Managing escalating resource needs within a grid environment

• US 20050188088A1
• Filed: 01/13/2004
• Published: 08/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick Allen II, Joseph, Joshy, Fellenstein, Craig, Seaman, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,562,143 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/501 Performance criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A method, system, and program for managing escalating resource needs within a grid environment are provided. A job is submitted into a first selection of resources in a grid environment from among a hierarchy of discrete sets of resources accessible in the grid environment. Discrete sets of resources may include locally accessible resources, enterprise accessible resources, capacity on demand resources, and grid resources. The performance of the first selection of resources is monitored and compared with a required performance level for the job. If the required performance level is not met, then the discrete sets of resources are queried for available resources to meet the required performance level in an order designated by said hierarchy. Available resources in a next discrete set of resource from the hierarchy of discrete sets of resources are added to a virtual organization of resources handling the job within the grid environment. In particular, the virtual organization of resources may include the first selection of resources and the added resources which are distributed across heterogeneous systems. If capacity on demand resources are allocated and added to the virtual organization, then the capacity on demand resources are deallocated when no longer needed.

Claims

1. A method for managing escalating resources needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, comprising:

submitting a job to a first selection of resources in a grid environment from among a hierarchy of discrete sets of resources;

responsive to a performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting a required performance level for said job, querying said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources in an order designated by said hierarchy for available resources to meet said required performance level for said job; and

responsive to identifying at least one available additional resource from said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources, adding said at least one available additional resource to a virtual organization of resources handling said job within said grid environment, such that escalating resource needs of said job in said grid environment are managed by hierarchically adding resources from discrete sets of resources within said grid environment.

2. The method according to claim 1 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment wherein submitting a job to a first selection of resources in a grid environment from among a hierarchy of discrete sets of resources further comprises:

submitting said job to said first selection of resources comprising at least one from among resources locally accessible to a client system initiating said job and resources accessible within an enterprise within which said client system operates.

3. The method according to claim 1 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, wherein said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources comprises a plurality of heterogeneous systems distributed across a plurality of diverse network platforms communicatively enabled by a grid manager implementing a grid architecture.

4. The method according to claim 1 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, wherein said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources is particularly specified for said job.

5. The method according to claim 1 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, wherein said discrete sets of resources comprise at least one from among a locally accessible resource, an enterprise accessible resource, a capacity on demand resource, and a grid resource.

6. The method according to claim 1 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

monitoring said first selection of resources to determine a performance level of said first selection of resources from a monitoring controller enabled to monitor performance within said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources; and

comparing said performance level of said first selection of resources with said required performance level for said job.

7. The method according to claim 1 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said required performance level for said job, determining whether said job qualifies for additional resources; and

only querying said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources for available resources if said job qualifies for additional resources.

8. The method according to claim 1 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said required performance level for said job, determining whether said job qualifies for at least one capacity on demand resource; and

responsive to said capacity on demand resource being identified as said at least one available additional resource from said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources, activating said capacity on demand resource.

9. The method according to claim 8 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

deallocating said capacity on demand resource when not need for said job.

10. A system for managing escalating resources needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, comprising:

a first selection of resources in a grid environment from among a hierarchy of discrete sets of resources viewed as a virtual resource within a grid environment, wherein a job is submitted to said first selection of resources;

a decision controller operable for controlling a flow of said job among said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources;

said decision controller further comprising;

means, responsive to a performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting a required performance level for said job, for querying said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources for available resources to meet said required performance level for said job in an order designated by said hierarchy; and

means, responsive to identifying at least one available additional resource from said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources, for adding said at least one available additional resource to a virtual organization of resources within said grid environment handling said job.

11. The system according to claim 10 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment wherein said means for submitting a job to a first selection of resources in a grid environment from among a hierarchy of discrete sets of resources further comprises:

means for submitting said job to said first selection of resources comprising at least one from among resources locally accessible to a client system initiating said job and resources accessible within an enterprise within which said client system operates.

12. The system according to claim 10 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, wherein said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources comprises a plurality of heterogeneous systems distributed across a plurality of diverse network platforms communicatively enabled by a grid manager implementing a grid architecture.

13. The system according to claim 10 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, wherein said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources is particularly specified for said job.

14. The system according to claim 10 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, wherein said discrete sets of resources comprise at least one from among a locally accessible resource, an enterprise accessible resource, a capacity on demand resource, and a grid resource.

15. The system according to claim 10 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, said decision controller further comprising:

means for monitoring said first selection of resources to determine a performance level of said first selection of resources from a monitoring controller enabled to monitor performance within said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources; and

means for comparing said performance level of said first selection of resources with said required performance level for said job.

16. The system according to claim 10 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, said decision controller further comprising:

means, responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said required performance level for said job, for determining whether said job qualifies for additional resources; and

means for only querying said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources for available resources if said job qualifies for additional resources.

17. The system according to claim 10 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, said decision controller further comprising:

means, responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said required performance level for said job, for determining whether said job qualifies for at least one capacity on demand resource; and

means, responsive to said capacity on demand resource being identified as said at least one available additional resource from said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources, for activating said capacity on demand resource.

18. The system according to claim 17 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

means for deallocating said capacity on demand resource when not need for said job.

