Batch Processing of Computing Elements

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for batch processing computing elements on a computing system is provided. The computer-implemented method determines a configuration of the computing system hosting the computing elements, identifies a plurality of computing elements to batch process, and batch processes the plurality of computing elements based on the determined configuration of the computing system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of batch processing computing elements in a computing system comprising:
 determining a first configuration of the computing system in response to a dry-run request to batch process the computing elements being hosted by the computing system;   identifying a plurality of computing elements to batch process;   generating a list, the list including the plurality of computing elements and enabling user inspection of the plurality of computing elements;   determining a second configuration of the computing system in response to a live run request to batch process the computing elements being hosted by the computing system, the live run request being subsequent to the user inspection of the plurality of computing elements;   comparing the first configuration to the second configuration to determine whether or not the computing system has had a change in configuration since the dry-run request; and   batch processing the plurality of computing elements in response to determining that the system has not had a change in configuration since the dry-run request.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein comparing the first configuration to the second configuration includes calculating a first hash based on the first configuration and calculating a second hash based on the second configuration and comparing the first hash to the second hash. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 2 , wherein the calculated first hash and second hash are further based on arguments in the dry-run request and in the live run request, respectively. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , wherein the user inspection includes determining whether or not each computing element in the list is to be batch processed. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4 , wherein the computing elements are virtual machines being hosted by the computing system and batch processing the computing elements includes deleting the virtual machines from the computing system. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4 , wherein the computing elements are data in the computing system and batch processing the computing elements includes updating the data. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of computing elements is identified in response to the live run request, and wherein the plurality of computing elements being processed is the plurality of computing elements identified in response to the live run request. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 7 , wherein the plurality of computing elements that are batch processed are computing elements that are identified in response to both the dry-run request and the live run request. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the dry-run request is from a first user and the live run request is from a second user, the first user being the same as the second user. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the dry-run request is from a first user and the live run request is from a second user, the first user being different from the second user.