Facilitating management of resources

• US 10,587,533 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2015
• Issued: 03/10/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhao, Tom Xiaodong
• Primary Examiner(s): Won, Michael
• Application Number:
  US14/669,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20150281124A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,811 Days
• Field of Search: 709226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/16 using machine learning or artificial intelligence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/746 Reaction triggered by a failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus and method for facilitating management of resources. The apparatus configured to collect all software and hardware resources available to a user; store information associated with the collected resources; present the information associated with the collected resources to the user and receive a resource allocation request from the user; and configure resources based on the resource allocation request; allocate the configured resources to the user. By means of the present disclosure, it is possible to achieve one-stop-shop resource query, fully automated resource configuration, reduced costs for maintenance and/or precise instructions for resource expansion.

Claims

1. An apparatus for facilitating management of resources, comprising:

a facilitating unit configured to

collect software and hardware resources at least in part by running a set of automation scripts that inventory the software and hardware resources, wherein a portion of the software and hardware resources are available to a user, wherein, while collecting the available portion of software and hardware resources, the facilitating unit is further configured to perform resource maintenance operations to check hardware health and to identify bad components;

store information associated with the collected resources;

present the information associated with the collected resources to the user, wherein the information is enabled to include vacancy windows of the collected resources;

receive a resource allocation request from the user;

configure the requested resources based on the resource allocation request;

transmit access information to the user to allow the user to access the configured resources;

allocate the configured resources to the user;

in response to receiving from a notification about expiration of a time period of the allocated resources being used by the user, reclaim the allocated resources from the user;

record information associated with allocation of the requested resources, the information including (i) models of host bus adapters (HBAs), (ii) array front-end ports, and (iii) logical unit number (LUN) information; and

analyze the recorded information to optimize expansion of the collected resources.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further configured to determine the resources requested by the user in response to receiving the resource allocation request from the user.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further configured to analyze the information recorded in a predetermined time period so as to determine at least one of:

a usage rate of the resources;

vacancy windows of the resources; and

a shortage rate of the resources.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the resource allocation request comprises at least one of:

types of the requested resources;

a number of each type of the requested resources; and

configuration requirements on each of the requested resources.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the resource allocation request further comprises at least one of:

an identifier of the user;

usage of the requested resources; and

a time period in which the requested resources will be used.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, further configured to:

track states of the requested resources; and

present the states of the requested resources to the user.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the states of the requested resources comprises one of:

configuring;

ready for use;

in use; and

ready for reclaim.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the facilitating unit, configured to reclaim the allocated resources, is further configured to mark the allocated resources that have been reclaimed as allocatable.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein performing the resource maintenance operations while collecting the available portion of software and hardware resources includes:

generating a maintenance log to record maintenance results, and

reporting the maintenance results to one or more resource administrators.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein, while collecting the available portion of software and hardware resources, running the set of automation scripts includes running a script to retrieve a software installation image from a specified location.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein, while collecting the available portion of software and hardware resources, performing the resource maintenance operations further includes performing at least one of (i) a service pack installation, (ii) a driver update, and (iii) a firmware update.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the facilitating unit is further configured to configure the requested resources based on the resource allocation request, including running scripts to create requested LUNs on a storage array, to create zones, and to map LUNs for establishing the resources of a research and development lab.

13. A method for facilitating management of resources, comprising:

collecting software resources and hardware resources at least in part by running a set of automation scripts that inventory the software and hardware resources, wherein a portion of the software resources and the hardware resources are available to a user, wherein, while collecting the available portion of software and hardware resources, the method further includes performing resource maintenance operations to check hardware health and to identify bad components;

storing information associated with the collected resources;

presenting the information associated with the collected resources to the user, wherein the information is enabled to include vacancy windows of the collected resources;

receiving a resource allocation request from the user;

configuring requested resources based on the resource allocation request;

transmitting access information to the user to allow the user to access the configured resources;

allocating the configured resources to the user;

in response to receiving from a notification about expiration of a time period of the allocated resources being used by the user, reclaiming the allocated resources from the user;

recording information associated with allocation of the requested resources, the information including (i) models of host bus adapters (HBAs), (ii) array front-end ports, and (iii) logical unit number (LUN) information; and

analyzing the recorded information to optimize expansion of the collected resources.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

in response to receiving the resource allocation request from the user, accessing the information associated with the collected resources so as to determine the resources requested by the user.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein analyzing the recorded information comprises analyzing the information recorded in a predetermined time period to determine at least one of:

a usage rate of the resources;

vacancy windows of the resources; and

a shortage rate of the resources.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the resource allocation request comprises at least one of:

types of the requested resources;

a number of each type of the requested resources; and

configuration requirements on each of the requested resources.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the resource allocation request further comprises at least one of:

an identifier of the user;

usage of the requested resources; and

a time period in which the requested resources will be used.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising:

tracking states of the requested resources; and

presenting the states of the requested resources to the user.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the states of the requested resources comprises at least one of:

configuring;

ready for use;

in use; and

ready for reclaim.

20. A computer program product for facilitating management of resources, the computer program product being tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising machine executable instructions which, when executed, cause the machine to:

collect software resources and hardware resources at least in part by running a set of automation scripts that inventory the software and hardware resources, wherein a portion of the software resources and hardware resources are available to a user, wherein collecting the available portion of software and hardware resources includes performing resource maintenance operations to check hardware health and to identify bad components;

store information associated with the collected resources;

present the information associated with the collected resources to the user, wherein the information is enabled to include vacancy windows of the collected resources;

receive a resource allocation request from the user;

configure requested resources based on the resource allocation request;

transmit access information to the user to allow the user to access the configured resources;

allocate the configured resources to the user;

in response to receiving from a notification about expiration of a time period of the allocated resources being used by the user, reclaim the allocated resources from the user;

record information associated with allocation of the requested resources, the information including (i) models of host bus adapters (HBAs), (ii) array front-end ports, and (iii) logical unit number (LUN) information; and

analyze the recorded information to optimize expansion of the collected resources.