodes to join the cloud platform. The lifecycle manager may also be configured to, in response to receiving an invitation to join an established cloud platform of the cloud platform application that was established by another one of the nodes, automatically integrate the respective node into the established cloud platform.

Abstract: In some examples, a method for converged system compliance checking can include identifying a converged system compliance checking field for hardware in a converged system. The compliance checking field can, for example, be based on the purpose of the hardware. The method can further include identifying baseline compliance data for the compliance checking field, identifying actual compliance data for the compliance checking field by testing the hardware, comparing the actual compliance data to the baseline compliance data, and determining whether the hardware is in compliance with the converged system based on the comparison between the actual compliance data and the baseline compliance data.

Abstract: The present invention provides a system and method for managing a network. In response to an original request, a management station sends an augmented request to a remote server for information fulfilling the original request plus additional information available.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for shielding the end user from the complexities of initiating a Java program process in a command line interface shell to a computer operating system. The apparatus includes a command template to be applied to the Java program process, a module to implement the command template, and a module to execute the Java program process. The method includes the steps of instantiating a command line interface wrapper object, determining a requested Java class, calling a run method of a command template class to instantiate a JVM object; calling a main method of the requested Java class to execute within the JVM, and completing execution of the requested Java class. The apparatus and method allow a user to issue a command through a command line interface shell that then runs a Java program without the user having to manually start and initialize a JVM.