Method and system for federated resource discovery service in distributed systems

• US 20070299804A1
• Filed: 06/21/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Liu, Zhen, Yang, Hao, Ye, Fan
• Granted Patent: US 7,849,069 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for identifying and allocating resources disposed within a plurality of distributed and autonomous computing systems, each of which may have its own legacy resource discovery service. Resource identification servers disposed within each one of the distributed computing systems communicate resource attribute data to a tree hierarchy of dedicated servers. The resource attribute data are maintained in native formats within the distributed computing systems and are mapped to a common format provided by the dedicated servers. The resource attribute data are aggregated at each node within the tree hierarchy, communicated up through the tree hierarchy to one or more root nodes and replicated down through all of the nodes. Additional system robustness is provided through period resource checks and resource attribute data updates. Resource allocation queries are submitted to any level node within the hierarchy and forwarded to the proper computing system for processing.

Claims

1. A method for federated resource discovery in distributed systems, the method comprising:

communicating resource attribute data associated with a plurality of resources disposed in a plurality of distributed computing systems from the distributed computing systems to one or more of a plurality of dedicated servers arranged in accordance with a hierarchy, the resource attribute data sufficient to facilitate identification and allocation of the associated resources disposed within the plurality of distributed computing systems;

maintaining a sufficient amount of resource attribute data at any given dedicated server within the hierarchy of dedicated servers to process resource queries and to route those queries through the hierarchy of dedicated servers to a distributed computing system comprising a suitable resource for the query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining the resource attribute data in a plurality of native attribute formats, each native attribute format determined by and associated with one of the distributed computing systems.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of communicating the resource attribute data further comprises mapping the communicated resource attribute data from the plurality of native attribute formats to a common attribute format provided by at least one of the plurality of dedicated servers.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of obtaining the resource attribute data comprises using a plurality of resource discovery servers to obtain the resource attribute data, each resource discovery server associated with one of the plurality of distributed computing systems.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the method further comprises communicating to each one of the resource discovery servers a common attribute format; and

the step of communicating the resource attribute data further comprises;

using at least one of the dedicated servers and the resource discovery servers to map the communicated resource attribute data from the plurality of native formats to a common attribute format provided by at least one of the plurality of dedicated servers; and

communicating this mapping to one of the dedicated servers in conjunction with the resource attribute data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of maintaining a sufficient amount of resource attribute data further comprises aggregating the resource attribute data at each dedicated server to which the resource attribute data are communicated from the plurality of computing systems and communicating the aggregated resource data through one or more intermediate dedicated servers to a root dedicated server of the hierarchy.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising aggregating the resource data at each one of the intermediate dedicated servers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of maintaining a sufficient amount of resource attribute data further comprises replicating the resource attribute data maintained at each dedicated server within the hierarchy at one or more additional dedicated servers within the hierarchy.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined hierarchy comprises a tree hierarchy.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of communicating the resource attribute data further comprises communicating the resource attribute data from one of the plurality of computing systems to one of a plurality of leaf node dedicated servers within the tree hierarchy.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of maintaining a sufficient amount of resource attribute data further comprises periodically updating the resource attribute data maintained in the dedicated servers.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of maintaining a sufficient amount of resource attribute data further comprises:

identifying a time to live value for each resource attribute datum communicated to the dedicated servers; and

deleting resource attribute data from the dedicated servers for which updates are not received in compliance with the identified time to live values.

13. A computer-readable medium containing a computer-readable code that when read by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for federated resource discovery in distributed systems, the method comprising:

communicating resource attribute data associated with a plurality of resources disposed in a plurality of distributed computing systems from the distributed computing systems to one or more of a plurality of dedicated servers arranged in accordance with a hierarchy, the resource attribute data sufficient to facilitate identification and allocation of the associated resources disposed within the plurality of distributed computing systems;

maintaining a sufficient amount of resource attribute data at any given dedicated server within the hierarchy of dedicated servers to process resource queries and to route those queries through the hierarchy of dedicated servers to a distributed computing system comprising a suitable resource for the query.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises obtaining the resource attribute data in a plurality of native attribute formats, each native attribute format determined by and associated with one of the distributed computing systems.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the step of communicating the resource attribute data further comprises mapping the communicated resource attribute data from the plurality of native attribute formats to a common attribute format provided by at least one of the plurality of dedicated servers.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the step of obtaining the resource attribute data comprises using a plurality of resource discovery servers to obtain the resource attribute data, each resource discovery server associated with one of the plurality of distributed computing systems.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein:

the method further comprises communicating to each one of the resource discovery servers a common attribute format; and

the step of communicating the resource attribute data further comprises;

using at least one of the dedicated servers and the resource discovery servers to map the communicated resource attribute data from the plurality of native formats to a common attribute format provided by at least one of the plurality of dedicated servers; and

communicating this mapping to one of the dedicated servers in conjunction with the resource attribute data.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the step of maintaining a sufficient amount of resource attribute data further comprises aggregating the resource attribute data at each dedicated server to which the resource attribute data are communicated from the plurality of computing systems and communicating the aggregated resource data through one or more intermediate dedicated servers to a root dedicated server of the hierarchy.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the step of maintaining a sufficient amount of resource attribute data further comprises replicating the resource attribute data maintained at each dedicated server within the hierarchy at one or more additional dedicated servers within the hierarchy.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the pre-determined hierarchy comprises a tree hierarchy.