Blockchain Tenant Management for Cloud Database Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cloud computing tenant management systems face issues with data corruption and scalability due to reliance on centralized account management systems, where a primary controller's failure can lead to transaction loss or corruption, and limited capacity handling results in overwhelmed systems and increased latency during tenant charge reconciliation.
Innovation Solution
A distributed blockchain-based tenant management system using smart contracts and a consensus protocol like RAFT to ensure all nodes agree on transactions, maintaining consistency and allowing for autoscaling by adding chain server nodes, which also supports flexible customization of tenant policies and services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a centralized account management system with a primary controller is used, then the system structure is simple and easy to manage, but the system becomes vulnerable to data corruption and transaction loss when the primary controller fails or becomes overwhelmed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the centralized account management system into multiple distributed controller nodes that independently maintain copies of the tenant database. Each node can process transactions autonomously, eliminating the single point of failure in centralized systems. The database is segmented across multiple nodes, with each node holding a complete or partial copy, allowing the system to continue operating even if some nodes fail.
Solution Approach 2:
Each controller node is configured with local tenant database records and can independently process transactions for the tenants it serves. This local autonomy allows nodes to handle requests without always consulting a central authority, improving both reliability and response time while maintaining data consistency through periodic synchronization.
2Productivity
If the primary controller is scaled by replicating it in a cluster, then the system capacity increases, but the complexity of reconciling databases across multiple controllers increases and introduces latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the database reconciliation function into the regular transaction processing flow. When a transaction is processed by one controller node, the change is automatically propagated to other nodes through the distributed ledger mechanism. This integration eliminates the need for separate, complex reconciliation processes and reduces latency by making reconciliation a natural byproduct of transaction processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary synchronization of database records among controller nodes before transactions occur. Each node maintains up-to-date copies of tenant data through continuous synchronization, so when transactions need to be processed, the data is already in the correct state, eliminating the need for complex post-transaction reconciliation.
3Stability of the object's composition
If a centralized tenant database is used, then data consistency is easy to maintain, but the system becomes a single point of failure and cannot handle high traffic loads
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where controller nodes continuously monitor and synchronize their local database copies with other nodes. When a node processes a transaction, it notifies other nodes, which then update their local copies. This feedback loop ensures data consistency across the distributed system while maintaining high availability, as each node can continue serving requests even if others are temporarily unavailable.
Data Source
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AI summary
A tenant management system and method operative in a cloud-based database environment. A distributed blockchain ledger is provided for holding tenant records embodied in smart contracts, the consistency of which is maintained by a consensus protocol between multiple chain servers processing requests from leaf servers for tenant authorization and charging. The tenant records contain the bytecode for the tenant management contracts, the tenant's credit, and other state associated with the contract such as the services the tenant is authorized to access.