Virtual resource cost tracking with dedicated implementation resources

• US 10,013,662 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brandwine, Eric Jason, Theimer, Marvin M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Campbell, Shannon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nelson, Freda A
• Application Number:
  US12/894,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,833 Days
• Field of Search: 705 735, 705 34, 705400, 705 722, 718104, 726 7, 709223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Virtual resources may be provisioned in a manner that is aware of, and respects, underlying implementation resource boundaries. A customer of the virtual resource provider may specify that particular virtual resources are to be implemented with implementation resources that are dedicated to the customer. Dedicating an implementation resource to a particular customer of a virtual resource provider may establish one or more information barriers between the particular customer and other customers of the virtual resource provider. Implementation resources may require transition procedures, including custom transition procedures, to enter and exit dedicated implementation resource pools. Costs corresponding to active and inactive implementation resources in a dedicated pools associated with a particular customer may be accounted for, and presented to, the customer in a variety of ways including explicit, adjusted per customer and adjusted per type of virtual resource and/or implementation resource.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for virtual resource cost tracking, comprising:

maintaining, at a virtual resource provider having a plurality of customers, a virtual resource implemented by a set of hardware resources including a shareable hardware resource capable of being simultaneously allocated as a plurality of hardware resource allocation units to a plurality of virtual resources associated with the plurality of customers;

dedicating, by a control plane of the virtual resource provider and based at least in part on a resource allocation policy, the shareable hardware resource to virtual resources of a subset of customers of the plurality of customers at least in part by transitioning the shareable hardware resource from a general implementation resource pool available to the plurality of customers to a dedicated implementation resource pool available to the subset of customers, the control plane comprising one or more hardware servers with control access of the shareable hardware resource;

determining, by the control plane, an active resource utilization amount corresponding to at least an allocated first hardware resource allocation unit of the shareable hardware resource that is allocated to implementing the virtual resource and dedicated to the virtual resources of the subset of customers, the active resource utilization amount expressed in terms of first hardware resource allocation units and time units;

determining, by the control plane, an inactive resource utilization amount corresponding to at least an unallocated second hardware resource allocation unit of the shareable hardware resource that is unallocated to implementing the virtual resource and dedicated to the virtual resources of the subset of customers, the inactive resource utilization amount expressed in terms of second hardware resource allocation units and the time units;

determining, by the control plane, at least one resource cost of the virtual resource based at least in part on the active resource utilization amount and the inactive resource utilization amount;

providing a presentation of cost information associated with said at least one resource cost of the virtual resource to at least one of the subset of customers;

determining, by the control plane, a resource utilization efficiency of the shareable hardware resource based at least in part on a comparison of the active resource utilization amount with the inactive resource utilization amount; and

allocating, by the control plane accessing the shareable hardware resource and based on the resource utilization efficiency, the unallocated second hardware resource allocation unit to implement other virtual resources of other customers of the plurality of customers, wherein allocating the unallocated second hardware resource allocation unit adjusts a virtual resource density of the dedicated implementation resource pool.

2. A computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein hardware resources in the general implementation resource pool at least partially implement a plurality of virtual resources of the plurality of customers of the virtual resource provider.

3. A computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual resource comprises at least one of:

a virtual computer system, a virtual data store, and a virtual private network.

4. A computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the shareable hardware resource corresponds to one of:

a storage device, a physical server, a server rack, a data center, a physically secured portion of the data center, a portion of the data center monitored with respect to physical access, a mobile data center, a network switch, a network connection, a wireless network transmitter, or a wireless network receiver.

5. A computer-implemented method according to claim 4, wherein each hardware resource allocation unit corresponds to a unit of capacity of at least one of:

the storage device, the physical server, the server rack, the data center, the physically secured portion of the data center, the portion of the data center monitored with respect to physical access, the mobile data center, the network switch, the network connection, the wireless network transmitter, and the wireless network receiver.

6. A computer-implemented method according to claim 5, wherein the unit of capacity of the physical server corresponds to a standardized virtual computer system unit, and the physical server has a capacity of greater than one standardized virtual computer system unit.

7. A computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein resource utilization amounts correspond to a multiplicative product of hardware resource allocation units and time units.

8. A computer-implemented method for virtual resource cost tracking, comprising:

maintaining a virtual resource implemented at least in part by a shareable hardware resource that is capable of simultaneously implementing a plurality of virtual resources associated with one or more customers of a virtual resource provider;

dedicating, by a control plane of the virtual resource provider, the shareable hardware resource to virtual resources of a distinct subset of customers of the one or more customers at least in part by transitioning the shareable hardware resource from a general implementation resource pool available to the one or more customers to a dedicated implementation resource pool available to the distinct subset of customers, the control plane comprising one or more hardware servers with control access of the shareable hardware resource;

determining, by the control plane, an inactive resource utilization amount corresponding to at least one unallocated portion of the shareable hardware resource that is unallocated to implementing the virtual resource and dedicated to the virtual resources of the distinct subset of the one or more customers, the inactive resource utilization amount expressed in terms of hardware resource allocation units and time units;

