Generating multi-cloud incremental billing capture and administration

• US 10,192,246 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2010
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Morgan, Christopher Edwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Chein, Allen C
• Application Number:
  US12/954,323
• Publication Number:
  US 20120130873A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,988 Days
• Field of Search: 705 30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for generating multi-cloud incremental billing capture and administration. A set of aggregate usage history data can store patterns for a user in a set of host clouds recording consumption of processor, memory, storage, operating system, or other resources subscribed to by the across the host clouds. The user can be a corporation or other collective user. An entitlement engine can access a set of subscription parameters and analyze the set of aggregate usage history data based on deviation from consumption limits or other subscription parameters. When resource limits (e.g. operating system instances) are exceeded in a host cloud, the entitlement engine can determine which resource was exceeded, and in which host cloud it was exceeded. Incremental billing for those events can be generated by the entitlement engine, and transmitted to the user via the host cloud and/or resource provider for presentation, collection, and reconciliation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, by a processor, usage history data for a user operating a first machine in a host cloud among a plurality of host clouds;

monitoring, by the processor, the usage history data for the user operating the first machine in the host cloud when each host cloud among the plurality of clouds is not aware of a subscription limit in a subscription parameter for the user operating the first machine in the host cloud among the plurality of clouds;

comparing, by the processor, the usage history data for the user operating the first machine to a consumption limit for consumption of resources hosted in the plurality of host clouds;

identifying a first billing event associated with the first machine in the plurality of host clouds when the usage history data for the user operating the first machine exceeds the consumption limit;

instantiating, by the processor, a second machine in the plurality of host clouds in view of the identified first billing event, wherein the second machine to host a portion of consumed resources in excess of the consumption limit, wherein the instantiating of the second machine comprises;

responsive to detecting that a threshold associated with the consumption limit is met, identifying, in the host cloud, a virtual resource for the second machine to handle the portion of consumed resources in excess of the consumption limit,

updating, by the processor, resource configurations of the second machine in view of a set of specifications associated with the identified virtual resource, and

causing, by the processor, the virtual resource to be installed for execution on the second machine to provide the resources in excess of the consumption limit;

transmitting, by the processor, entitlements associated with the user on the first machine to the second machine to enable the virtual resource to execute an application on the second machine; and

providing, by the processor, a notification to the host cloud reflecting that the user is no longer in excess of the consumption limit with respect to the consumption of resources of the host cloud.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage history data comprises at least one of processor usage data, memory usage data, storage usage data, communications bandwidth usage data, operating system usage data, application usage data, service usage data, virtual machine instance data, or appliance usage data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least two of the plurality of host clouds are provided by a separate cloud provider operating in a different geographic location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumption limit comprises at least one of an instance limit for a plurality of virtual machines, an instance limit for a plurality of appliances, an instance limit for an operating system, an instance limit for at least one application, a communications bandwidth throughput limit, or a storage amount limit.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking at least one of a duration or amount by which the consumption limit is exceeded.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising generating a subscription billing record in view of the at least one of the duration or amount by which the consumption limit is exceeded.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the billing subscription record is provided to a resource provider of the resource for which the consumption limit is exceeded for billing to the user.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the billing subscription record is provided to a provider of the at least one of the plurality of clouds which hosts the resource for which the consumption limit is exceeded for billing to the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage history data comprises usage history captured from a user premise installation independent of the plurality of host clouds.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the usage history data in view of the identified first billing event.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the resource hosted in the plurality of host clouds.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the subscription parameter for the user operating the first machine in the plurality of clouds;

comparing the updated subscription parameter to the consumption limit for consumption of resources hosted in the plurality of host clouds; and

identifying a second billing event associated with the first machine in the plurality of host clouds when the updated subscription parameter for the user operating the first machine exceeds the consumption limit, wherein the second billing event is different from the first billing event.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the second machine is to host the portion of the consumed resources for a determined time period in view of the usage history data associated with the first machine.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the instantiating the second machine further comprises resetting the consumption limit associated with the first machine to a higher consumption limit.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the instantiating the second machine further comprises generating a notification for presentation to a user of an amount of usage of the virtual resource for handling the excess of the consumption limit during the limited time period.

