Cloud Deployment Error Tracking via Unique VM Identifiers

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Solution Overview

Problem

Deploying virtual machines to cloud infrastructure often results in resource insufficiencies and policy violations, leading to deployment rejections without clear error information for administrators, who lack access to system logs and struggle to diagnose issues in large, cryptic log files.

Innovation Solution

A method involving a cloud deployment platform with first and second deployment modules and a cloud management server that generates unique identifiers for virtual machines, monitors logs for errors, and generates error messages, enabling real-time error detection and communication of deployment issues to administrators.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Extent of automation

If deployment requests are issued from a deployment platform without access to system logs, then deployment automation is improved, but error detection capability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedeployment automationVSAvoiderror detection capability
Core Design Contradiction:
Extent of automationVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (log monitoring module or callback interface) that bridges the deployment platform and cloud infrastructure system logs. This intermediary automatically retrieves and reports error information from the cloud infrastructure's system logs to the deployment platform, enabling the deployment platform to detect deployment errors without direct access to the log files while maintaining automation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If system logs are scanned to determine deployment errors, then error information is obtained, but time consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveerror informationVSAvoidtime consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by having the cloud infrastructure or deployment platform generate and maintain structured error records that are pre-associated with deployment requests before analysis is needed. Error information is prepared in advance with unique identifiers and deployment context, so when an error needs to be checked, the information is already organized and readily accessible without requiring time-consuming log scanning.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent establishes a feedback mechanism where the cloud infrastructure automatically reports deployment errors back to the deployment platform through structured interfaces. This feedback loop provides real-time error information with deployment context, eliminating the need for administrators to manually scan logs and significantly reducing the time required to obtain error information.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Productivity

If multiple virtual machines are deployed simultaneously, then deployment efficiency is improved, but error tracking complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedeployment efficiencyVSAvoiderror tracking complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies segmentation by assigning unique identifiers to each deployment request and associating them with specific virtual machines. This segmentation allows the system to track errors for multiple simultaneously deployed virtual machines individually, maintaining deployment efficiency while reducing error tracking complexity through organized, discrete identification of each deployment unit.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3149591B1Tracking application deployment errors via cloud logs
Publication Date: 2019.07.17 VMWARE INC
  • EP3149591B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3149591B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3149591B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A cloud computing environment consists of a cloud deployment platform and a cloud management server configured to manage a plurality of virtual machines deployed in a cloud infrastructure. When a request to deploy an application to the cloud infrastructure is received by the cloud deployment platform, application deployment errors are monitored and tracked. A unique identifier is generated for each virtual machine, and requests to instantiate the virtual machines in the cloud infrastructure are then transmitted. A log containing error records that identify the occurrence of deployment errors is monitored based on the generated virtual machine identifiers, where the deployment errors are detected by the cloud deployment platform or the cloud management server. Based on the monitoring, error messages are generated by the cloud deployment platform.