Cloud Container Testing Platform for Production Infrastructure Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current application testing procedures require expensive and impractical hardware installations, especially when testing in production infrastructure, and involve manual loading and verification of test data, which is error-prone and time-consuming.
Innovation Solution
A testing platform that temporarily creates source and application containers in a cloud computing environment based on test parameters, allowing for automated execution and validation of applications without the need for physical infrastructure, using cloud containers to simulate production conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If physical, scaled-down versions of production infrastructure are used for testing, then testing can be performed during development and quality testing, but expensive hardware installations are required and it is impractical
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of production infrastructure components (databases, file systems, queues) as software-based test environments. Instead of installing physical hardware, the system generates virtualized representations that replicate production behavior, allowing applications to be tested in production-like conditions without the complexity of physical hardware installations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical/physical infrastructure with software-based virtual infrastructure. Physical servers, storage devices, and network equipment are substituted with virtual machine instances, software-defined storage, and software-based message queues, eliminating the need for expensive hardware installations while maintaining testing fidelity.
2Ease of manufacture
If manual loading and verification of test data is performed, then test data can be prepared, but the process is error-prone and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically generates, loads, and verifies test data without human intervention. The test environment self-configures by pulling application code from version control, automatically creating necessary test data, and validating the setup. This eliminates manual labor while ensuring consistency and accuracy through automated processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary automated actions to prepare test environments before actual testing begins. This includes pre-configuring virtual infrastructure, pre-generating test data, and pre-validating the test setup, so that when testing starts, everything is already in place and ready to go, eliminating time-consuming manual preparation.
3Extent of automation
If virtualized test environments are created automatically, then testing costs are reduced and the process is automated, but the system must manage complex container orchestration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal test environment framework that can automatically create multiple types of virtual infrastructure components (databases, file systems, queues, applications) using a single orchestration system. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require multiple specialized tools into one unified platform, reducing the perceived complexity while maintaining high automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary orchestration layer that manages the complexity of container creation and configuration. This intermediary automatically handles the coordination between different virtual components, managing dependencies and interactions without requiring users to directly manage the underlying complexity. The intermediary translates high-level test requirements into specific container orchestration commands.
Data Source
AI summary
A device receives test parameters associated with testing an application that utilizes source data, and causes source containers, for the source data, to be temporarily created in a cloud computing environment, based on the test parameters. The device provides the source data to the source containers in the cloud computing environment, and causes other containers, for the application, to be temporarily created in the cloud computing environment, based on the test parameters. The device creates a file for testing the application with the source containers and the other containers, based on the test parameters, and causes the application to be executed with the source containers and the other containers, based on the file. The device receives results associated with executing the application with the source containers and the other containers.