Method and apparatus for presenting navigable data center information in virtual reality using leading edge rendering engines

• US 20060248159A1
• Filed: 04/28/2005
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Polan, Michael George
• Granted Patent: US 7,506,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/208
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0273 using web services for network management, e.g. simple object access protocol [SOAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

A method, an apparatus, and computer instructions are provided for presenting navigable data center information in virtual reality using leading edge rendering engines. Virtual rooms may be constructed using the mechanism of the present invention to include data center devices for a specific purpose. The virtual rooms are presented in a virtual space to the administrators. In one embodiment, responsive to a change made by administrators in the virtual space, the mechanism of the present sends change messages to existing data center management system, which in turn makes the appropriate changes to the devices or its data center information.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for presenting navigable data center information using leading edge rendering engines, the method comprising:

constructing a virtual reality space using a three-dimensional rendering engine;

populating the virtual reality space with data center information;

rendering the virtual reality space in a user interface to at least one operator; and

responsive to receiving commands from the at least one operator, performing data center operations on data center devices based on the commands.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data center information includes data center objects, relationships, and statuses.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the commands are translated by a provisioning system from navigations and movements made by the at least one operator, and wherein the navigations and movements are managed by a virtual reality rendering engine.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the provisioning system makes changes to the data center devices based on interpretations of the navigations and movements made by the at least one operator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data center information is dynamically updated by a virtual reality rendering engine responsive to a status change, and wherein the status change is triggered by one of a physical change made by the at least one operator, a change in the virtual reality space made by the at least one operator, and actual occurrences.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a two-dimensional display of a data processing system, wherein the two-dimensional display displays a view port into a three-dimensional space.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality space includes at least one room, and at least one location on a map.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one room is at least one of a free pool room, an application room with servers assigned to the application and a virtual local area network (VLAN) room with servers belonging to a particular VLAN.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the data center objects include at least one of servers, disks, and network devices, and wherein the at least one operator is a data center administrator.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data center operations include at least one of a reboot server operation, power on/off operation, an apply patch operation, a move or assign operation to move or assign resources to distributed applications and application clusters, a reconfigure and assign operation to reconfigure and assign devices to load balancers, a reconfigure operation to reconfigure network connections and routing, and a create or change operation to create or change virtual private networks and virtual local area networks.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein the navigations and movements include picking up a server from a stack of servers in a room and carrying the server to another room.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the navigations and movements include joining at least one server to a virtual local area network by using a virtual cable.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein environment of the at least one room is enhanced with colors and signage in the virtual reality space.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the apply patch operation includes picking up a patch off a shelf and attaching the patch to a target server.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein each data center object is populated in at least one room.

16. A data processing system comprising:

a bus;

a memory connected to the bus, wherein a set of instructions are located in the memory; and

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to construct a virtual reality space using a three-dimensional rendering engine;

populate the virtual reality space with data center information;

a virtual reality rendering engine to render the virtual reality space in a user interface to at least one operator; and

a provisioning system to perform data center operations on data center devices based on the commands responsive to receiving commands from the at least one operator.

17. The data processing system of claim 16, wherein the commands are translated by the provisioning system from navigations and movements made by the at least one operator, and wherein the navigations and movements are managed by the virtual reality rendering engine.

18. The data processing system of claim 16, wherein the provisioning system makes changes to the data center devices based on interpretations of the navigations and movements made by the at least one operator.

19. The data processing system of claim 16, wherein the data center information is dynamically updated by the virtual reality rendering engine responsive to a status change, and wherein the status change is triggered by one of a physical change made by the at least one operator, a change in the virtual reality space made by the at least one operator, and actual occurrences.

20. The data processing system of claim 16, wherein the virtual reality space includes at least one room, and at least one location on a map, and wherein the at least one room is one of a free pool room, an application room with servers assigned to the application and a virtual local area network (VLAN) room with servers belonging to a particular VLAN.

21. A computer program product, on a computer usable medium embodying one or more instructions executable by a computer, for presenting navigable data center information using leading edge rendering engines, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions for constructing a virtual reality space using a three-dimensional rendering engine;

second instructions for populating the virtual reality space with data center information;

third instructions for rendering the virtual reality space in a user interface to at least one operator; and

fourth instructions for performing data center operations on data center devices based on the commands responsive to receiving commands from the at least one operator.