Flexible Cloud Namespace for Granular Resource Allocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cloud infrastructure as a service offerings require customers to purchase and manage hardware infrastructure in units of hosts, leading to inefficiencies such as minimum purchase requirements, complex management solutions, and inflexible instance types, which can result in higher costs and operational complexities for customers.
Innovation Solution
The system provides a flexible cloud namespace in a software-defined data center (SDDC) that allows customers to create a logical construct with resources supported by underlying SDDC management entities, enabling the deployment of virtual computing instances in response to user instructions without direct interaction with underlying infrastructure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If customers purchase hardware infrastructure in units of hosts, then they can access cloud computing resources, but they face minimum purchase requirements and higher costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the host infrastructure into smaller, more granular units of consumption. Instead of requiring customers to purchase entire hosts, the system allows allocation of individual vCPUs, GB of memory, and other discrete resources. This segmentation enables customers to purchase only the specific computing capacity they need, eliminating minimum purchase requirements and reducing costs for small-scale deployments.
2Ease of operation
If customers directly interact with underlying infrastructure, then they can manage their applications, but they face operational complexity and management overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between customers and the underlying infrastructure. This abstraction layer presents simplified management interfaces and handles complex infrastructure operations automatically. Customers can manage their applications through high-level commands without needing to understand or directly configure the complex underlying virtualization and hardware infrastructure, thereby reducing operational complexity while maintaining management capability.
3Ease of operation
If customers participate in all life cycle management, then they have full control, but they face operational complexity and time consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service capabilities that allow customers to perform life cycle management operations automatically without manual intervention for routine tasks. The system provides automated provisioning, scaling, and termination of computing resources based on customer-defined policies and conditions. This self-service approach maintains customer control over their cloud resources while significantly reducing the time and effort required for life cycle management operations.
4Productivity
If capacity planning is performed in terms of number of hosts, then infrastructure can be provisioned, but it is sub-optimal for customer needs and use cases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent fundamentally changes the planning parameters from host-centric to resource-centric metrics. Instead of planning capacity in terms of number of hosts, the system enables planning based on actual computational needs such as total vCPU count, memory capacity, storage requirements, and network bandwidth. This parameter change allows for more precise and flexible capacity planning that directly aligns with diverse customer requirements and specific use cases, improving both provisioning efficiency and adaptability.
5Adaptability or versatility
If customers deploy applications on specific public cloud instances, then they meet initial requirements, but they face migration costs and downtime when requirements change
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic resource allocation that allows customers to easily change their computing instance configurations without migration or downtime. The system enables on-the-fly adjustment of vCPU counts, memory allocation, and instance types based on changing workload requirements. This dynamic capability eliminates the need for time-consuming migrations and associated downtime, as resources can be dynamically reconfigured while applications continue to run.
Data Source
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AI summary
System (100) and method for provide a computing infrastructure as a service creates a flexible cloud namespace in a software-defined data center (104, 300, 400), SDDC, in response to a first instruction from a user and deploys virtual computing instances in the flexible cloud namespace in response to a second instruction from the user. The flexible cloud namespace comprises a logical construct with resources in the SDDC (104, 300, 400) that are supported by underlying SDDC management entities, where the virtual computing instances execute in the flexible cloud namespace of the SDDC (104, 300, 400) using the resources.