Virtual Asset Manager for Cloud Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Companies face challenges in tracking and verifying the virtual assets, such as virtual machines, rented from cloud providers due to the lack of physical assets and the need for reliable monitoring in cloud computing environments.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for managing virtual assets in a distributed virtual infrastructure, where operational information is obtained and reported in a trusted manner using a virtual asset manager, utilizing secure communication channels and trusted devices or hypervisors to track the lifetime and activity of virtual machines, ensuring transparency and accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If companies use cloud computing with virtual machines, then asset flexibility and resource efficiency are improved, but the ability to track and verify assets is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtual asset manager as an intermediary component that mediates between the virtual machine environment and tracking authorities. This manager collects operational information from virtual machines and reports it to tenants and authorities in a trusted manner, enabling reliable tracking of virtual assets without compromising the flexibility of cloud computing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where operational information about virtual machines is continuously collected and reported. This creates a closed-loop information flow that allows tenants and authorities to verify asset status and usage, thereby improving tracking reliability while maintaining virtual asset flexibility.
2Productivity
If RFID techniques are used to track physical assets, then asset tracking efficiency is improved, but the applicability to virtual assets is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual asset manager is designed as a universal tracking solution that can handle both physical and virtual assets. It extends the tracking capability beyond RFID-physical asset tracking to include virtual machines and other virtualized resources, making the tracking system adaptable to multiple asset types including both physical and virtual assets.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical RFID scanning system with a software-based virtual asset management system. Instead of using physical RFID readers to track assets, the system uses virtual asset managers running in the virtualized environment to collect and report operational information, thereby substituting mechanical tracking with software-based tracking that applies to virtual assets.
3Measurement precision
If operational information is collected from virtual assets, then tracking accuracy is improved, but system complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking system is segmented into multiple independent virtual asset managers, each responsible for specific virtual machines or groups of virtual machines. This segmentation allows operational information to be collected and managed in distributed units, improving tracking accuracy for individual assets while preventing the overall system complexity from becoming unmanageable through modular architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed for managing assets, such as virtual assets, in a computing system implemented with distributed virtual infrastructure. In one example, a method comprises the following steps. Operational information associated with a plurality of virtual assets in a data center is obtained in a trusted manner. The data center is implemented via a distributed virtual infrastructure. At least a portion of the operational information for at least a portion of the plurality of virtual assets in the data center is reported. The operational information reported is operational information pertaining to one or more virtual assets that the data center provides for a tenant of the data center. The obtaining and reporting steps are performed by at least one processing device operating as a virtual asset manager operatively coupled to the distributed virtual infrastructure.