RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20080052719A1
• Filed: 08/21/2007
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amdocs Development Limited (Amdocs Ltd.), Amdocs Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Amdocs Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Inventors: De Matteis, Luca, Tector, Elizabeth Graves, Briscoe, Peter John, Mishra, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 8,201,180 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5022 by giving priorities, e.g. assigning classes of service

Abstract

A resource management system for managing resources in a computing and/or communications resource infrastructure is disclosed. The system comprises a database for storing a model of the resource infrastructure. The database defines a set of resources provided by the infrastructure; a set of software applications operating within the infrastructure and utilising resources; and associations between given applications in the model and given resources to indicate utilisation of the given resources by the given applications. The model can be used to perform resource utilisation analysis and failure impact analysis.

Claims

1. A resource management system for managing resources in a computing and/or communications resource infrastructure, the system comprising a database for storing a model of the resource infrastructure, the database being arranged to store information defining:

a set of resources provided by the infrastructure;

a set of software applications operating within the infrastructure and utilising resources; and

associations between given applications in the model and given resources to indicate utilisation of the given resources by the given applications.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the database is arranged to store:

capacity information associated with resources, the capacity information specifying, for one or more given resources, a resource capacity provided by those resources; and

resource allocation information specifying, for a given association between an application and one or more resources, a resource quantity allocated to the application from the associated one or more resources.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining:

one or more logical environments, wherein a logical environment represents an execution context for applications.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein a logical environment is associated in the database with one or more resources, the resources providing the execution context.

5. A system according to claim 4, wherein the database is arranged to define an association between an application and a logical environment to indicate utilisation by the application of the execution context and associated resources represented by the logical environment

6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the database is arranged to store capacity information associated with a logical environment, the capacity information defining a resource capacity provided by the resources associated with the logical environment.

7. A system according to claim 5, wherein the database is arranged to store resource allocation information specifying, for a given association between an application and a logical environment, a resource quantity allocated to the application from the logical environment.

8. A system according to claim 3, wherein a logical environment in the database can be associated with one or more other logical environments.

9. A system according to claim 6, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining, for a logical environment, a plurality of partitions, each partition representing a portion of the resource capacity provided by the logical environment.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining an association between an application in the model and a logical environment partition to indicate utilisation of resource capacity by the application from the portion of resource capacity allocated to the associated partition.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining, for a logical environment or logical environment partition, a resource quantity made available by the logical environment or logical environment partition to applications.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the database is arranged to store information specifying, for a logical environment or logical environment partition, a modifying factor, indicating that the resource quantity made available by the logical environment or partition is different from, preferably a fraction or multiple of, a resource quantity provided to the logical environment from resources represented by the logical environment.

13. A system according to claim 9, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining, for one or more of the partitions of a logical environment, associations with one or more selected resources or components of resources to indicate that the portion of resource capacity allocated to the partition is provided by the associated resources or resource components.

14. A system according to claim 1, wherein the database is further arranged to store:

capacity information associated with applications, the capacity information specifying, for an application, a resource capacity provided by the application to application services.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein the resource capacity is related to, and preferably allocated from, a resource capacity made available by a logical environment and/or one or more resources.

16. A system according to claim 14, wherein the database is further arranged to store:

information defining application services provisioned to users of applications;

associations between application services and applications; and

resource allocation information specifying, for a given association between an application service and an application, a resource quantity allocated to the application service from the associated one or more applications.

17. A system according to claim 16, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining, for a given service type, a resource allocation profile indicating one or more resource quantities to be assigned to a service of the given type.

18. A system according to claim 17, comprising a resource allocation component arranged to allocate resources to a new service from an application in accordance with a resource allocation profile relating to the service, and to record the allocation in the resource allocation information.

19. A system according to claim 1, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining, for an application, one or more application interfaces.

20. A system according to claim 1, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining one or more software components, and associations between applications and software components utilised by the applications.

21. A system according to claim 20, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining an association between a software component and a logical environment to indicate utilisation by the software component of the execution context and associated resources represented by the logical environment.