determining, by the control plane, at least one resource cost of the virtual resource based at least in part on the inactive resource utilization amount;

providing a presentation of cost information said at least one resource cost of the virtual resource to the subset of customers;

determining, by the control plane, a resource utilization efficiency of the shareable hardware resource based at least in part on a comparison of an active resource utilization amount with the inactive resource utilization amount; and

allocating, by the control plane accessing the shareable hardware resource and based on the resource utilization efficiency, a part of the unallocated portion of the shareable hardware resource to implement other virtual resources of other customers of the one or more customers, wherein allocating the part of the unallocated portion adjusts a virtual resource density of the dedicated implementation resource pool.

9. A computer-implemented method according to claim 8, wherein determining said at least one resource cost of the virtual resource comprises determining a first resource cost based at least in part on an active resource utilization amount distinct from the inactive resource utilization amount that corresponds to at least one allocated portion of the shareable hardware resource that is allocated to implementing the virtual resource and dedicated to the virtual resources of the distinct subset of the one or more customers, and determining a second resource cost based at least in part on the inactive resource utilization amount.

10. A computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein the first resource cost is a multiplicative product of an active implementation resource cost rate and the active resource utilization amount, and the second resource cost is a multiplicative product of an inactive implementation resource cost rate and the inactive resource utilization amount.

11. A computer-implemented method according to claim 8, wherein determining said at least one resource cost of the virtual resource of the subset of customers comprises determining a resource cost based at least in part on the inactive resource utilization amount and an active resource utilization amount distinct from the inactive resource utilization amount that corresponds to at least one allocated portion of the shareable hardware resource.

12. A computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein determining said at least one resource cost of the virtual resource comprises determining an adjusted active implementation resource cost rate with respect to a corresponding time period.

13. A computer-implemented method according to claim 8, wherein determining said at least one resource cost of the virtual resource comprises determining an adjusted active implementation resource cost rate based at least in part on active and inactive resource utilization amounts corresponding to a plurality of hardware resources of the virtual resource provider.

14. A computer-implemented method according to claim 13, wherein the adjusted active implementation resource cost rate is based at least in part on a ratio of an average inactive resource utilization amount to an average active resource utilization amount with respect to the plurality of hardware resources.

15. A computer-implemented method for virtual resource cost tracking, comprising:

receiving, at a control plane of a virtual resource provider, a request to provision a virtual resource indicating that the virtual resource is to be implemented with a shareable hardware resource that is dedicated to a subset of customers of the virtual resource provider, the request associated with at least one cost plan, said at least one cost plan associated with a set of resource allocation business policies including at least one resource allocation business policy inhibiting a ratio of an inactive implementation resource utilization amount to an active implementation resource utilization amount greater than a threshold ratio in the shareable hardware resource, the inactive resource utilization amount and the active resource utilization amount expressed in terms of hardware resource units and time units, the control plane comprising one or more hardware servers with control access of the shareable hardware resource;

checking, by the control plane, that the virtual resource, when implemented by a set of hardware resources including the shareable hardware resource, will satisfy the set of resource allocation business policies;

provisioning, by the control plane, the virtual resource with the set of hardware resources at least in part by allocating the set of hardware resources to the virtual resource;

determining, by the control plane, at least one resource cost of the virtual resource in accordance with said at least one cost plan;

presenting cost information associated with said at least one resource cost of the virtual resource to at least one of the subset of customers;

determining, by the control plane, the ratio of the inactive implementation resource utilization amount to the active implementation resource utilization amount; and

allocating, by the control plane accessing the shareable hardware resource and based on the ratio, an unallocated portion of shareable hardware resource to implement other virtual resources of other customers of the subset of customers, wherein allocating the unallocated portion of the shareable hardware resource adjusts a virtual resource density of a dedicated implementation resource pool.

16. A computer-implemented method according to claim 15, wherein:

the request specifies a target implementation spread of a plurality of virtual resources over a plurality of hardware resources that are dedicated to the subset of customers, the plurality of virtual resources including the virtual resource; and

said at least one resource allocation business policy specifies at least one spread limit to which the target implementation spread is subject.

17. A computer-implemented method according to claim 15, wherein said at least one cost plan specifies that said at least one resource cost of the virtual resource is based at least in part on a number of provisioned virtual resources of a same type that are implemented at least in part with one or more hardware resources dedicated to the subset of customers.

