Patent ID: 12224932

When practical, similar reference numbers denote similar structures, features, or elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This document describes a workflow tool to build, deploy and release application code of an application to any of one or more computing platforms, especially cloud computing platforms given a wide variety of cloud computing platforms that now run applications. The term “platform” refers to herein as any computing platform on which an application can run. The workflow tool described herein provides a consistent workflow to build, deploy, and release applications on any platform. In some implementations, the workflow tool is defined in a single command that encapsulates the build, deploy, and release phases to get an application from development into production.

In preferred exemplary implementations, within an application development environment, each project can have an associated configuration file. The configuration file defines each of the build, deploy and release phases, and further respectively defines and specifies the specific tool used for the build, the operation platform for which the application is intended, and the logic desired to release the to the public via the operation platform. These aspects and features are described in more detail below.

In implementations consistent with the details described herein, and as illustrated inFIG.2, a workflow tool206is provided to manage and execute the build, deploy and release phases of application deployment, between a development platform202(in which coding and testing take place) and a deployment platform204(to which an application is deployed to be operated and measured). The workflow tool206includes a first processor (workflow processor208) that is configured to generate a single configuration file210for the application. The single configuration file210can be generated using a common command-line interface (CLI) language, such as HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). HCL is a configuration language built by HashiCorp® that uses human-readable text but is structured to be machine friendly for use with command-line tools, is JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) compatible, an can also accommodates comments.

The single configuration file210includes a build configuration212that defines a build tool used for building the application, a deploy configuration214defining the deployment platform204to which the application will be deployed, and a release configuration216defining logic for releasing the application to the intended deployment platform204for use by one or more users. The first processor208is further configured to generate a release uniform resource locator (URL) to provide access, by the deployment platform204to the one or more users, to the application upon the releasing.

Configuration File

Each of the build, deploy and release configurations for a project and associated application are integrated into a single configuration file400, as illustrated inFIG.4. In this example, a build configuration402, a deploy configuration404, and a release configuration406define the build phase, the deploy phase, and the release phase, respectively, of the application lifecycle for the application and project. By having these three configurations402,404,406in one configuration file400, it can be referenced by a user to know the full logic and lifecycle of how that application gets to production. Thus, while the workflow tool206does not replace tools such as container-orchestration systems for application deployment to a cloud platform, like Kubernetes®, Helm®, or Docker®, it is configured to wrap these and other tools in the single configuration file400, provide them together in a proper order for successful application deployment, and provide a consistent workflow on top of them.

The build configuration402takes application source code and uses a build process or tool to convert the application code to an artifact. An artifact is a packaged form of an application required on a target platform: a container image, virtual machine image, even a simple ZIP file, or the like, for example. The build process may also include an optional “push” operation to push the built artifact to a registry so that is available for the deployment platform. For instance, the workflow tool can include a set of built-in plug-ins for tools to build a container or image for an application, such as Docker Build (seeFIG.5), Docker Pull Build, and Cloud Native Buildpacks, etc., or the like (seeFIG.6).

In one exemplary implementation, as shown inFIG.5, configuration file for a project “my-project” uses Cloud Native Buildpacks for the build component, and Docker as a registry from the build process. Kubernetes native systems are used for the deployment component as well as the release component. Accordingly, the Kubernetes service primitives are used to point to the correct deployment for the public to see, but in a consistent workflow defined by the single configuration file.

FIG.7shows an exemplary output when the workflow tool is run, showing the build, the output as part of that, the deploy happening, and then a release at the end. As shown inFIG.7with the release, a release URL is provided. The release URL is the public URL provided by the release platform by which users can access this application. This is provided by the platform.

Further, a deployment URL is generated. The deployment URL has a specific domain, in this example a waypoint.run domain named after a name of the workflow tool. This domain uses an service that is run, separate from the workflow tool, to provide routable URLs for all deployments. This can be an optional service, but which can provide a URL to every application built, irrespective of the platform it is on, and it is consistent. Accordingly, the workflow tool described herein works with any application code and with any platform. It does not matter what programming language is used, or which platform the application is being deployed to, the workflow tool provides a consistent workflow, URL output, and deployment URLs.

Validating Deployments

Once the workflow tool is run, i.e. the built application is deployed, the next aspect is to be able to tell whether the application is running, regardless of which deployment tool is used. In some cases, this step may entail opening up a URL in a UI, refreshing the URL a few times, or checking logs related to the deployment. While these steps can often work, for efficiency and greater validation, as shown inFIG.3, a workflow tool302can include several integrated tools and features that allow a user to easily validate that an application deployment is working correctly. For instance, a build process of a build component306of the workflow processor304may also include an optional “push” operation to push the built artifact to a registry330so that is available for the deployment platform.

