MULTI-VERSION HOSTING OF APPLICATION SERVICES

摘要

An application service provision apparatus (108) is provided with one or more components to perform a dispatching and a shared resource monitoring function to allow applications be hosted with multiple versions of a hosting service runtime library (114I and 114n) in a more efficient manner. The dispatching function (110), upon receipt of a request for service for an application, determines if the version of the runtime library required is known. If not, the dispatching function turns to the latest version of the runtime library to determine the version required. In one embodiment, the required earlier versions are loaded only on an as needed basis. In one embodiment, successor versions of an application service provision runtime library of an application service provision apparatus are also provided with the corresponding update services to facilitate upgrade of applications to selected ones of the successor versions on request.