Generating an inner cloud environment within an outer cloud environment for testing a microservice application

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10628290-B2
Application number	US-201815883164-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2018
Priority date	Jan 30, 2018
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

A microservice application can be tested inside an inner cloud environment that is within an outer cloud environment. For example, a software application can generate an inner cloud environment within an outer cloud environment in response to an event associated with a microservice application. The software application can then deploy another version of the microservice application in the inner cloud environment. The software application can perform at least one test on the other version of the microservice application in the inner cloud environment to determine a compatibility of the other version of the microservice application with the inner cloud environment.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting, by a processing device, an error associated with execution of a microservice application in an outer cloud environment;
in response to detecting the error, automatically generating, by the processing device, an inner cloud environment within the outer cloud environment, wherein the inner cloud environment is configured with characteristics that mimic aspects of the outer cloud environment such that the inner cloud environment is usable as a proxy for the outer cloud environment;
in response to generating the inner cloud environment, deploying, by the processing device, another version of the microservice application within the inner cloud environment; and
subsequent to deploying the other version of the microservice application in the inner cloud environment, determining, by the processing device, a compatibility of the other version of the microservice application with the inner cloud environment by performing at least one test on the other version of the microservice application deployed in the inner cloud environment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the microservice application is executing in the outer cloud environment while the other version of the microservice application is also executing in the inner cloud environment; and
the inner cloud environment is deployed by a continuous integration tool.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the outer cloud environment is a first platform as a service (PaaS) environment, and the inner cloud environment is a second PaaS environment that is within a pod within the first PaaS environment.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
detecting, by a controller application that is separate from the continuous integration tool, the error associated with the microservice application; and
transmitting, by the controller application, a command to the continuous integration tool in response to detecting the error, the command being configured to cause the continuous integration tool to generate the inner cloud environment.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising, subsequent to performing the at last one test on the other version of the microservice application:
determining, by the continuous integration tool, that the at least one test is complete;
shutting down, by the continuous integration tool, the inner cloud environment in response to determining that that the at least one test is complete;
transmitting, by the continuous integration tool, an indication that the other version of the microservice application passed the at least one test to the controller application; and
causing, by the controller application and in response to receiving the indication, the other version of the microservice application to be stored to a fileserver that is accessible to one or more users, thereby enabling the one or more users to download the other version of the microservice application.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising generating a user interface indicating the error associated with the microservice application and a location on the fileserver from which the other version of the microservice application is downloadable.

7. A system comprising:
a processing device; and
a memory device comprising instructions executable by the processing device for causing the processing device to:
detect an error associated with execution of a microservice application in an outer cloud environment;
in response to detecting the error, automatically generate an inner cloud environment within the outer cloud environment, wherein the inner cloud environment is configured with characteristics that mimic aspects of the outer cloud environment such that the inner cloud environment is usable as a proxy for the outer cloud environment;
in response to generating the inner cloud environment, deploy another version of the microservice application in the inner cloud environment; and
subsequent to deploying the other version of the microservice application in the inner cloud environment, determine a compatibility of the other version of the microservice application with the inner cloud environment by performing at least one test on the other version of the microservice application deployed in the inner cloud environment.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein:
the microservice application is executing in the outer cloud environment while the other version of the microservice application is executing in the inner cloud environment; and
the inner cloud environment is deployed by a continuous integration tool.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the outer cloud environment is a first platform as a service (PaaS) environment, and the inner cloud environment is a second PaaS environment within the first PaaS environment.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the memory device further comprises instructions that are executable by the processing device for causing the processing device to:
transmit a command to a continuous integration tool in response to detecting the error, the command being configured to cause the continuous integration tool to generate the inner cloud environment.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the memory device further comprises instructions that are executable by the processing device for causing the processing device to:
determine that the at least one test is complete;
shut down the inner cloud environment in response to determining that the at least one test is complete; and
store the other version of the microservice application to a fileserver that is accessible to one or more users to enable the one or more users to retrieve the other version of the microservice application.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the memory device further comprises instructions that are executable by the processing device for causing the processing device to, subsequent to storing the other version of the microservice application to the fileserver:
generate a user interface indicating the error associated with the microservice application and a location on the fileserver from which the other version of the microservice application is retrievable.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that are executable by a processing device for causing the processing device to:
detect an error associated with execution of a microservice application in an outer cloud environment;
in response to detecting the error, automatically generate an inner cloud environment within the outer cloud environment, wherein the inner cloud environment is configured with characteristics that mimic aspects of the outer cloud environment such that the inner cloud environment is usable as a proxy for the outer cloud environment;
in response to generating the inner cloud environment, deploy another version of the microservice application in the inner cloud environment; and
subsequent to deploying the other version of the microservice application in the inner cloud environment, determine a compatibility of the other version of the microservice application with the inner cloud environment by performing at least one test on the other version of the microservice application deployed in the inner cloud environment.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein at least some of the instructions form part of a continuous integration tool.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the outer cloud environment is a first platform as a service (PaaS) environment, and the inner cloud environment is a second PaaS environment within the first PaaS environment.

Assignees

• Red Hat Inc

Inventors

• Modeel Subin

Classifications

• G06F8/60

  Software deployment · CPC title

• G06F11/3688

  for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites · CPC title

• G06F11/3696

  Methods or tools to render software testable · CPC title

• G06F11/3664 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F11/3698 Primary

  Environments for analysis, debugging or testing of software · CPC title