Contributed Test Manager for Deployment Pipeline Security
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional software deployment pipelines face challenges in managing complex producer/consumer relationships, where coding changes to a producer's application can lead to unexpected failures in consumer applications due to inadequate testing scenarios, and lack of granularity in security access for consumers to contribute tests.
Innovation Solution
A contributed test manager is introduced to enable consumers to contribute tests to a producer's software development pipeline, utilizing predefined Service Level Agreement (SLA) parameters to manage testing, ensuring security and reducing negotiation overhead, and facilitating the integration of consumer-provided tests into the deployment pipeline.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If consumers are granted access to contribute tests to the deployment pipeline, then testing effectiveness improves, but security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary access control mechanism that mediates between consumers and the deployment pipeline. This intermediary layer validates consumer credentials, enforces permission policies, and manages test submission workflows, thereby enabling consumer participation while maintaining security boundaries and preventing unauthorized access to the pipeline.
2Loss of time
If consumers can contribute tests without coordination, then negotiation overhead is reduced, but test quality and consistency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables consumers to self-submit tests through an automated workflow where consumers can independently contribute tests without manual negotiation. The pipeline automatically receives, validates, and executes consumer-submitted tests, eliminating time-consuming coordination while maintaining quality through automated validation rules and standardized test formats.
3Reliability
If comprehensive testing scenarios are created for all consumers, then failure detection improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal test submission interface and standardized workflow that can handle tests from multiple consumers through a single unified system. This multi-functional approach allows the same pipeline infrastructure to serve diverse consumer needs without creating separate complex systems for each consumer, thereby improving failure detection across all consumers while managing system complexity through standardization.
Data Source
AI summary
A contributed test management system receives a first request from a consumer system, where the first request comprises a request for a contributed test to be added to a deployment pipeline of a producer system, and where the contributed test is associated with an application component in the deployment pipeline. The contributed test management system causes the contributed test to test a code update provided by the producer system for the application component in the deployment pipeline, detects whether the first test fails during execution, and, if so indicates to the consumer system that the first test has failed.