Virtual Machine Deployment Service Secret Management

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Solution Overview

Problem

Deploying or upgrading virtual machines (VMs) across different cloud environments is inefficient due to varying configuration requirements and the lack of standardized mechanisms for managing secrets, leading to potential outages and increased costs.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a VM deployment or upgrade service that validates and autogenerates secrets across multiple VMs or containers, allowing for standardized deployment and upgrade processes across various cloud environments, including microservices architectures.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If manual configuration of secrets is performed for each VM, then security control is improved, but deployment time and complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity controlVSAvoiddeployment time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-generating and storing secrets in a secrets manager before deployment. The deployment service automatically retrieves these pre-generated secrets and injects them into VMs during deployment, eliminating the need for manual secret configuration at deployment time while maintaining security control.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The deployment service performs self-service by automatically managing the entire secret lifecycle including generation, retrieval, and injection without manual intervention. The system autonomously coordinates with the secrets manager to handle all secret operations, freeing users from manual configuration tasks while maintaining security.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Productivity

If standardized deployment mechanisms are implemented, then deployment efficiency is improved, but adaptability to different cloud environments decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedeployment efficiencyVSAvoidadaptability to cloud environments

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The deployment service achieves universality by implementing a standardized interface that works across multiple cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP, on-premises). The service abstracts cloud-specific details and provides a consistent deployment experience, enabling efficient standardized deployments while maintaining adaptability through configuration-based customization rather than code changes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses parameter changes by allowing deployment configurations to be adjusted through parameter files that define cloud-specific settings. This enables the same standardized deployment mechanism to adapt to different cloud environments by modifying configuration parameters rather than changing the core deployment logic, thus maintaining both efficiency and adaptability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Reliability

If configuration validation is performed manually, then error detection is improved, but deployment speed decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveerror detectionVSAvoiddeployment speed

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs configuration validation as a preliminary action before deployment begins. The deployment service automatically validates configuration files, secret references, and VM specifications in advance, detecting errors beforehand and preventing them from causing deployment failures. This preliminary validation maintains high error detection capability while enabling faster deployment execution.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The deployment service implements automated feedback mechanisms that continuously validate configurations during the deployment process. The system provides real-time feedback on configuration correctness, secret availability, and resource availability, allowing for immediate error detection and correction without manual intervention, thus maintaining both reliability and deployment speed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

4Reliability

If secret rotation is automated, then security maintenance is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity maintenanceVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The deployment service achieves self-service by automatically handling secret rotation without requiring manual intervention or complex custom implementations. The service coordinates with the secrets manager to automatically rotate secrets and update VM configurations, maintaining security maintenance through automation while keeping the overall system complexity manageable through standardized integration patterns.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS12223339B2Management of secrets during deployment of virtual environment

Publication Date: 2025.02.11 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

Techniques are described for deploying a virtualized computing environment configured in a user-specific configuration, the virtualized network function comprising a plurality of virtual machines. A solution definition file (SDF) identifies a configuration for the deployment. The SDF replaces each secret needed for the deployment with an identifier for the secret. A schema defines a format for each identifier for each secret included in the SDF and a format of the secrets. The secrets and corresponding identifiers are stored in a secure storage. The identifiers are sent to the deployed virtual machines, the identifiers being usable by the virtual machines to obtain the secrets from the secure storage.