Discovery and Routing Service

In some implementations, the workflow tool includes a discovery and routing service. The discovery and routing service provides an externally routable URL across one or more cloud computing platforms. The discovery and routing service can optionally provide a domain name that identifies the discovery and routing service to increase customer awareness of the service. This additional service can be provided as a default service to the discovery and routing service, in some implementations.

FIG.8illustrates a process800for generating a URL for an application in a routing and discovery service. As shown inFIG.8, in block810the routing and discovery service X may generate a URL related to an application to be deployed to at least one of the one or more cloud computing platforms. The URL may be hosted by a service provided by the workflow tool or self-hosted by the user. The cloud computing platforms can include Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Cloud, etc. The URL is configured to provide access to an edge list that contains one or more edge nodes. As further shown in block820ofFIG.8, process800may include connecting at least one agent to the URL so that the agent can connect with one or more nodes in the edge list via the URL. An agent may include a system agent, a client agent, a web crawler, an intelligent agent, etc.

At block830, the process800may include sending authentication information, including an identifier related to the agent and a set of agent labels to identify traffic between the agent and each of the one or more edge nodes. Authentication information can include a token corresponding to the account associated with the agent. Additionally, Agent labels can be both order and case independent. This independence means that a label “service=www” may be the same as “service=WWW” or “service=WwW” in some embodiments. When a routing mesh attempts to identify an agent in order to send traffic to that agent, the mesh may use the full set of agent labels to match the agent. For example, if a target criteria was “env=prod” and the agent had advertised “env=prod, service=www” the agent would not be matched.

As further shown inFIG.8, at block840, the authentication information may be inserted into the routing mesh after authentication. Examples of inserting into the routing mesh can include, for self-hosted applications, registering with the discovery and routing service itself, while, for cloud based applications, inserting into the routing mesh can involve writing a record into a global database.

Further, the routing mesh is configured to receive a request that includes one or more request labels, to send traffic to the agent. After receiving the request, the routing mesh can locate the agent based on a comparison between the request labels and the agent labels as shown in block850. Block860shows that the routing and discovery service may include connecting the located agent with traffic to and from the routing mesh. The request is authenticated by the routing and discovery service, and the agent can be located, if a comparison between the agent labels and the request labels shows a one-to-one match between at least one label in each set of labels. Once a request has been mapped to a set of labels, the edge node may query the routing mesh database where the agent has registered itself.

The edge node may select one of a set of (edge-id, node-id, agent-id) tuples returned by the database in response to the query. The tuples may be selected at random or selected based on considerations such as account agent load or latency. Once a tuple is selected, the edge node may transmit the request to a given node. In some cases the given node may be itself so the request can be directly sent to the agent. In other cases, the edge node looks up the connection information from the routing mesh database and connects to a forwarding endpoint on the target node where requests are forwarded. If a previous connection exits, the existing connection may be used to speed the forwarding process. When the request is sent through multiple nodes, the one terminating the initial request may send connection information along with the termination request to the agent. By sharing the connection information with the agent, the agent may connect back to the edge node directly and transmit a response. In some implementations, there may be a limit on the total number of connections for each agent. Each edge node may be directly accessible through a public address which may allow other edge nodes or agents to directly connect to a specific edge.

Process800may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and/or in connection with one or more other process described elsewhere. In a first implementation, process800may include terminating traffic to and from the routing mesh and the located agent based on a Transport Layer Security (TLS) request. The deployment and routing service may include a TLS-by-default approach.

AlthoughFIG.8shows example blocks of process800, in some implementations the process may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted inFIG.8. Additionally, two or more blocks of process800may be performed in parallel.

UI

As shown inFIG.3, In some implementations, the workflow tool302can generate a UI314. The UI314can include one or more graphical user interfaces rendered in a display connected with a workflow processor304. The UI314is configured to display a build configuration320, a deploy configuration322, and a release configuration324, URLs326(such as release URL and deployment URL), as well as a current status of each of these. The UI314provides an intuitive, interactive and efficient mechanism by which to verify that a deployment is complete. The UI314can be customizable and/or configurable to suit user preferences. For instance, the UI314can have a “dark mode” for nighttime or viewing the UI314in a darkened environment.

Execution Tool

In some implementations, the workflow tool further includes an execution tool328that can be used to open a shell or execute any process in the context of a deployment. In some implementations, the execution tool328is a tool that is provided on the command line, along with the build, deploy and release configurations320,322and324, respectively. The execution tool328provides access to any deployment, to allow a user to be able to ensure the application is properly deployed and running as intended. The execution tool328enables a user to execute commands in the context of a deployed application, and can be used to open up a shell for debugging, execute database migrations, and other application-specific functions. In some implementations, the execution tool328works by picking a random running instance of the latest deployment of the application, and executing within that environment.

The execution tool328works across any platform to which an application is to be deployed, despite similar functionality provided by each separate deployment tool, such as Kubernetes® or Google Cloud Run, or EC2 instances, etc. The execution tool328provides a similar experience across any deployment tool used, and therefore provides a consistent access to deployed application no matter which deployment is used, all without needed to exit the workflow tool and enter into a specific deployment tool's execution functionality.

