Cloud Service Provisioning Framework Using Declarative Schematics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cloud provisioning operations are complex and prone to errors due to frequent changes in cloud service offerings and infrastructure, leading to inflexibility and portability issues, as hardcoded operations require frequent updates and are not environment-independent.
Innovation Solution
A provisioning framework that uses service schematics to define cloud services decoupled from environment-specific parameters, allowing for flexible definition, update, and deployment across different environments, with resource dependencies and secondary service binding capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cloud provisioning operations are defined through hardcoded programs, then the provisioning can be performed with specific environment parameters, but the system becomes inflexible and requires frequent updates when cloud service offerings or infrastructure change
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the provisioning system into distinct components: service schematics (declarative definitions), provisioning logic (interpretation engine), and environment-specific parameters (configuration data). This segmentation allows the core provisioning logic to remain environment-independent while accommodating changes through updates to schematics and configuration, resolving the contradiction between reliability and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by making the service schematics and configuration parameters modifiable without changing the core provisioning logic. The system can adapt to environment changes by updating schematics to reflect new cloud service offerings or infrastructure, maintaining reliability while achieving versatility through dynamic configuration rather than hardcoded programs.
2Ease of operation
If cloud provisioning operations are defined through hardcoded programs, then the provisioning can be performed with specific environment parameters, but the complexity increases and portability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses service schematics as reusable templates that can be copied and applied across different environments. Instead of creating hardcoded provisioning programs for each environment, the system copies and adapts schematics to different cloud platforms, reducing system complexity while maintaining ease of operation through template-based provisioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The provisioning logic is designed as a universal engine that can interpret and execute service schematics across multiple cloud environments. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for environment-specific hardcoded programs, reducing complexity while maintaining operational ease through a single portable provisioning system.
3Productivity
If cloud provisioning operations are defined through hardcoded programs, then the provisioning can be performed with specific environment parameters, but errors increase and maintenance becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts environment-specific parameters and service definitions from the core provisioning logic into separate service schematics and configuration files. This extraction allows the provisioning engine to remain simple and error-resistant while accommodating changes by updating only the extracted schematic files, making maintenance easier without sacrificing provisioning speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The service schematics define provisioning operations in advance in a declarative format, allowing validation and verification before actual provisioning execution. This preliminary definition reduces runtime errors and simplifies updates, as changes can be reviewed and validated against the schematic templates before deployment, maintaining productivity while improving ease of repair.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for binding secondary services with a cloud service instance. In one or more embodiments, a service definition defines a set of secondary services that are compatible with a primary service. In response to receiving a request to perform a provisioning operation for the instance of the primary service, a provisioning engine identifies, from the set of secondary services that are compatible with the primary service, a subset of one or more secondary services that are available. The provisioning engine binds the subset of one or more secondary services to the primary service to generate a deployment configuration for the instance of the primary service. Based on the deployment configuration, the provisioning engine provisions a set of components for the instance of the primary service.