Cloud-Agnostic CI/CD Framework for 5G Application Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The integration of software-based 5G applications across different cloud platforms is complex due to varying cloud provider services, configurations, and interfaces, requiring service vendors to engage individually with each provider, leading to increased complexity and vendor lock-in.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-agnostic continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) system that standardizes configuration parameters, using a cloud-agnostic configuration template to generate deployment scripts, enabling seamless deployment across multiple cloud platforms while maintaining a single source of truth for deployment and lifecycle management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If service vendors engage individually with each cloud provider to deploy applications, then applications can be deployed on specific cloud platforms, but deployment complexity and vendor lock-in increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cloud-agnostic CI/CD system as an intermediary layer between service vendors and cloud providers. This system includes configuration management devices, deployment automation tools, and standardized interfaces that mediate the interaction between vendors and multiple cloud providers, abstracting away the complexity of individual cloud provider-specific deployments while maintaining the ability to deploy on various platforms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a universal CI/CD framework that can deploy applications across multiple cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP, on-premises) using a single standardized configuration template. The system uses cloud-agnostic configuration parameters and standardized deployment scripts that work across different cloud environments, eliminating the need for separate deployment processes for each provider.
2Reliability
If cloud-specific configuration parameters are used, then deployment can be optimized for specific platforms, but configuration management becomes complex and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms cloud-specific configuration parameters into standardized cloud-agnostic parameters through a configuration management system. The system maintains a mapping between cloud-specific parameters (AWS, Azure, GCP specific) and standardized parameters, allowing configuration changes to be made once at the standardized level and automatically translated to the appropriate cloud-specific parameters for each platform, ensuring consistency and reducing errors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses configuration templates that serve as reusable copies of standardized deployment configurations. These templates can be instantiated across different cloud platforms by copying the same standardized configuration structure, with only necessary cloud-specific parameter substitutions required. This ensures deployment consistency across all platforms while simplifying configuration management.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple cloud platforms are supported, then vendor lock-in is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the CI/CD system into distinct functional modules: configuration management devices, deployment automation tools, configuration validation components, and execution engines. Each module handles specific aspects of the deployment process independently, allowing the system to manage multiple cloud platforms through modular components rather than monolithic complexity. The configuration management layer is separated from the execution layer, enabling platform-agnostic configuration with platform-specific execution.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, devices, and methods for deployment of software applications on a cloud platform are provided. An example method includes receiving in the cloud-agnostic CI/CD system an artifact associated with an application to be deployed on a target cloud platform from a service vendor, extracting configuration parameters specific to the target cloud platform of the application from the artifact, selecting a predetermined cloud-agnostic configuration template containing standardized configuration parameters, mapping the cloud-specific configuration parameters to the standardized configuration parameters, determining a reference configuration setting based on the cloud-agnostic configuration template, storing by the reference configuration determination device the reference configuration setting in a repository as a single source of truth, applying the reference configuration setting to the cloud-agnostic configuration template to generate an initial deployment script, and executing the initial deployment script to deploy the application on the target cloud platform.