Unified Image Management Server for Multi-Cloud VM Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Administrators face challenges in generating and managing image descriptions for virtual machines across different cloud environments, as each cloud has unique requirements, leading to inefficiencies and the need for custom code for image building and registration.
Innovation Solution
An image management server provides a unified interface and API for creating uniform image descriptions that can be translated into cloud-specific formats, allowing images to be built and managed across multiple clouds with a single set of instructions, while also tracking the image building process and providing status updates to users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If administrators create custom image descriptions for each cloud environment, then compliance with specific cloud requirements is achieved, but device complexity and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal image description format that can be used across multiple cloud environments. The system translates this unified description into cloud-specific formats, allowing a single image definition to serve multiple cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) without requiring separate custom descriptions for each, thus reducing complexity while maintaining compliance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary translation layer between the unified image description and cloud-specific requirements. This mediator component automatically converts the generic image description into the appropriate format for each target cloud platform, eliminating the need for administrators to manually create and maintain separate descriptions for each cloud environment.
2Reliability
If administrators write custom code for image building and registration in each cloud, then specific cloud processes are handled correctly, but productivity and ease of operation decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses template-based image descriptions that can be copied and reused across different cloud environments. Instead of writing custom code for each cloud, administrators can replicate proven image descriptions and have them automatically adapted to each cloud's specific requirements through the translation mechanism, significantly improving productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically adjusts parameters in the image description based on the target cloud environment. The translation process modifies specific parameters (such as registry formats, image naming conventions, and deployment configurations) to match each cloud's requirements, maintaining process accuracy without requiring manual code writing.
3Reliability
If multiple image descriptions are maintained for different clouds, then cloud-specific requirements are met, but loss of time and maintenance effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the management of multiple cloud-specific image descriptions into a single unified description format. By combining all cloud requirements into one standardized template, the system eliminates the need to maintain separate image descriptions for each cloud platform, reducing maintenance time and effort while ensuring all requirements are met through automatic translation.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for managing images in a cloud including providing a uniform image management interface for receiving from a user uniform image descriptions for building images in a cloud, and receiving a uniform image description for building an image from the user. The uniform image description is provided to an application to create a cloud-specific image description to provide to an image builder for building the image, and the uniform image description is stored in a local data store.