22. A system according to claim 1, wherein the database is arranged to store metadata relating to the model, defining one or more of:

types of model objects;

types of relationships between model objects;

permitted relationships between model objects;

default attributes for model objects.

23. A system according to claim 1, wherein the database is arranged to store information defining redundancy relationships between resources or logical environments.

24. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a user interface for modifying the infrastructure model defined in the database.

25. A system according to claim 1, comprising a processing component for analysing the model to determine resource utilisation information relating to the resource infrastructure, for example to determine a resource shortage or resource surplus.

26. A system according to claim 1, comprising a processing component for analysing the model to determine, for a resource malfunction relating to a resource of the resource infrastructure, one or more applications or application services affected by the malfunction.

27. A system according to claim 1, comprising a service provisioning component for provisioning services in dependence on capacity information in the model.

28. A system according to claim 1, comprising an infrastructure planning component for analysing capacity information in the model to generate planning data.

29. A method of processing capacity information relating to resource capacity provided in a computing infrastructure, the method comprising:

storing a model of the computing infrastructure, the model defining components of the infrastructure, and software provided to operate in the infrastructure;

associating capacity information with components, the capacity information defining resource capacity made available by components;

associating consumption information with software, the consumption information defining resource consumption by the software from the resource capacity made available by the components.

30. A method according to claim 29, wherein the consumption information defines a capacity allocation to the software from resource capacity made available by the components.

31. A method according to claim 30, wherein the model defines one or more software components, and resource consumption by the software components from the infrastructure components.

32. A method according to claim 31, wherein the model defines an application, the application being associated in the model with one or more software components utilised by or forming part of the application.

33. A method according to claim 32, wherein the consumption information defines resource consumption by the application from one or more software components.

34. A method according to claim 31, wherein the software components comprise processes.

35. A method of processing capacity information relating to resource capacity provided in a computing infrastructure, the method comprising:

storing a model of the computing infrastructure, the model defining;

components of the infrastructure,

one or more software applications provided to operate in the infrastructure; and

one or more processes, the processes forming part of applications;

associating capacity information with a process, the capacity information representing resource capacity made available by the process to applications;

associating consumption information with an application, the consumption information defining resource consumption by the application from the resource capacity made available by one or more processes.

36. A method according to claim 35, further comprising associating consumption information with a process, the consumption information defining resource consumption by the process from resource capacity made available by one or more infrastructure components.

37. A method of managing redundant components in a computing and/or communications resource infrastructure, the method comprising:

storing in a database a model of the resource infrastructure, the model defining;

a set of components of the infrastructure; and

one or more redundancy relationships between components.

38. A method according to claim 37, comprising defining in the model one or more redundancy groups, a redundancy group being associated with a plurality of components and representing a redundancy relationship between the components.

39. A method according to claim 38, comprising defining, for each component in a redundancy group, a redundancy behaviour.

40. A method according to claim 39, wherein the redundancy behaviour is one of:

redundant, indicating that the component is a redundant component whose function can be fulfilled by another component in the group;

critical, indicating that the component is a critical component whose function cannot be fulfilled by another component in the group; and

critical/redundant, indicating that the component fulfils a critical role in relation to at least a first application or service using the component and a redundant role in relation to at least a second application or service using the component.

41. A method according to claim 37, comprising defining in the model applications operating in the modelled infrastructure, and associating applications in the model with components utilised by the applications.

42. A method according to claim 37, comprising analysing the model to determine one or more applications or services affected by a malfunction of one or more given components in dependence on one or more redundancy relationships or redundancy groups defined for the one or more given components.

43. A method of processing capacity information relating to resources in a computing and/or communications resource infrastructure, the method comprising:

storing in a database a model of the resource infrastructure, the model defining a set of resources provided by the infrastructure, and a set of resource consumers, the resource consumers utilising resources;

defining associations between given resource consumers in the model and given resources to indicate utilisation of the given resources by the given resource consumers;

associating capacity information with resources, the capacity information specifying, for one or more given resources, a resource capacity provided by those resources; and

defining, for a given association between a resource consumer and one or more resources, a resource quantity consumed by the resource consumer from the associated one or more resources.

