Application Upgrader for Signed Incremental Target Updates
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing CI/CD systems are inflexible for data development processes requiring frequent and incremental deployments of application-level artifacts, such as machine learning models, leading to slowed development cycles and potential service disruptions.
Innovation Solution
An application upgrader component that decouples CI/CD pipelines to manage the deployment of application-level artifacts, including scripts, workflows, and models, ensuring only approved and signed updates are delivered, and intelligently updates only changed artifacts, reducing service disruptions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional CI/CD pipelines are used for deploying application-level artifacts, then system reliability is maintained through immutable infrastructure, but deployment flexibility and speed are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the deployment system into two distinct pipelines: a traditional CI/CD pipeline for infrastructure components that maintains immutability and stability, and a separate application deployment pipeline that enables flexible, incremental updates of application-level artifacts. This segmentation allows each pipeline to operate with its own characteristics without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer (the application deployment service) that sits between the CI/CD system and the target system. This intermediary manages application-level artifacts separately, handling their deployment, versioning, and rollback independently from the infrastructure, thus maintaining system stability while enabling deployment flexibility.
2Productivity
If frequent incremental deployments are performed, then development speed increases, but service disruptions and system instability increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary actions by maintaining versioned artifacts and deployment manifests before actual deployment occurs. The system prepares update packages, validates them, and stores them as versioned artifacts before applying changes to the target system. This allows for pre-validation and easy rollback if issues arise.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic action through incremental deployment strategies where application artifacts are updated in controlled intervals rather than all at once. The system can deploy individual components or batches of artifacts sequentially, allowing the system to remain stable while progress is made toward full deployment.
3Stability of the object's composition
If all artifacts are updated during deployment, then system consistency is maintained, but deployment time and service disruption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by updating only the specific application-level artifacts that have changed rather than redeploying all artifacts. The system compares version identifiers between the current state and the target state, identifying only the artifacts that need updating. This partial update approach maintains consistency for unchanged components while reducing deployment time.
Data Source
AI summary
In an example, an apparatus may operate as a continuous delivery (CD) pipeline for application artifacts running on a target software platform. The apparatus may include a processor to operate an application upgrader for the target software platform, the application upgrader to: consume application artifacts from a continuous integration (CI) system, wherein the target software platform runs a version of the application artifacts; obtain a signed manifest output from the CI system, the signed manifest identifying the consumed application artifacts; and compare a signature of the application artifacts from the CI system to a signature of the version running on the target software platform to determine if an update of the version running on the target software platform is required. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.