Adopting Virtual Resources Into Logical Containers
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In computing environments, existing systems face challenges in adopting candidate virtual resources into logical containers without disrupting the resources or causing data loss, especially when the candidate resources have complex configurations or are critical to ongoing operations.
Innovation Solution
The system employs Adopted Resource Definitions (ARDs) to describe candidate resources in a format compatible with the stack template, allowing for the logical association of these resources with the stack without making changes to them, using APIs to access metadata and transform it into program instructions that integrate the resources into the stack template.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If candidate virtual resources are integrated into the stack template through manual configuration changes, then the resources can be managed as part of the stack, but the risk of disrupting resources or causing data loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a copy of the candidate resource configuration in the form of an Adopted Resource Definition (ARD) that describes the resource in a format compatible with the stack template. This copy allows the resource to be integrated into stack management without modifying the actual resource, thereby maintaining resource integrity while enabling unified management.
Solution Approach 2:
The ARD acts as an intermediary between the candidate resource and the stack template. It transforms the resource description into a compatible format and facilitates integration without direct modification of the original resource, thus preventing disruption and data loss while enabling stack-level management.
2Productivity
If existing virtual resources are adopted into logical containers using traditional methods, then resource management efficiency improves, but the complexity of the adoption process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically generates Adopted Resource Definitions by accessing metadata through APIs and transforming it into the required format. This self-service approach eliminates manual configuration efforts, reducing the complexity of the adoption process while improving resource management efficiency through automated integration into stack templates.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual configuration changes are made to integrate virtual resources into stacks, then the resources can be managed collectively, but the time required for the adoption process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically accessing resource metadata through APIs and generating Adopted Resource Definitions before the actual adoption process. This pre-processing eliminates time-consuming manual configuration steps during the adoption phase, enabling rapid integration of virtual resources into stacks while maintaining collective management capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A resource management system of a computing resource service provider performs adoptions of virtual resource instances, such as virtual machine instances and virtual data store instances that were not instantiated as members of a logical container, into logical containers that are used to manage members of the logical containers as a group. Adopting such “candidate” resources that were not generated from programmable infrastructure templates allows the resources to be managed in accordance with an infrastructure-as-code framework, alongside resources that are generated from such templates. A template for launching infrastructure instances may be modified to include an adopted resource definition describing the configuration of the adopted resource, so that management operations can be performed on the adopted resource together with the other members of the container. The system can generate an adopted resource definition from metadata of the adopted resource, to be included in the template or to validate the template.