18. A computerized system for virtual resource cost tracking, comprising:

a plurality of shareable hardware resources collectively capable of implementing a plurality of virtual resources associated with a plurality of customers of a virtual resource provider;

a provisioning interface provided by a control plane of the virtual resource provider, the provisioning interface being configured at least to enable the plurality of customers to make requests to provision virtual resources including requests that indicate that the virtual resources are to be implemented with hardware resources that are dedicated to a subset of customers of the plurality of customers, the control plane comprising one or more hardware servers with control access of the plurality of shareable hardware resources;

an implementation resource allocation component provided by the control plane and configured to, at least;

maintain at least one dedicated implementation resource pool containing at least one of the plurality of shareable hardware resources that are dedicated to at least the subset of customers of the plurality of customers; and

allocate at least portions of hardware resources of the plurality of shareable hardware resources to implement requested virtual resources including selecting hardware resources from said at least one dedicated implementation resource pool as indicated by the requests;

determining a resource utilization efficiency of at least one shareable hardware resource;

allocating, by accessing the at least one shareable hardware resource and based on the resource utilization efficiency, an unallocated portion of the at least one shareable hardware resource to implement other virtual resources of other customers of the subset of customers, wherein allocating the unallocated portion of the at least one shareable hardware resource adjusts a virtual resource density of the at least dedicated implementation resource pool;

a cost tracking component provided by the control plane and configured to, at least;

determine an active resource utilization amount corresponding to at least one allocated portion of a shareable hardware resource selected from said at least one dedicated implementation resource pool, the at least one allocated portion allocated to implementing at least one virtual resource of the subset of customers and dedicated to the virtual resources of the subset of customers, the active resource utilization amount expressed in terms of first hardware resource allocation units and time units;

determine an inactive resource utilization amount corresponding to an unallocated portion of the shareable hardware resource, wherein the unallocated portion of the shareable hardware resource is unallocated to implementing the at least one virtual resource of the subset of customers and dedicated to the virtual resources of the subset of customers, the inactive resource utilization amount expressed in terms of second hardware resource allocation units and the time units; and

determine at least one resource cost of at least one virtual resource implemented at least in part with the shareable hardware resource selected from said at least one dedicated implementation resource pool, said at least one resource cost based at least in part on the active resource utilization amount and the inactive resource utilization amount; and

a user interface component configured at least to present cost information associated with said at least one resource cost of said at least one virtual resource to at least one of the subset of customers.

19. A computerized system according to claim 18, wherein:

the implementation resource allocation component is further configured at least to maintain at least one reserved implementation resource pool containing at least one of the plurality of hardware resources that is available for allocation to virtual resources of the plurality of customers with the subset of customers having priority;

the cost tracking component is further configured at least to determine, for the subset of customers, a reserved resource utilization amount corresponding to said at least one of the plurality of hardware resources in said at least one reserved implementation resource pool; and

said at least one resource cost is further based at least in part on the reserved resource utilization amount.

20. A computerized system according to claim 19, wherein determine said at least one resource cost of said at least one virtual resource comprises:

determining a first resource cost based at least in part on the reserved resource utilization amount;

modifying the active and inactive resource utilization amounts based at least in part on the reserved resource utilization amount; and

determining at least a second resource cost based at least in part on the modified active and inactive resource utilization amounts.

21. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having collectively thereon computer-executable instructions that configure one or more computers to collectively, at least:

receive, by a control plane of a virtual resource provider, requests to provision virtual resources to be implemented by a set of hardware resources including a shareable hardware resource capable of at least partially implementing each of a plurality of virtual resources associated with a plurality of customers of the virtual resource provider, the requests capable of indicating that one or more of the virtual resources are to be implemented at least in part with at least one dedicated hardware resource that is dedicated to a subset of customers of the plurality of customers, the virtual resources provisioned with respect to at least one cost plan associated with a set of resource allocation business policies including at least one resource allocation business policy configured to inhibit a ratio of an inactive implementation resource utilization amount to an active implementation resource utilization amount greater than a threshold ratio in the shareable hardware resource, the active implementation resource utilization corresponding to the at least one dedicated hardware resource that is dedicated to the one or more virtual resources and allocated to implementing the one or more virtual resources, the inactive resource utilization amount and the active resource utilization amount expressed in terms of hardware resource units and time units;

provision, by the control plane, requested virtual resources when the set of resource allocation business policies are satisfied;

determine, by the control plane, resource costs of provisioned virtual resources in accordance with said at least one cost plan;

provide a presentation of cost information associated with the resource costs of the provisioned virtual resources;

determining, by the control plane, the ratio of the inactive implementation resource utilization amount to the active implementation resource utilization amount; and

allocating, by the control plane accessing the shareable hardware resource and based on the ratio, an unallocated portion of shareable hardware resource to implement other virtual resources of other customers of the subset of customers, wherein allocating the unallocated portion of the shareable hardware resource adjusts a virtual resource density of a dedicated implementation resource pool.

22. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 21, wherein said at least one resource allocation business policy specifies that a number of requested virtual resources is not to be less than a minimum number of requested virtual resources when the requested virtual resources are to be implemented at least in part with said at least one dedicated hardware resource.

23. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 21, wherein said at least one cost plan specifies at least one cost corresponding to dedicating said at least one dedicated hardware resource.

24. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 21, wherein said at least one cost plan specifies at least one cost corresponding to returning said at least one dedicated hardware resource to a general implementation resource pool.