Virtual Machine Fleet Refresh Scheduling Service

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Solution Overview

Problem

Managing the refresh operations of a large fleet of virtual machine instances is complex due to heterogeneous environments, multiple hardware types, and varying software versions, leading to significant time consumption and potential security vulnerabilities.

Innovation Solution

An instance refresh service that analyzes constraints and impacts to determine optimal schedules for refresh operations, allowing customers to choose between different schedules based on resource availability and cost, while minimizing downtime and security risks.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If manual refresh operations are performed on each virtual machine instance, then refresh accuracy can be maintained, but time consumption increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improverefresh accuracyVSAvoidtime consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables self-service by allowing customers to automatically manage their own fleet refresh operations through a web-based interface. Customers can configure refresh policies, select instances for refresh, and monitor progress without requiring manual intervention from support staff, thereby maintaining refresh accuracy while significantly reducing time consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The refresh management process is segmented into discrete, manageable components: instance selection, policy configuration, refresh scheduling, and progress monitoring. This segmentation allows the complex task of managing large fleets to be broken down into manageable steps, improving both accuracy and efficiency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Manufacturing precision

If manual connection to each virtual machine instance is performed, then refresh configuration accuracy is improved, but operational complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improverefresh configuration accuracyVSAvoidoperational complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

A web-based interface acts as an intermediary between the customer and the complex refresh operations. This interface simplifies the operational complexity by providing user-friendly controls for instance selection, policy configuration, and monitoring, while maintaining the precision needed for accurate refresh configuration through structured forms and validation mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The web-based interface provides universal access to all refresh management functions through a single unified platform. Customers can perform instance selection, policy configuration, scheduling, and monitoring through one interface, eliminating the need for multiple manual connection processes and reducing operational complexity while maintaining configuration accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Reliability

If refresh operations are performed during business hours, then service availability is maintained, but resource costs increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveservice availabilityVSAvoidresource costs

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system introduces dynamic scheduling capabilities that allow customers to flexibly configure when refresh operations occur. Customers can specify time windows, priority levels, and resource allocation dynamically based on their operational needs and cost constraints, enabling optimization of both service availability and resource costs.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system supports periodic or scheduled refresh operations that can be configured to run during off-peak hours or at predetermined times. This periodic action approach allows maintenance to be performed during low-demand periods, maintaining service availability while reducing resource costs associated with peak-hour operations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

4Reliability

If comprehensive refresh operations are performed on all virtual machine instances, then security is improved, but downtime increases

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovesecurityVSAvoiddowntime

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDuration of action of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables local quality by allowing customers to selectively apply refresh operations to specific instances or groups of instances based on their criticality and security needs. Not all instances need to be refreshed simultaneously; customers can prioritize critical security updates on essential instances while scheduling less critical updates on non-essential instances during extended maintenance windows, thereby improving security while controlling downtime.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS10095545B1Automated and configurable fleet refresh

Publication Date: 2018.10.09 AMAZON TECH INC

AI summary

Techniques for managing large-scale automatic fleet refresh operations are described herein. An application programming interface request to perform a refresh operation on a set of computer system instances is received. The application programming interface request includes a set of constraints for performing the refresh operation which are used to determine the impact of performing the refresh operation. Based at least in part on the impact, a set of schedules for performing the refresh operation is provided.