Runtime fault injection system for cloud infrastructures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024414044-A1
Application number	US-202318332310-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 9, 2023
Priority date	Jun 9, 2023
Publication date	Dec 12, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A fault injection system for a cloud infrastructure utilizes fault injection agents instantiated on components of the cloud infrastructure to inject fault into the components. The faults are based on fault definitions which define the type(s) of fault(s) to inject, the scope for injecting the fault into the cloud infrastructure, deployment information for deploying the fault in the cloud, and remediation information which defines a plan for remediating the fault in the cloud infrastructure. The system monitors the impact of faults on the components which enables component dependencies to be determined.

First claim

1 . A fault injection system for a cloud infrastructure, the fault injection system comprising:
a processor; and a memory in communication with the processor, the memory comprising executable instructions that, when executed by the processor alone or in combination with other processors, cause the fault injection system to perform functions of: receiving a fault definition that defines at least one fault type to be injected into one or more targeted components of the cloud infrastructure, the cloud infrastructure providing at least one service to clients and including a plurality of components that perform various tasks in support of the at least one service, the plurality of components including hardware and software components, the targeted components being selected from the plurality of components, the fault definition being an electronic file that identifies the at least one fault type intended to negatively impact performance of the one or more targeted components and including scope information and deployment information pertaining the fault, the scope information including selection criteria for indicating which of the plurality of components are the targeted components, the deployment information defining parameters for deploying the fault to the targeted components; instantiating fault injection agents in the targeted components based on the scope information and the deployment information while the targeted components are performing tasks in support of the at least one service, the fault injection agents being configured to cause the at least one fault type in the targeted components; monitoring a performance of the plurality of components while the fault injection agents are causing the at least one fault type in the targeted components to determine how the at least one fault type in the targeted components impacts the plurality of components; and determining dependencies of components in the cloud infrastructure on other components of the cloud infrastructure based on the monitored performance of the plurality of components while the fault injection agents are causing the at least one fault type in the targeted components.

2 . The fault injection system of claim 1 , wherein the fault injection agents are instantiated from a fault injection class which is part of a fault injection service being executed in the components of the cloud infrastructure.

3 . The fault injection system of claim 1 , wherein the scope information defines a component type of the targeted components and selection criteria for selecting the targeted components from other components of a same type.

4 . The fault injection system of claim 1 , wherein the deployment information defines a deployment ring configuration for deploying the fault.

5 . The fault injection system of claim 1 , wherein the fault definition includes risk information pertaining to the targeted components.

6 . The fault injection system of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a dependency map for the cloud infrastructure based on the monitored performance.

7 . The fault injection system of claim 1 , wherein the fault definition includes remediation information, the remediation information indicating a remediation plan for mitigating the fault, the remediation plan including at least one of a failover plan, a backup plan, and a rollback plan.

8 . A method for injecting fault into a cloud infrastructure, the method comprising:
receiving a fault definition that defines at least one fault type to be injected into one or more targeted components of the cloud infrastructure, the cloud infrastructure providing at least one service to clients and including a plurality of components that perform various tasks in support of the at least one service, the plurality of components including hardware and software components, the targeted components being selected from the plurality of components, the fault definition being an electronic file that identifies the at least one fault type intended to negatively impact performance of the one or more targeted components and including scope information and deployment information pertaining the fault, the scope information including selection criteria for indicating which of the plurality of components are the targeted components, the deployment information defining parameters for deploying the fault to the targeted components; instantiating fault injection agents in the targeted components based on the scope information and the deployment information while the targeted components are performing tasks in support of the at least one service, the fault injection agents being configured to cause the at least one fault type in the targeted components; monitoring a performance of the plurality of components while the fault injection agents are causing the at least one fault type in the targeted components to determine how the at least one fault type in the targeted components impacts the plurality of components; and determining dependencies of components in the cloud infrastructure on other components of the cloud infrastructure based on the monitored performance of the plurality of components while the fault injection agents are causing the at least one fault type in the targeted components.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the fault injection agents are instantiated from a fault injection class which is part of a fault injection service being executed in the components of the cloud infrastructure.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the scope information defines a component type of the targeted components and selection criteria for selecting the targeted components from other components of a same type.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the deployment information defines a deployment ring configuration for deploying the fault.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the fault definition includes risk information pertaining to the targeted components.

13 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining a dependency map for the cloud infrastructure based on the monitored performance.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the fault definition includes remediation information, the remediation information indicating a remediation plan for mitigating the fault.

15 . A non-transitory computer readable medium on which are stored instructions that, when executed, cause a programmable device to perform functions of:
receiving a fault definition that defines at least one fault type to be injected into one or more targeted components of a cloud infrastructure, the cloud infrastructure providing at least one service to clients and including a plurality of components that perform various tasks in support of the at least one service, the plurality of components including hardware and software components, the targeted components being selected from the plurality of components, the fault definition being an electronic file that identifies the at least one fault type intended to negatively impact performance of the one or more targeted components and including scope information and deployment information pertaining the fault, the scope information including selection criteria for indicating which of the plurality of components are the targeted components, the deployment information defining parameters for deploying the fault to the targeted components; instantiating fault injection agents in the targeted components based on the scope information and the deployment information while the targeted components are performing tasks in support of the at least one service, the fault injection agents being configured to cause the at least

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Verma Nidhi
• Walsh James John
• Castle Oliver John
• Sheridan Orla Patricia

Classifications

• H04L41/0681

  Configuration of triggering conditions · CPC title

• G06F11/3696

  Methods or tools to render software testable · CPC title

• G06F11/3688

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

• G06F11/2294

  by remote test · CPC title

• G06F11/3051

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs (verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247) · CPC title