19. A computer program product for managing escalating resources needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, comprising:

a recording medium;

means, recorded on said recording medium, for submitting a job to a first selection of resources in a grid environment from among a hierarchy of discrete sets of resources viewed as a virtual resource within a grid environment;

means, recorded on said recording medium, for querying said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources for available resources to meet said required performance level for said job in an order designated by said hierarchy, responsive to a performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting a required performance level for said job; and

means, recorded on said recording medium, for adding at least one available additional resource to a virtual organization of resources handling said job within said grid environment, responsive to identifying said at least one available additional resource from said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources.

20. The computer program product according to claim 19 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment wherein said means for submitting a job to a first selection of resources in a grid environment from among a hierarchy of discrete sets of resources further comprises:

means, recorded on said recording medium, for submitting said job to said first selection of resources comprising at least one from among resources locally accessible to a client system initiating said job and resources accessible within an enterprise within which said client system operates.

21. The computer program product according to claim 19 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

means, recorded on said recording medium, for controlling communication among said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources by applying a grid architecture to a plurality of heterogeneous systems distributed across a plurality of diverse network platforms.

22. The computer program product according to claim 19 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

means, recorded on said recording medium, for monitoring said first selection of resources to determine a performance level of said first selection of resources from a monitoring controller enabled to monitor performance within said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources; and

means, recorded on said recording medium, for comparing said performance level of said first selection of resources with said required performance level for said job.

23. The computer program product according to claim 19 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

means, recorded on said recording medium, for determining whether said job qualifies for additional resources, responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said required performance level for said job; and

means, recorded on said recording medium, for only querying said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources for available resources if said job qualifies for additional resources.

24. The computer program product according to claim 19 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

means, for recorded on said recording medium, for determining weather said job qualifies for at least one capacity on demand resource, responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said required performance level for said job; and

means, recorded on said recording medium, for activating said capacity on demand resource, responsive to said capacity on demand resource being identified as said at least one available additional resource from said hierarchy of discrete sets of resources.

25. The computer program product according to claim 24 for managing escalating resource needs of a job submitted in a grid environment, further comprising:

means, recorded on said recording medium, for deallocating said capacity on demand resource when not need for said job.

26. A method for managing resource allocation in a grid environment comprising a plurality of discrete resource sets, comprising:

submitting a job from a client system to a first selection of resources designated in a hierarchy of discrete resource sets comprising at least one from among a selection of local resources, a selection of capacity on demand resources, and a selection of grid resources;

monitoring a performance level of said first selection of resources;

comparing said performance level of said first selection of resources with a performance requirement for said job;

responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said performance requirement, adding a next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete resource sets to a virtual organization of resources handling said job.

27. The method according to claim 26 for managing resource allocation in a grid environment further comprising:

determining whether said job qualifies for said next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete sets of resource sets; and

only adding said next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete resources sets to a virtual organization of resources handling said job if said job qualifies for said next selection of resources.

28. The method according to claim 26 for managing resource allocation in a grid environment further comprising:

querying said hierarchy of discrete resource sets for availability to handle said performance requirement for said job; and

selecting said next selection of resources from a next available discrete resource set.

29. A system for managing resource allocation in a grid environment comprising a plurality of discrete resource sets, comprising:

means for submitting a job from a client system to a first selection of resources designated in a hierarchy of discrete resource sets comprising at least one from among a selection of local resources, a selection of capacity on demand resources, and a selection of grid resources;

means for monitoring a performance level of said first selection of resources;

means for comparing said performance level of said first selection of resources with a performance requirement for said job;

means, responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said performance requirement, for adding a next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete resource sets to a virtual organization of resources handling said job.

30. The system according to claim 29 for managing resource allocation in a grid environment further comprising:

means for determining whether said job qualifies for said next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete sets of resource sets; and

means for only adding said next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete resources sets to a virtual organization of resources handling said job if said job qualifies for said next selection of resources.

31. The system according to claim 29 for managing resource allocation in a grid environment further comprising:

means for querying said hierarchy of discrete resource sets for availability to handle said performance requirement for said job; and

means for selecting said next selection of resources from a next available discrete resource set.

32. A computer program product for managing resource allocation in a grid environment comprising a plurality of discrete resource sets, comprising:

a recording medium;

means, recorded on said recording medium, for submitting a job from a client system to a first selection of resources designated in a hierarchy of discrete resource sets comprising at least one from among a selection of local resources, a selection of capacity on demand resources, and a selection of grid resources;

means, recorded on said recording medium, for monitoring a performance level of said first selection of resources;

means, recorded on said recording medium, for comparing said performance level of said first selection of resources with a performance requirement for said job;

means, recorded on said recording medium, for adding a next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete resource sets to a virtual organization of resources handling said job, responsive to said performance level of said first selection of resources not meeting said performance requirement.

33. The system according to claim 32 for managing resource allocation in a grid environment further comprising:

means, recorded on said recording medium, for determining whether said job qualifies for said next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete sets of resource sets; and

means, recorded on said recording medium, for only adding said next selection of resources from among said hierarchy of discrete resources sets to a virtual organization of resources handling said job if said job qualifies for said next selection of resources.

34. The system according to claim 32 for managing resource allocation in a grid environment further comprising:

means, recorded on said recording medium, for querying said hierarchy of discrete resource sets for availability to handle said performance requirement for said job; and

means, recorded on said recording medium, for selecting said next selection of resources from a next available discrete resource set.