Virtualizing Single-Tenant Apps for Multi-User Cloud Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Many software applications, such as AutoCAD, are designed for single-user access and cannot be easily adapted for simultaneous multi-user access in cloud computing environments.
Innovation Solution
The method involves moving single-tenant applications like AutoCAD to a cloud environment where they can be run in virtual desktop or session environments, allowing multiple users to access the application through a web interface without the need for local installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single-tenant application is designed for single-user access, then the application can maintain simple architecture and licensing model, but it cannot be accessed simultaneously by multiple users in cloud computing environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the single-tenant application into multiple isolated virtual instances, where each virtual instance serves a single user but collectively they enable multi-user access. This is achieved through virtualization technology that creates separate execution environments for each user while sharing underlying hardware resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the single-tenant application universal by enabling it to serve multiple users through a cloud-based virtualization platform. The application maintains its original single-user design integrity while the platform provides multi-user access capabilities, effectively giving the application multi-functionality without modifying its core code.
2Productivity
If multiple instances of single-tenant application are run for each user, then simultaneous multi-user access is enabled, but resource consumption and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple virtual instances of the single-tenant application onto shared physical hardware resources. Instead of dedicating separate physical resources to each user instance, the system combines multiple virtual instances on common hardware, reducing overall resource consumption while maintaining simultaneous access for multiple users.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates virtual copies of the single-tenant application for each user rather than physical duplicates. These virtual copies are lightweight representations that can be rapidly instantiated and terminated, allowing multiple users to access the application simultaneously without the full resource overhead of physical duplication.
3Ease of operation
If single-tenant application is deployed in cloud environment with virtual desktop, then users can access without local installation, but deployment and management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtualization platform as an intermediary between the single-tenant application and end users. This intermediary layer handles the complexity of cloud deployment, instance management, and resource allocation, while presenting a simple web-based interface to users for accessing the application without local installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the application execution environment from the user's local system and relocates it to a cloud-based virtual desktop environment. This extraction removes the need for users to install or maintain the application locally, simplifying user operations while centralizing deployment and management responsibilities in the cloud infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
A mechanism is provided for deploying software applications in a cloud computing environment. An administrator is provided an interface for allowing a software application that is designed for a single tenant to be used by a plurality of users. An aspect of the invention is to provide a mechanism for quickly and easily giving multi-user qualities to a single tenant application like autoCAD. As such, multiple users can access the application without the need to download and install a version locally on their system. The system is able to determine the period of time for which an application is in use for a given user, because every application is run on a resource that is part of the cloud environment. Therefore, it is possible for the application provider to charge for the application in a usage-based model—e.g., by the hour, or day—without any re-engineering of the existing application.