Token Refresh Automation for Cloud Deployment Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cloud computing platforms require significant manual effort and expertise to configure and manage, leading to complex operations that can fail due to user session token expiration during long-running tasks, causing deployment failures.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an automation manager with a provisioning controller and session controller to monitor and automatically refresh user tokens, ensuring that long-running operations can complete without requiring user intervention by replacing expired tokens with refreshed ones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual user input and configuration are used to install, configure, and deploy cloud computing environment components, then deployment flexibility and control are improved, but deployment complexity and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service deployment through automated provisioning controllers that can automatically install, configure, and deploy cloud computing environment components without requiring manual user input for each task. The automation manager orchestrates these self-service operations, allowing the system to perform configuration tasks autonomously while maintaining deployment flexibility through programmable interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring deployment templates and automation scripts that encapsulate complex configuration sequences. These pre-prepared automation artifacts contain the necessary configuration logic, allowing the provisioning controller to execute deployments by simply instantiating and parameterizing these templates rather than manually performing each configuration step.
2Reliability
If automation manager with token refresh capability is implemented, then operational continuity during long-running tasks is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a token refresh intermediary layer between the automation manager and the provisioning/session controllers. This intermediary component monitors token expiration and automatically requests refresh tokens from the identity provider, mediating the authentication process without requiring the automation manager to directly handle complex token management logic. This modular approach maintains operational continuity while managing system complexity through clear separation of concerns.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the automation manager continuously monitors the validity status of authentication tokens during long-running operations. When token expiration is detected or predicted, the system triggers a token refresh process and receives confirmation feedback, allowing it to adjust operations accordingly. This closed-loop feedback ensures operational continuity by maintaining valid authentication credentials throughout extended deployment tasks.
3Reliability
If token expiration monitoring and automatic refresh is implemented, then deployment failure rate is reduced, but processing overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic token validity checking at strategically determined intervals during long-running operations, rather than continuous monitoring. The automation manager schedules token refresh requests based on predicted expiration timelines and operation progress, performing checks at optimal moments when the likelihood of token expiration is highest. This periodic approach reduces unnecessary processing overhead while maintaining deployment success rate by refreshing tokens before they expire.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary token refresh actions before actual expiration occurs by predicting token lifespan and initiating refresh requests in advance. The automation manager monitors token age and triggers refresh operations proactively when tokens approach their expiration threshold, ensuring valid credentials are available before they are needed. This preliminary action prevents deployment failures while avoiding the overhead of continuous or post-expiration token management.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to refresh a token for use in a virtualized computing environment are disclosed. An example method includes accessing a request to perform an automation task; extracting a first token from the request to perform the automation task; determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, whether the first token is expired or will expire in a threshold amount of time; in response to determining that the first token is expired or will expire in the threshold amount of time, requesting a refreshed token; replacing the first token with the refreshed token to create an updated request; and sending the updated request to an automation executor.