Device Group Management Service for Distributed Analytics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managing large numbers of devices in distributed analytics systems is inefficient due to the need for direct connections and lack of control over intermittent or unreliable connectivity, making it impractical to perform operations like creating, starting, or deleting queries on individual devices.
Innovation Solution
A management service that allows users to define device groups based on static or dynamic properties, enabling management operations to be propagated to all devices within a group regardless of their connectivity status, and supports group membership changes dynamically.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If direct connections are used to manage individual devices, then control over device operations is achieved, but system complexity and management overhead increase significantly when scaling to thousands or millions of devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges individual device management operations into group-level operations. Instead of managing each device separately, the system creates groups of devices and performs management operations on the group as a single entity. This is achieved through the management service that receives group identification information and propagates operations to all members of the group, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The management service acts as an intermediary between the user and the devices. It receives management operations, identifies the target group using group identification information, and propagates the operation to all device members. This intermediary layer abstracts the complexity of individual device connections and management, allowing users to interact with devices through simplified group-based interfaces.
2Productivity
If management operations are propagated to all devices in a group regardless of connectivity status, then operational efficiency is improved, but reliability of operation delivery may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The management service maintains group membership information and connectivity status of devices in advance. When a management operation is received, the service has already prepared the list of group members and their connectivity states, allowing it to efficiently propagate operations to all members regardless of current connectivity status. This preliminary preparation enables both high productivity and reliable operation delivery.
3Adaptability or versatility
If dynamic group membership is implemented, then adaptability to device property changes is improved, but system complexity increases due to continuous membership monitoring and updates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic group membership by continuously monitoring device properties and using this feedback to determine group membership status. When devices join or leave groups based on property changes, the management service receives this feedback and automatically updates group membership information. This feedback mechanism enables adaptability while the centralized management service handles the complexity of membership monitoring and updates.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods of managing distributed analytics on device groups are described. In an embodiment, a management service within a distributed analytics system provides an interface to allow a user to define a group of devices based on a property of the devices. When the property of a device in the system satisfies the criterion specified by the user, the device is added to the group and the device may subsequently be removed from the group if the device no longer satisfies the criterion. Once a group has been defined, the management service enables users to specify management operations, such as creating, starting, stopping or deleting queries or management operations relating to other entities of end devices, which are to be implemented on all the devices in the group and the management service propagates the operation to all devices in the group, irrespective of their current connectivity status.