Discovery and mapping of cloud-based resource modifications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10924344-B2
Application number	US-201916381838-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2019
Priority date	Apr 11, 2019
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

A system includes persistent storage configured to store, a mapping of computing resources provided by a remote computing system to a managed network. The system also includes an application that obtains instructions to modify a computing resource provided by the remote computing system and, based on the instructions, generates and transmits, to the remote computing system, a request to modify the computing resource. The application receives, from the remote computing system, a response indicating a modification to the computing resource and selects a discovery pattern configured to verify the modification by obtaining attributes associated therewith. The application obtains, from the remote computing system, the attributes by executing the discovery pattern and determines, based on the attributes, that the modification has been completed according to the instructions. Based on this determination, the application updates the mapping to indicate the modification and stores, in the persistent storage, the mapping as updated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing system comprising:
persistent storage configured to store, as one or more configuration items and on behalf of a managed network, a mapping of computing resources provided by a remote computing system to the managed network, wherein the mapping represents a service infrastructure of the remote computing system dedicated to the managed network; and
a discovery application configured to perform operations comprising:
obtaining instructions to modify a computing resource provided by the remote computing system;
based on the instructions, generating and transmitting, to the remote computing system, a request to modify the computing resource;
receiving, from the remote computing system, a response indicating a modification to the computing resource;
selecting a discovery pattern configured to verify the modification to the computing resource by obtaining attributes associated therewith by:
determining a type of the computing resource based on: (i) the instructions, (ii) the request, or (iii) the response, or any combination thereof; and
selecting the discovery pattern that is configured to obtain the attributes associated with the type of the computing resource;

obtaining, from the remote computing system, the attributes associated with the computing resource by executing the discovery pattern;
determining, based on the attributes associated with the computing resource, that the modification to the computing resource has been completed according to the instructions;
based on the modification to the computing resource having been completed according to the instructions, updating the mapping to indicate the modification; and
storing, in the persistent storage, the mapping as updated.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise:
obtaining second instructions to modify a second computing resource provided by the remote computing system;
based on the second instructions, generating and transmitting, to the remote computing system, a second request to modify the second computing resource;
receiving, from the remote computing system, a second response indicating a second modification to the second computing resource;
selecting a second discovery pattern configured to verify the second modification to the second computing resource by obtaining second attributes associated therewith;
obtaining, from the remote computing system, the second attributes associated with the second computing resource by executing the second discovery pattern; and
determining, based on the second attributes associated with the second computing resource, that the second modification to the second computing resource has not been completed according to the second instructions.

3. The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the operations comprise:
based on the second modification to the second computing resource not having been completed according to the second instructions:
(i) generating and transmitting, to the remote computing system, a third request to modify the second computing resource, wherein the third request is a revised version of the second request,
(ii) receiving, from the remote computing system, a third response indicating a third modification to the second computing resource,
(iii) obtaining, from the remote computing system and by re-executing the second discovery pattern, updated second attributes associated with the second computing resource,
(iv) determining, based on the updated second attributes, that the third modification to the second computing resource has been completed according to the second instructions, and
(v) based on the third modification to the computing resource having been completed according to the second instructions, updating the mapping to indicate the third modification and storing, in the persistent storage, the second mapping as updated.

4. The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the operations comprise:
based on the second modification to the second computing resource not having been completed according to the second instructions:
(i) generating and transmitting, to the remote computing system, a third request to undo the second modification to the second computing resource, and
(ii) verifying that the second modification has been undone by re-executing the second discovery pattern.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the instructions to modify the computing resource comprises:
displaying, by way of a graphical user interface, a graphical representation of the mapping;
receiving, by way of the graphical user interface, input indicating a target state of the graphical representation to be achieved by the modification; and
determining, based on the input, (i) the computing resource to modify and (ii) a manner in which the computing resource is to be modified to achieve the target state of the graphical representation.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein generating the request to modify the computing resource comprises:
selecting, from a plurality of templates that define, as programmatic code, a plurality of candidate modifications to the computing resources provided to the managed network, a particular template that defines the modification to the computing resource indicated by the instructions; and
populating the particular template according to the instructions.

7. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein generating the request to modify the computing resource comprises:
generating a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request addressed to a function of an application programming interface (API) provided by the remote computing system, wherein the function of the API is configured to manage the computing resources provided to the managed network, and wherein the request specifies the computing resource and the modification thereto as one or more HTTP parameters.

8. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the HTTP parameters comprise at least one of: (i) a URL resource path parameter that identifies a specific resource provided by a server device that hosts the API, (ii) a URL query parameter comprising a key and value pair, (iii) an HTTP header parameter, (iv) an HTTP cookie parameter, or (v) an HTTP body parameter.

9. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the computing resource comprises a virtual computing device, and wherein the modification to the virtual computing device comprises at least one of: (i) provisioning of the virtual computing device, (ii) deprovisioning of the virtual computing device, (iii) suspending operation of the virtual computing device, (iv) changing an amount of processor resources available to the virtual computing device, or (v) changing an amount of memory available to the virtual computing device.

10. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the computing resource comprises a storage volume, and wherein the modification to the storage volume comprises at least one of: (i) provisioning of the storage volume, (ii) deprovisioning of the storage volume, (iii) creating a snapshot of the storage volume, (iv) restoring the storage volume from a snapshot, or (v) changing a size of the storage volume.

11. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to modify the computing resource indicate one or more target relationships between the computing resource and one or more other computing resources provided to the managed network by the remote computing system, and wherein determining that the modification to the computing resource has been completed according to the instructions comprises:
determining, based on the attributes associated with the computing resource, one or more actual relationships between the computin

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Feiguine Alexandra
• Hameiri Shiri
• Bitterfeld Robert
• Garty Asaf
• Solomon Bary
• Badyan Daniel
• Tal Hail
• Herzog Shay
• Sant Shimon
• Erblat Boris
• Aron Aviya

Classifications

• H04L43/20

  the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L41/0816 Primary

  the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events · CPC title

• H04L47/748 Primary

  Negotiation of resources, e.g. modification of a request · CPC title