Automated Testing Apparatus for Utility Computing System Planes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Coordinating operations between various personnel roles in an enterprise data center to ensure end-to-end verification of data center functionality is challenging due to the complexity of roles and authentication levels required across different planes.
Innovation Solution
A testing apparatus comprising administration units, an authenticator, and a dispatcher that automates access and test operations across multiple planes of a utility computing system, using a framework manager to configure components and store test details, and execution applications to perform sanity checks, error analysis, and corrections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual coordination between various data center personnel is used to verify data center functionality, then comprehensive testing can be performed across multiple roles and planes, but the complexity of coordinating operations between various personnel increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of multiple administrator roles (backup administrator, network administrator, data center administrator, farm administrator, system administrator) within a single automated testing system. These virtual roles allow the system to perform comprehensive end-to-end verification across all data center planes without requiring actual human coordination, thus maintaining reliability while eliminating coordination complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple administrator roles and their respective testing functions into a single automated testing apparatus. By combining the capabilities of various specialized administrators into one unified system, the patent achieves comprehensive data center verification while eliminating the need for complex interpersonal coordination between different personnel
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple specialized administrator roles are employed to cover all data center operations, then comprehensive testing across various planes is achieved, but the difficulty of coordinating operations between personnel increases
Solution Approach 1:
The automated testing system is designed with universal multi-functionality, capable of performing all testing operations that would normally require different specialized administrators. The system can authenticate as multiple virtual roles, access different data center planes, and execute various testing functions through a single unified interface, thereby maintaining comprehensive testing coverage while dramatically improving operational ease
3Productivity
If automated testing is implemented across multiple data center planes, then testing efficiency increases, but the complexity of managing authentication and access control increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary authentication management component that handles all authentication and access control requirements for automated testing across multiple data center planes. This intermediary layer manages the complexity of virtual role authentication, credential storage, and plane-specific access control, allowing high-speed automated testing to proceed without requiring the testing system to directly manage the underlying authentication complexity
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus is disclosed for testing a utility computing system having a plurality of hardware and/or software planes. The apparatus comprises a plurality of administration units, each administration unit being arranged to carry out test operations on a utility computing system during use, and each administration unit having associated access details usable to gain access to at least one plane of the utility computing system during use, an authenticator arranged to receive access details and to permit or restrict access by an administration unit to one or more planes of the utility computing system during use depending on whether the received access details correspond to the access details associated with the administration unit, and a dispatcher arranged, for each administration unit, to automatically forward the access details associated with the administration unit to the authenticator so as to thereby permit the administration unit to gain access to one or more planes of the utility computing system during use and carry out test operations on said accessed one or more planes.