Methods and systems for schema driven cloud resource discovery and inventory
View Patent ↗In one aspect, a computerized cloud resource model (CRM) implementing a schema driven cloud resource discovery and inventory by: defining a resource characteristic, a hierarchy characteristic, a dependency characteristic, and an action characteristic in a declarative model for a cloud resource. Discovering a cloud-resource comprising the resource characteristic, the hierarchy characteristic, the dependency characteristic, and the action characteristic represented as a set of objects in the cloud-resource model; and embedding the cloud-resource model in an open API specification that is readable by any human or systems.
1 . A method for using a cloud resource model (CRM) for implementing a schema driven cloud resource discovery and inventory comprising:
defining a resource characteristic, a hierarchy characteristic, a dependency characteristic, and an action characteristic in a declarative model for a cloud resource;
generating the CRM comprising the resource characteristic, the hierarchy characteristic, the dependency characteristic, and the action characteristic, wherein the cloud resource model (CRM) defines, through an open API specification, a set of objects corresponding to the resource characteristic, the hierarchy characteristic, the dependency characteristic, and the action characteristic, and wherein the CRM modeler interprets the set of objects during a cloud-resource discovery process to dynamically discover object instances for inclusion in a cloud resource inventory; and
embedding the CRM in an open API specification such that the CRM and the set of objects are defined by a cloud resource modeler through the open API specification;
forming the CRM and the set of objects in the CRM into the cloud resource inventory upon completion of the cloud-resource discovery process;
wherein the cloud resource inventory comprises a unified representation of any cloud resource that has many characteristics based on every organizations business objectives,
wherein the CRM modeler interprets each object defined in the CRM and dynamically discovers each object during the cloud-resource discovery process,
wherein the CRM modeler enables a computing system to understand and discover a capability and a characteristic of a cloud service and a cloud-service resource,
wherein the cloud-resource discovery process comprises:
discovering resource characteristics and metadata of the cloud-service resource,
discovering one or more direct or indirect relationships defined in the cloud-resource model, and
performing relationship-based discovery based on the discovered relationships to discover a child and/or associated cloud-service resource, wherein the relationship-based discovery is performed recursively,
wherein the hierarchy characteristic and the dependency characteristic defines one or more resource relationships comprising at least one direct relationship including a parent/child relationship or a dependent relationship and at least one indirect relationship including an association relationship,
wherein the CRM modeler interprets the resource relationships during the cloud-resource discovery process to dynamically discover related objects in the CRM,
wherein embedding the CRM in the open API specification comprises:
defining, in the open API specification, a provider endpoint definition, an authentication definition, and one or more resource action definitions with associated constraints, and
with the CRM modeler, interpreting the provider endpoint definition, the authentication definition, and the one or more resource action definitions to perform schema-based cloud-resource discovery without connector-specific coding.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the CRM comprises a resource hierarchy object.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the CRM comprises a relationship object, wherein the relationship object comprises a dependency hierarchy.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the CRM comprises a dependencies object.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the CRM comprises a stock keeping unit (SKU) object.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the CRM comprises a pricing object.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the CRM comprises a metric object.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the CRM comprises an action object.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the set of embedded operations represents a REST API structure of a cloud-resource provider.