Cloud Services Directory Protocol for Heterogeneous Discovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Discovering and evaluating cloud services across heterogeneous cloud infrastructure is challenging due to their general heterogeneity and the need for an automated process that can assess appropriateness based on multiple criteria such as capability, cost, trust, location, and service level.
Innovation Solution
A cloud services directory protocol that sends service discovery requests to multiple providers, computes a weighted appropriateness score for each service based on capability, cost, trust, and service level queries, and automatically engages the most suitable service, allowing for immediate self-service usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If LDAP protocol is used for service discovery within intranet, then service discovery operations are adequate for internal resources, but it becomes challenging to extend services to cloud services outside intranet due to heterogeneity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal service discovery protocol that works across both intranet and cloud environments. The system uses a standardized request-response format that can handle diverse service types (compute, storage, networking) and deployment locations (internal, external, cloud-based) through a single unified interface, eliminating the need for separate LDAP configurations for different environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary service discovery mechanism that sits between the enterprise applications and various service providers. This intermediary translates heterogeneous service descriptions from multiple providers into a unified format, enabling seamless discovery and evaluation of services regardless of their original source or format.
2Measurement precision
If manual service evaluation process is used, then detailed assessment of each service is possible, but the process becomes time-consuming and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automated service evaluation where the system itself performs the assessment without human intervention. The service discovery mechanism automatically queries multiple providers, retrieves service descriptions, evaluates them against predefined criteria, and ranks results based on appropriateness scores, enabling rapid yet precise service selection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms where service evaluation results are continuously refined based on performance data and user preferences. The system learns from past service selections and evaluations, adjusting its assessment criteria and weighting to improve accuracy over time while maintaining efficient automated operation.
3Measurement precision
If comprehensive service criteria are evaluated, then service appropriateness is accurately determined, but the computation and processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the comprehensive service evaluation into distinct segmented criteria: capability matching, cost analysis, trust evaluation, location verification, and service level agreement assessment. Each criterion is evaluated independently and assigned a weight, allowing the system to process complex multi-dimensional service comparisons through manageable modular components.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple cloud service providers are queried, then service selection options increase, but the discovery and evaluation process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple service discovery requests into a single unified query protocol that can simultaneously query multiple service providers. The system combines responses from various providers, normalizes their different service descriptions, and presents a consolidated ranked list, reducing the complexity of managing multiple separate discovery processes.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for discovering and evaluating services available via a cloud infrastructure. In one example, a method comprises the following steps. A service discovery request is sent to a plurality of service providers in a cloud computing system. One or more service discovery responses are received from one or more of the plurality of service providers for one or more proposed services. A weighted appropriateness score is computed for each of the proposed services based on each service discovery response. At least one of the proposed services is automatically engaged based on the weighted appropriateness scores.