Independent Rollback Workflow for Distributed Computing
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Solution Overview
Problem
In serverless and microservices-based operations, managing multi-stage distributed computing operations in public clouds is challenging due to the difficulty in rolling back failed tasks and cleaning up resources, leading to orphan objects and unnecessary costs, especially when failures occur, as existing approaches are complex, difficult to maintain, and not easily scalable.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that initiates a separate rollback workflow for multi-stage distributed computing operations, allowing independent execution of rollback tasks by service compute nodes, which corresponds to the operation workflow tasks, enabling efficient cleanup and cost management by monitoring failures and initiating rollback processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rollback workflow is integrated into the operation workflow, then resource cleanup can be performed, but the system complexity increases and maintenance becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the workflow into two independent segments: the operation workflow for executing computing tasks and the rollback workflow for cleaning up resources. This segmentation allows each workflow to be managed separately, reducing overall system complexity while ensuring reliable resource cleanup through the dedicated rollback workflow that activates upon failure detection.
2Ease of manufacture
If rollback tasks are executed within the same workflow as operation tasks, then resource management is integrated, but scalability and ease of maintenance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the workflow into distinct operation and rollback components that can be independently scaled and maintained. The operation workflow handles task execution while the rollback workflow handles resource cleanup, allowing each to be optimized and scaled separately based on specific requirements without interfering with the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the rollback functionality from the operation workflow into a separate, independent rollback workflow. This extraction simplifies maintenance by isolating cleanup logic and improves scalability by allowing the operation workflow to be extended without necessarily extending the rollback workflow, depending on the specific needs.
3Productivity
If asynchronous message passing is used for distributed computing, then high availability and horizontal scaling are achieved, but failure management and rollback become complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a workflow engine as an intermediary that manages the complexity of failure handling in asynchronous distributed computing. The workflow engine monitors task execution across multiple service compute nodes and coordinates rollback operations when failures occur, abstracting away the complexity from individual nodes while maintaining horizontal scalability through the message broker architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for executing multi-stage distributed computing operations initiates an operation workflow for a multi-stage distributed computing operation in response to a request to execute the multi-stage distributed computing operation. The operation workflow includes tasks of the multi-stage distributed computing operation that are executed by a plurality of service compute nodes, which are monitored to detect any failures. When a failure of the operation workflow for the multi-stage distributed computing operation is detected, a rollback workflow for the multi-stage distributed computing operation is initiated, which includes rollback tasks that correspond to the tasks of the operation workflow to roll back executed tasks of the operation workflow. The rollback workflow is an independent workflow from the operation workflow.