Logs

In some implementations, another validation tool provided by the workflow tool302is a log332, from which a user can see all the recent logs from each deployment of each application. As with the execution tool, the workflow tool logs work across every platform consistently, as well as with each deployment tool, and using a consistent workflow. In some cases, these logs332are not meant to replace long-term log storage or log searching, especially since most deployment tools include their own log functionality, but rather are configured to provide log access for a recent history of deployments, so as to enable a user to quickly see each deployment and/or to verify that each specific deployment is up and running as expected. These logs332further assist a user in being able to debug any issues that get logged during the deployment.

Extensibility

A key feature of the workflow tool, particularly for operating in a multi-cloud platform environment, is extensibility. Accordingly, in some implementations the workflow tool302includes a plugin interface334, which enables the workflow to be flexible and work in any of a variety of present or future scenarios. For example, a common way to display applications is using practices such as Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), which is a standard practice in software engineering, especially when involving large development teams. In these scenarios, CI/CD is one preferred way to integrate the build-deploy-release cycle of the workflow. Accordingly, the workflow tool302can configured to be run directly within existing CI/CD platforms, such that deploying an application can be consistent across a variety of different places in a CI/CD environment.

Another example is a similar set of practices known as GitOps, or a Git-based workflow, which describes systems with declarative specifications that form the basis of continuous operations and tasks. Typically, a Git-based workflow includes a Git “push,” which triggers a deployment either to production or to a preview state. To accommodate these practices, the workflow tool302can include one or more plugins to the plugin interface334for different control systems so that versioning and other operations can be directly integrated with Git workflows. With such GitHub integration, every branch will get a separate build-deploy-release component, and a deployment URL that is branch-specific, to allow a user to view any branch, get a preview of its deployment and how it is working, and then when it is merged into the main brand, the workflow tool will deploy it into production.

The workflow tool302, via the plugin interface334, is therefore extensible to these and other tools and practices for deploying applications, and which not only allows users to work in those deployment environments, but across multiple deployment environments in a highly consistent manner. The CLI of the workflow tool enables this consistency.

One or more aspects or features of the subject matter described herein can be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry, specially designed application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof. These various aspects or features can include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which can be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. The programmable system or computing system may include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

These computer programs, which can also be referred to programs, software, software applications, applications, components, or code, include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural language, an object-oriented programming language, a functional programming language, a logical programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As used herein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to any computer program product, apparatus and/or device, such as for example magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal. The term “machine-readable signal” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor. The machine-readable medium can store such machine instructions non-transitorily, such as for example as would a non-transient solid-state memory or a magnetic hard drive or any equivalent storage medium. The machine-readable medium can alternatively or additionally store such machine instructions in a transient manner, such as for example as would a processor cache or other random access memory associated with one or more physical processor cores.

To provide for interaction with a user, one or more aspects or features of the subject matter described herein can be implemented on a computer having a display device, such as for example a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a light emitting diode (LED) monitor for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device, such as for example a mouse or a trackball, by which the user may provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well. For example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, such as for example visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from the user may be received in any form, including, but not limited to, acoustic, speech, or tactile input. Other possible input devices include, but are not limited to, touch screens or other touch-sensitive devices such as single or multi-point resistive or capacitive trackpads, voice recognition hardware and software, optical scanners, optical pointers, digital image capture devices and associated interpretation software, and the like.

In the descriptions above and in the claims, phrases such as “at least one of” or “one or more of” may occur followed by a conjunctive list of elements or features. The term “and/or” may also occur in a list of two or more elements or features. Unless otherwise implicitly or explicitly contradicted by the context in which it used, such a phrase is intended to mean any of the listed elements or features individually or any of the recited elements or features in combination with any of the other recited elements or features. For example, the phrases “at least one of A and B;” “one or more of A and B;” and “A and/or B” are each intended to mean “A alone, B alone, or A and B together.” A similar interpretation is also intended for lists including three or more items. For example, the phrases “at least one of A, B, and C;” “one or more of A, B, and C;” and “A, B, and/or C” are each intended to mean “A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A and B and C together.” Use of the term “based on,” above and in the claims is intended to mean, “based at least in part on,” such that an unrecited feature or element is also permissible.

The subject matter described herein can be embodied in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. The implementations set forth in the foregoing description do not represent all implementations consistent with the subject matter described herein. Instead, they are merely some examples consistent with aspects related to the described subject matter. Although a few variations have been described in detail above, other modifications or additions are possible. In particular, further features and/or variations can be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, the implementations described above can be directed to various combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and/or combinations and subcombinations of several further features disclosed above. In addition, the logic flows depicted in the accompanying figures and/or described herein do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. Other implementations may be within the scope of the following claims.