Infrastructure Configuration Manager for Converged Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current information handling systems face challenges in ensuring that converged and hyper-converged infrastructure systems are properly built, deployed, and maintained to deliver expected performance, with issues related to resource management, interoperability, and cost efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A configuration management resource manages solution-level configurations of information handling systems, utilizing a master manifest to identify baselined configurations and employing configuration plugins for validation and inventory management across heterogeneous resources, supporting policy-driven processes for resource sharing and optimization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vertically oriented data centers are used with non-shared IT resources for specific applications, then application performance and reliability are improved, but capital costs and operating costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges previously separate IT resources (compute, storage, networking) into shared pools that can be dynamically allocated to multiple applications. This consolidation maintains application performance through resource pooling and orchestration while reducing total resource requirements and capital costs by eliminating redundant infrastructure for each application.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates universal resource pools where compute, storage, and networking resources can serve multiple applications simultaneously. The orchestration layer enables these shared resources to be dynamically assigned to different applications based on demand, providing multi-functionality that reduces overall infrastructure requirements while maintaining application-specific performance requirements.
2Quantity of substance
If horizontally oriented data centers with shared resources are used, then capital costs and operating costs are reduced, but resource interoperability and coordination become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an orchestration layer as an intermediary between the shared resource pools and applications. This intermediary manages the complexity of resource coordination, allocation, and interoperability, enabling efficient shared resource utilization while maintaining application performance requirements without requiring complex point-to-point integration between resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the management parameters of shared resources through the orchestration layer, which dynamically adjusts resource allocation, priority, and configuration based on application needs. This parameter-based control simplifies resource coordination by providing centralized management of complex interoperability requirements rather than requiring fixed, hard-coded integration between resources.
3Productivity
If solution infrastructures are consolidated into pools of shared resources, then resource utilization improves and costs decrease, but configuration management and validation become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service capabilities where the orchestration layer automatically manages configuration, validation, and allocation of shared resources based on defined policies and application requirements. This automation reduces manual configuration management complexity while maintaining high resource utilization through dynamic, policy-driven resource assignment and validation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms where the orchestration layer continuously monitors resource utilization, configuration state, and application performance. This feedback enables automatic adjustment of resource allocation and configuration validation, simplifying management of complex shared infrastructures through closed-loop control that adapts to changing conditions while maintaining optimal utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
A configuration management resource manages the solution-level configuration of an infrastructure that includes a plurality of deployed information handling resources. The management resource has access to a master manifest, corresponding to the solution infrastructure, that identifies one or more baselined configurations of the solution infrastructure. The master manifest may include a resource type identifier corresponding to each resource deployed in the infrastructure. For each resource type, the manifest may identify all compliance-capable resources, one or more baselined components for each of said resources, and one or more baseline-required attributes for each of said components. The management resource may register resource specific plugins to implement a standard set of REST-compliant methods. The management resource may determine the current configuration of deployed infrastructure, validate the current configuration against baseline configurations identified in the manifest, and incorporate a point in time configuration as a versioned baseline in master manifest.