Mr. Zahir Sayyed

Development of a Simulator to API Calls for Cloud Orchestration Testing

Abstract:

Orchestration  systems,  particularly  those  on  VMware  vCloud  Director  (VCD),  play  a vital   role   in   managing   multi-tenant   virtualized   environments.   Nonetheless,   it   is problematic to test automation scripts and orchestration workflows directly on production or  staging  VCD  infrastructure:  it  is  expensive,  inaccessible,  and  may  endanger  live services. This paper provides an overview of the design and implementation of an API call simulator tailored to a specific domain, aiming to create safe, efficient, and repeatable testing  environments  for  developers  and  DevOps  engineers.  In  contrast  to  generic mocking tools, this simulator offers a feature set tailored to VCD-specific requirements,including  stateful  API  behavior,  vApp  mock  lifecycles,  and  dynamic  responses.  It confirms popular HTTP requests on core end-points such as sessions, vApps, catalogs, and  networks,  offering  a  precise  test  proxy  that  does  not  map  virtualization  to  the backend. The simulator also fits well in CI/CD environments and facilitates chaos testing through  fault  injection.  A  detailed  analysis  demonstrates  its  high  fidelity  to  real  VCD behavior, with low latency under concurrent load, and developers were satisfied with the results.  Applications  include  use  as  a  development  sandbox  tool,  a  disaster  recovery testing  tool,  an  educational  tool,  and  a  certification  tool.  The  paper  concludes  by suggesting the adoption of these approaches on a broader scale, both in enterprise settings and those involving cloud training. The scalability of the simulator ultimately addresses the continuity limitations of present-day testing in cloud orchestration

Profile:

I am a seasoned technology leader and keynote speaker with over 19 years of experience driving digital transformation across the banking, insurance, and semiconductor industries. I have held senior engineering roles at Goldman Sachs, UBS, Wellington Management, and Infosys, where I led the design of scalable, cloud-native, and AI-driven enterprise platforms. My expertise spans sustainable computing, cloud cost optimization, intelligent payment systems, and data-centric architectures. I also serve as a judge for global innovation programs, including the CES Innovation Awards and Business Intelligence Group, and review academic research in software engineering and artificial intelligence.