Container Orchestration for OT Device Updates and Failover
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial control systems in OT environments lack efficient management and orchestration capabilities similar to those in IT environments, limiting the ability to provision, deploy, and maintain OT assets across their lifecycles, especially in terms of updates and high availability.
Innovation Solution
Integration of specialized hardware and software control systems within industrial control systems to enable participation in container orchestration operations, using worker nodes and proxy nodes to bridge the gap between IT and OT systems, allowing for automated updates, health monitoring, and failover procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If container orchestration systems are integrated into OT environments, then management efficiency and automation capabilities are improved, but system complexity and integration difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces specialized hardware and software control systems as intermediary components between OT devices and container orchestration systems. These control systems include container runtime environments that enable OT devices to participate in container orchestration operations without requiring fundamental changes to the OT devices themselves, thus bridging the gap between IT and OT environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is divided into distinct layers: OT devices, control systems with container runtime environments, worker nodes, and proxy nodes. This segmentation allows each component to operate independently with well-defined interfaces, reducing overall system complexity while enabling automated orchestration capabilities.
2Productivity
If automated update deployment is implemented across OT devices, then maintenance efficiency is improved, but risk of operational disruption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by deploying update packages to worker nodes and proxy nodes before actual device updates. Health checks and readiness validations are conducted in advance, ensuring that updates are only applied when conditions are favorable, thus preventing operational disruptions.
Solution Approach 2:
The container orchestration system continuously monitors health status of OT devices and control systems through feedback mechanisms. This real-time feedback enables dynamic adjustment of update deployment strategies, pausing or rolling back updates if operational anomalies are detected, thereby maintaining operational reliability.
3Reliability
If health monitoring and failover capabilities are added, then system reliability is improved, but computational overhead and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The control systems with container runtime environments perform multiple functions simultaneously: they manage containerized applications, monitor health status, coordinate updates, and enable failover capabilities. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated monitoring systems, thereby limiting additional computational overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
A method may include receiving, via a first computing node, a first pod from a second computing node. The method may also include retrieving a first image file that may include a first set of containers from a registry based on the first pod. The first set of containers may cause a control system to halt operations. The method may then involve generating a first package based on the first set of containers and storing the first package in a filesystem, receiving a second pod from the second computing node, and retrieving a second image file having a second set of containers from the registry. The second pod may include the second set of containers may cause the control system to update software components. The method may also involve generating a second package based on the second set of containers and storing the second package in the filesystem.