Unified API View Service for Cloud Resource Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Enterprise customers managing large fleets of cloud computing resources face challenges in managing and viewing deployed resources, as existing tools and APIs require individual management of each resource type, leading to the need for custom applications that join data from multiple APIs, which does not scale with new services or changing information requirements.
Innovation Solution
A view service layer is introduced between customer applications and web service APIs, allowing customers to define and generate API views that encapsulate common querying functions, simplifying the process of accessing and presenting data from multiple resources by specifying which web services to query, how to correlate data, and how to format responses, enabling hierarchical views and external data access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If enterprise customers use existing tools and APIs to manage cloud computing resources, then they can access individual resource types, but they must develop custom applications to join data from multiple APIs which increases application complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple web service APIs into a single unified API that provides hierarchical views of cloud computing resources. Instead of requiring customers to integrate multiple separate APIs (compute, storage, networking, etc.), the unified API aggregates these services and presents them through a single interface, eliminating the need for custom data joining applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified API serves multiple functions that previously required separate APIs and custom application logic. It provides hierarchical navigation, cross-service resource relationships, and unified data access patterns, making the API system universally applicable to diverse cloud resource management needs without requiring service-specific integration code.
2Adaptability or versatility
If enterprise customers program logic directly in their applications to obtain higher-level logical views, then they can access complex resource relationships, but they must invoke multiple APIs and filter/merge data on the client side which increases development effort
Solution Approach 1:
The unified API acts as an intermediary layer between customer applications and the underlying web service APIs. It handles the complexity of invoking multiple services, filtering results, and merging data on the server side, while presenting simplified query interfaces to customers. This mediator approach maintains adaptability for complex queries while dramatically reducing development effort.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs data filtering, joining, and aggregation in advance on the server side before returning results to customers. Instead of requiring customers to program logic to obtain higher-level views, the unified API pre-computes and caches hierarchical resource relationships, making complex queries simple API calls that return ready-to-use results.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cloud service providers offer multiple independent APIs for different services, then each service can be accessed with basic functions, but customers must compose custom logic for each desired view which reduces scalability
Solution Approach 1:
The unified API provides a universal interface that works across all cloud services (compute, storage, networking, databases, etc.) through consistent hierarchical view patterns. Customers can access any service type through the same API structure, enabling applications to scale to new services without rewriting integration logic for each new API.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified API dynamically adapts to new services and changing information requirements through configurable view definitions. When new cloud services are added or existing services change their data models, the unified API can be reconfigured to incorporate these changes without requiring customers to modify their applications, maintaining scalability as the cloud platform evolves.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments presented herein enable an enterprise to rapidly define and generate views of cloud based computing resources. In one embodiment, the cloud based service provider hosts a view service as an additional service layer between customer applications and the web service APIs hosted by that service provider. This intermediary service layer allows customers to compose and access API views generated using the web service APIs published by the cloud based computing service. The service provider may expose the view service itself using an API which allows client applications to invoke an API call to generate a given API view from the corresponding API view definition.