16. A system, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor to;

access a usage history data for a user operating a first machine in a host cloud among a plurality of host clouds,

monitor the usage history data for the user operating the first machine in the host cloud when each host cloud among the plurality of clouds is not aware of a subscription limit in a subscription parameter for the user operating the first machine in the host cloud among the plurality of clouds,

compare the usage history data for the user operating the first machine to a consumption limit for consumption of resources hosted in the plurality of host clouds,

identify a first billing event associated with the first machine in the plurality of host clouds when the usage history data for the user operating the first machine exceeds the consumption limit,

instantiate a second machine in the plurality of host clouds in view of the identified first billing event, wherein the second machine to host a portion of consumed resources in excess of the consumption limit, wherein to instantiate the second machine, the processor to;

responsive to detecting that a threshold associated with the consumption limit is met, identify, in the host cloud, a virtual resource for the second machine to handle the portion of consumed resources in excess of the consumption limit,

update resource configurations of the second machine in view of a set of specifications associated with the identified virtual resource, and

cause the virtual resource to be installed for execution on the second machine to provide the resources in excess of the consumption limit;

transmit entitlements associated with the user on the first machine to the second machine to enable the virtual resource to execute an application on the second machine; and

provide a notification to the host cloud reflecting that the user is no longer in excess of the consumption limit with respect to the consumption of resources of the host cloud.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the consumption limit comprises at least one of an instance limit for a plurality of virtual machines, an instance limit for a plurality of appliances, an instance limit for an operating system, an instance limit for at least one application, a communications bandwidth throughput limit, or a storage amount limit.

18. The system of claim 16, the processor to track at least one of a duration or amount by which the consumption limit is exceeded.

19. The system of claim 18, the processor to generate a subscription billing record in view of the at least one of the duration or amount by which the consumption limit is exceeded.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the billing subscription record is provided to a resource provider of the resource for which the consumption limit is exceeded for billing to the user.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the billing subscription record is provided to a provider of the at least one of the plurality of clouds which hosts the resource for which the consumption limit is exceeded for billing to the user.

22. The system of claim 16, the processor to adjust the usage history data in view of the identified first billing event.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor to update the resource hosted in the plurality of host clouds.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein the usage history data comprises at least one of processor usage data, memory usage data, storage usage data, communications bandwidth usage data, operating system usage data, application usage data, service usage data, virtual machine instance data, or appliance usage data.

25. The system of claim 16, the processor to:

update the subscription parameter for the user operating the first machine in the plurality of clouds;

compare the updated subscription parameter to the consumption limit for consumption of resources hosted in the plurality of host clouds; and

identify a second billing event associated with the first machine in the plurality of host clouds when the updated subscription parameter for the user operating the first machine exceeds the consumption limit, wherein the second billing event is different from the first billing event.

26. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising executable instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

access, by the processor, a usage history data for a user operating a first machine in a host cloud among a plurality of host clouds,

monitor the usage history data for the user operating the first machine in the host cloud when each host cloud among the plurality of clouds is not aware of a subscription limit in a subscription parameter for the user operating the first machine in the host cloud among the plurality of clouds,

compare the usage history data for the user operating the first machine to a consumption limit for consumption of resources hosted in the plurality of host clouds,

identify a first billing event associated with the first machine in the plurality of host clouds when the usage history data for the user operating the first machine exceeds the consumption limit, and

instantiate a second machine in the plurality of host clouds in view of the identified first billing event, wherein the second machine to host a portion of consumed resources in excess of the consumption limit, wherein to instantiate the second machine, the processor to;

responsive to detecting that a threshold associated with the consumption limit is met, identify, in the host cloud, a virtual resource for the second machine to handle the portion of consumed resources in excess of the consumption limit,

update resource configurations of the second machine in view of a set of specifications associated with the identified virtual resource, and

cause the virtual resource to be installed for execution on the second machine to provide the resources in excess of the consumption limit;

transmit entitlements associated with the user on the first machine to the second machine to enable the virtual resource to execute an application on the second machine; and

provide a notification to the host cloud reflecting that the user is no longer in excess of the consumption limit with respect to the consumption of resources of the host cloud.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the consumption limit comprises at least one of an instance limit for a plurality of virtual machines, an instance limit for a plurality of appliances, an instance limit for an operating system, an instance limit for at least one application, a communications bandwidth throughput limit, or a storage amount limit.