Metering software infrastructure in a cloud computing environment

• US 10,181,990 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2015
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferris, James Michael, Riveros, Gerry Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Shin, Kyung H
• Application Number:
  US14/799,661
• Publication Number:
  US 20150319068A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• Field of Search: 709224, 717127, 702186, 702188, 702177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1432 Metric aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1485 Tariff-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 : Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 : specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 : for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 : Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 : Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 : Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information

Abstract

A system and method include determining, by a processing device, a first quantity associated with usage of a hardware resource on which a virtual machine is instantiated in a cloud, determining, by the processing device from the virtual machine, a second quantity associated with usage of a software resource utilized on the virtual machine, and determining usage of the cloud in view of the first quantity and the second quantity.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processing device in a cloud management system, a first quantity associated with a time duration of utilization of a hardware resource by a virtual machine instantiated in a cloud computing system managed by the cloud management system, wherein the virtual machine is instantiated in the cloud computing system in response to a user'"'"'s instantiation request sent to the cloud management system, the instantiation request indicating a particular type of the virtual machine to invoke for an intended application;

determining, from the virtual machine by the processing device, a second quantity associated with a time duration of utilization of a software resource by the virtual machine;

determining usage of the cloud computing system in view of the first quantity and the second quantity associated with the virtual machine, wherein the usage of the cloud computing system comprises both utilization of the hardware resource and utilization of the software resource for the intended application; and

configuring a metering tool in the cloud management system to store the determined usage of the cloud computing system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardware resource comprises at least one of a processor, a memory, a network hardware, or a bandwidth.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first quantity is further associated with at least one of a type of the hardware resource or an amount of the hardware resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the software resource comprises at least one of a software application or an operating system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second quantity is further associated with a number of instances of the software resource.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first quantity comprises:

receiving a start time and a termination time of the virtual machine instantiated on the hardware resource; and

determining the first quantity from the start time and the termination time of the virtual machine instantiated on the hardware resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second quantity comprises:

receiving a start time and a termination time of the software resource; and

determining the second quantity from the start time and the termination time of the software resource.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second quantity comprises:

monitoring at least one computing system supporting the virtual machine for a start time and a termination time of the software resource; and

determining the second quantity from the start time and the termination time of the software resource.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the usage of the cloud computing system further comprises:

recording the first quantity in a first record of the usage of the hardware resource;

receiving an identifier of the software resource from the cloud management system;

recording the second quantity in a second record of the usage of the software resource in view of the identifier of the software resource; and

generating a billing record in view of the first record and the second record.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device in a cloud management system, cause the processing device to:

determine, by the processing device, a first quantity associated with a time duration of utilization of a hardware resource by a virtual machine instantiated in a cloud computing system managed by the cloud management system, wherein the virtual machine is instantiated in the cloud computing system in response to a user'"'"'s instantiation request sent to the cloud management system, the instantiation request indicating a particular type of the virtual machine to invoke for an intended application;

determine, from the virtual machine in the cloud computing system, a second quantity associated with a time duration of utilization of a software resource on the virtual machine; and

determine usage of the cloud computing system in view of the first quantity and the second quantity associated with the virtual machine, wherein the usage of the cloud computing system comprises both utilization of the hardware resource and utilization of the software resource for the intended application; and

configure a metering tool in the cloud management system to store the determined usage of the cloud computing system.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the hardware resource comprises at least one of a processor, a memory, a network hardware, or a bandwidth.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the first quantity is further associated with at least one of a type of the hardware resource or an amount of the hardware resource.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the software resource comprises at least one of a software application or an operating system.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the second quantity is further associated with a number of instances of the software resource.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10,

wherein to determine the first quantity, the processing device is further to:

receive a start time and a termination time of the virtual machine instantiated on the hardware resource; and

determine the first quantity from the start time and the termination time of the virtual machine instantiated on the hardware resource, and

wherein to determine the second quantity, the processing device is further to;

receive a start time and a termination time of the software resource; and

determine the second quantity from the start time and the termination time of the software resource.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein to determine the usage of the cloud computing system, the processing device is further to:

record the first quantity in a first record of the usage of the hardware resource;

receive an identifier of the software resource from the cloud management system;

record the second quantity in a second record of the usage of the software resource in view of the identifier of the software resource; and

generate a billing record in view of the first record and the second record.

17. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions;

a processing device in a cloud management system, operatively coupled to the memory to execute the instructions stored in the memory, the processing device to;

determine a first quantity associated with a time duration of utilization of a hardware resource utilized by a virtual machine instantiated in a cloud computing system managed by the cloud management system, wherein the virtual machine is instantiated in the cloud computing system in response to a user'"'"'s instantiation request sent to the cloud management system, the instantiation request indicating a particular type of the virtual machine to invoke for an intended application;

determine, from the virtual machine in the cloud computing system, a second quantity associated with a time duration of utilization of a software resource utilized by the virtual machine;

determine usage of the cloud computing system in view of the first quantity and the second quantity associated with the virtual machine, wherein the usage of the cloud computing system comprises both utilization of the hardware resource and utilization of the software resource for the intended application; and

configure a metering tool in the cloud management system to store the determined usage of the cloud computing system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the hardware resource comprises at least one of a processor, a memory, a network hardware, or a bandwidth, and wherein the first quantity is further associated with at least one of a type of the hardware resource or an amount of the hardware resource.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the software resource comprises at least one of a software application or an operating system, and wherein the second quantity is further associated with a number of instances of the software resource.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein to determine the usage of the cloud computing system, the processing device is further to:

record the first quantity in a first record of the usage of the hardware resource;

receive an identifier of the software resource from the cloud management system;

record the second quantity in a second record of the usage of the software resource in view of the identifier of the software resource; and

generate a billing record in view of the first record and the second record.