Method and system for autonomic self-learning in selecting resources for dynamic provisioning

• US 20050071107A1
• Filed: 09/28/2004
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Mark, Betzler, Boas, Ederer, Werner
• Granted Patent: US 7,788,639 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5011 Pool
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of provisioning of electronic computing resources via a network to a client, and in particular to a method for automatically selecting resources in for application environments consisting of a multitude of resources, wherein a resource managing component is provided for associating specific, selected resource combinations to the application environment, wherein a list of qualifying working combinations of the resource combinations is maintained. In order to improve provisioning, it is proposed to automatically generate combinations of resources, wherein respective search algorithms look for new resources within a pool of free resources, assemble a combination of resources which fulfil a set of predetermined rules, test such given new combination in multiple level preciseness, and define a fail over situation differently to prior art, namely by providing a new resource combination which was already tested for the exact business application and the exact business process for which it was designed.

Claims

1. A method for automatically selecting resource combinations in an infrastructure comprising an application environment consisting of a given resource combination and a resource managing component having access to a list of working resource combinations, comprising the steps of:

a) automatically generating new resource combinations from a pool of available resources;

b) automatically testing said new resource combinations to determine whether they work; and

c) automatically adding said new resource combinations to said list if they work.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

automatically preselecting an admissible subset of resources adapted to build up a working application environment.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein an entry in said list contains a time stamp for a last proven working run of a resource combination.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a list of failed resource combinations is maintained.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein a resource combination specifies a hardware type and a software type in use for a specific resource.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein different version numbers of a software or hardware component of a resource in use are maintained.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a score is assigned to a given tested resource combination for each tuple of resources contained in the combination.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein different scores are generated for differently complex tests for a given resource combination.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein an entry in said list contains time or date information for a last test with a given result.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein an entry in said list contains time or date information for a last successful test.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein an entry in said list contains time or date information for a last failed test.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein said time or date information comprises time-of-day information.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein said time or date information comprises day-of-week information.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein said time or date information comprises month-of-year information.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein an entry in said list contains an expiration date.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

searching idle resources for their ability to work independently of an incoming request for provisioning from the pool of available resources.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing an interface to human intervention to edit said list.

18. A computer program product stored on a computer usable medium comprising computer readable program means for causing a computer to perform the method of claim 1 when said computer program product is executed on a computer.

19. A system for automatically selecting resource combinations in an infrastructure comprising an application environment consisting of a given resource combination and a resource managing component having access to a list of working resource combinations, comprising:

a) means for automatically generating new resource combinations from a pool of available resources;

b) means for automatically testing said new resource combinations to determine whether they work; and

c) means for automatically adding said new resource combinations to said list if they work.

19-1. A computer server system operated in an application environment consisting of a given resource combination and a resource managing component having access to a list of working resource combinations, comprising a self-learning resource selection component for performing the steps of:

a) automatically generating new resource combinations from a pool of available resources,

b) automatically testing said new resource combinations to determine whether they work, and

c) automatically adding said new resource combinations to said list if they work.

20. A client system cooperating with a server system in an application environment consisting of a given resource combination and a resource managing component having access to a list of working resource combinations, comprising an application test program for performing the steps of:

a) receiving from said server system new resource combinations from a pool of available resources,

b) testing said new resource combinations to generate test results indicating whether they work, and

c) sending said test results to said server system.