Metadata Server for Virtual Machine Configuration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cloud computing systems lack efficient mechanisms for dynamically configuring and managing virtual machine instances across multiple identifiers, leading to complexities in setting up and updating virtual machine roles and settings.
Innovation Solution
The system allows users to define metadata key-value pairs associated with project, instance, or tag identifiers, enabling dynamic configuration and prioritization of metadata values for virtual machine instances, with a metadata server managing and providing these settings based on identifier priorities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If metadata collections are associated with multiple identifiers (project, tag, instance) to enable flexible virtual machine configuration, then adaptability and versatility improve, but device complexity increases due to multiple metadata collections needing management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments metadata management into multiple independent metadata collections, each associated with a specific identifier type (project, tag, or instance). This segmentation allows the system to handle complexity by dividing the metadata space into manageable, identifier-specific segments while maintaining overall flexibility through the ability to associate instances with multiple identifiers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a metadata server as an intermediary component that mediates between virtual machine instances and the multiple metadata collections. This intermediary manages the complexity of querying and reconciling metadata from multiple collections associated with different identifiers, shielding users from the underlying complexity while preserving configuration flexibility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a virtual machine instance is associated with multiple identifiers to obtain metadata from multiple collections, then adaptability improves, but the time to query and reconcile metadata from multiple collections increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having the metadata server pre-process and cache metadata from multiple collections based on identifier associations. When a virtual machine instance queries metadata, the server has already performed preliminary aggregation and reconciliation work, significantly reducing the query time while maintaining the ability to access metadata from multiple identifier-based collections.
3Reliability
If metadata values from multiple collections are provided to a virtual machine instance, then configuration completeness improves, but the complexity of resolving conflicting metadata values increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by introducing priority levels as a new parameter for metadata collections. Each metadata collection is assigned a priority level, and when conflicting metadata values exist across multiple collections, the system automatically resolves conflicts by selecting values from collections with higher priority. This transforms the complex conflict resolution problem into a simple parameter-based selection process, ensuring configuration completeness while reducing resolution complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for associating one or more of a plurality of metadata collections with one or more respective identifiers, wherein each metadata collection includes one or more pairings of metadata attributes with metadata values, and wherein each identifier is one of a project identifier, a tag identifier or an instance identifier; identifying, based on identifier information associated with a virtual machine instance, one or more metadata values to be provided to the virtual machine instance, wherein the identifier information specifies one or more of a project identifier, a tag identifier and an instance identifier, and wherein each identified metadata value belongs to a metadata collection associated with an identifier that is specified in the identifier information; and providing, to the virtual machine instance, the identified one or more metadata values.