44. A method according to claim 43, further comprising defining in the model one or more logical resources, each logical resource being associated with one or more resources.

45. A method according to claim 44, comprising defining capacity information for the logical resource, the capacity information defining a resource capacity provided by the resources associated with the logical resource.

46. A method according to claim 43, wherein the capacity information for a given resource or logical resource comprises a plurality of capacity parameters relating to different aspects of resource capacity provided by the resource or logical resource.

50. A method according to claim 43, comprising analysing the model to determine resource utilisation information relating to the resource infrastructure, for example to determine a resource shortage or resource surplus.

51. A method according to claim 43, comprising:

receiving an allocation request to allocate capacity for a resource consumer having one or more resource capacity requirements;

selecting from the model one or more resources capable of providing the required resource capacity, in accordance with capacity information in the model and the resource requirements; and

modifying the model so as to allocate resource capacity to the resource consumer from the selected resources.

52. A method according to claim 51, wherein the resource consumer is an application service, the method comprising selecting an application to provide the application service in dependence on capacity information defined for the application.

53. A method according to claim 51, comprising adding one or more resources to the model or infrastructure if, in the selecting step, resources capable of providing the required resource capacity are not found.

54. A method according to claim 43, comprising:

receiving one or more service definitions, each specifying capacity requirements for a service;

receiving service projection data relating to the one or more services; and

calculating projected capacity requirements by reference to the service definitions and service projection data.

55. A method according to claim 54, further comprising comparing the projected capacity requirements to capacity available in the infrastructure using capacity information in the model.

56. A method according to claim 54, comprising generating planning information relating to the addition of new resources in dependence on the projected capacity requirements.

57. A method according to claim 43, comprising analysing the model to determine, for a resource malfunction relating to a resource in the resource infrastructure, one or more resource consumers affected by the resource malfunction.

58. A method according to claim 43, wherein the resource infrastructure comprises a communications network, the resources comprise network devices and/or network connections in the communications network, the capacity information relates to data capacity or bandwidth, and the resource consumers comprise data circuits or data flows in the network and/or end-user communications services provisioned to users of the communications network.

59. A method according to claim 43, wherein the resource infrastructure comprises an IT infrastructure, the resources comprise one or more of:

computing devices, storage devices, network devices, peripheral devices and other IT or communications devices; and

the resource consumers comprise software applications provided using the IT infrastructure and/or application services provisioned to users of the IT infrastructure.

47. A method of processing capacity information relating to resources in a computing and/or communications resource infrastructure, the method comprising:

storing in a database a model of the resource infrastructure, the model defining;

a set of resources provided by the infrastructure;

a set of logical resources, the logical resources representing resource capacity provided by resources; and

a set of resource consumers, the resource consumers utilising resources;

defining associations between a logical resource in the model and one or more given resources represented by the logical resource;

defining associations between a given resource consumer in the model and one or more logical resources to indicate utilisation of the logical resources by the given resource consumer;

associating capacity information with a logical resource, the capacity information specifying a resource capacity provided by the resources associated with the logical resource; and

defining, for an association between a resource consumer and a logical resource, a resource quantity consumed by the resource consumer from resource capacity provided by the associated logical resource.

48. A method according to claim 47, comprising defining in the model, for a logical resource, a plurality of partitions, each partition representing a portion of the resource capacity provided by the logical resource.

49. A method according to claim 47, comprising specifying, for a logical resource or logical resource partition, a modifying factor, indicating that the resource quantity made available by the logical resource or partition is a fraction or multiple of a resource quantity allocated to the logical resource or partition from resources represented by the logical resource or partition.

60. A computer program product comprising software code adapted, when executed on a data processing apparatus, to perform a method for managing resources in a computing and/or communications resource infrastructure, the method comprising storing in a database a model of the resource infrastructure, the model defining:

a set of resources provided by the infrastructure;

a set of software applications operating within the infrastructure and utilising resources; and

associations between given applications in the model and given resources to indicate utilisation of the given resources by the given applications.