Hierarchical Resource Management for a Computing Utility

• US 20080216082A1
• Filed: 01/30/2004
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hunt, Guerney D.H., Eilam, Tamar, Mummert, Lily B., Miller, Sandra D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,655,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5014 Reservation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/503 Resource availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing

Abstract

This invention provides for the hierarchical provisioning and management of a computing infrastructure which is used to provide computing services to the customers of the service provider that operates the infrastructure. Infrastructure resources can include those acquired from other service providers. The invention provides architecture for hierarchical management of computing infrastructures. It allows the dynamic provisioning and assignment of resources to computing environments. Customers can have multiple computing environments within their domain. The service provider shares its resources across multiple customer domains and arbitrates on the use of resources between and within domains. The invention enables resources to be dedicated to a specific customer domain or to a specific computing environment. Customers can specify acquisition and distribution policy which controls their use of resources within their domains.

Claims

1. A method comprising providing an automatic hierarchical management of a computing infrastructure for at least one domain for an entity, said step of providing hierarchical management comprising:

obtaining a hierarchical representation of said at least one domain, said representation including;

a list of computing environments to be managed, at least one policy controlling acquisition of at least one resource from resource libraries for said at least one domain, and any sub-domains within said at least one domain; and

instantiating the representation.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

deriving a set of resources required for said list of computing environments in constructing said hierarchical management, and

providing resources for said set of resources to said at least one domain.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising at least one limitation taken from a group of limitations consisting of:

further comprising updating said at least one policy of the representation;

further comprising utilizing library services;

further comprising associating each computing environment with a particular sub-domain;

wherein the step of utilizing includes reserving a set of resources required by said list of computing environments;

further comprising acquiring the set of resources and using at least one resource from said set of resources;

wherein said at least one domain is a plurality of domains;

wherein at least one domain from said at least one domain is a sub domain of another domain;

further comprising associating at least one library service from said library services with at least one collector;

wherein both the quantity and types of base resources change over time,

wherein said method is employed in providing service on-demand;

wherein said at least one resource is a base or composite resource;

further comprising organizing said at least one resource into a service offered to a plurality of customers;

further comprising allocating base resources to a library service;

further comprising formulating composite resources from base resources satisfying a service description;

further comprising allocating composite resources to a library service; and

further comprising allocating services to a library service.

13. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing provision of hierarchical management of at least one domain for a computing utility, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 1.

14. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for providing hierarchical management of at least one domain for a computing utility, said method steps comprising the steps of claim 1.

4-9. -9. (canceled)

11-12. -12. (canceled)

15. An apparatus comprising means for providing hierarchical management of at least one domain for a computing utility, said means for providing hierarchical management comprising:

means for obtaining a hierarchical representation of said at least one domain, said representation including;

a list of computing environments to be managed, at least one policy controlling acquisition of at least one resource from composite resources for said at least one domain, and any sub-domains within said at least one domain; and

means for instantiating the representation.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing provision of hierarchical management of at least one domain for a computing utility, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 15.

17. A method comprising:

creating an automatic hierarchical representation of a computing infrastructure, for an entity comprising organizing the entity into a domain tree of domains, wherein each domain represents an organization within the entity, said each domain obtains computing environments and resources from a computing utility.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

determining computing environments to be associated with each domain;

determining an acquisition policy and a distribution policy for each domain;

converting the domain tree into a collector hierarchy; and

connecting said collector hierarchy into a hosted root collector for a hosted environment.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising using said hosted environment to provision at least one computing environment and at least one resource to said entity.

20. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the step of connecting is performed by a service provider.

21. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the step of connecting includes connecting collector hierarchies for a plurality of customers of the hosted environment into the hosted root collector.

22. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the step of converting includes

inserting a collector as a hierarchy root collector of the collector hierarchy,

determining a number of computing environments of the root domain of the domain tree sand whether a sub domain of a root domain of the domain tree exist,

if there is only one computing environment and no sub domains of a root domain of the domain tree, inserting a PMRS in the collector hierarchy and terminating the step of converting,

otherwise, for each computing environment of said root domain of the domain tree, adding a collector and PMRS to the root collector of said collector hierarchy;

determining sub domains of said root domain of the domain tree that have only one computing environment;

for each sub domain of said root domain of the domain tree that has only one computing environment and no other sub domain, inserting a PMRS into the collector hierarchy,

for each sub domain of said root domain of the domain tree that has more than one computing environment or other sub domains, placing said each sub domain on a domain processing list; and

repeating the step of inserting a collector, the step of determining a number of computing environments for each domain on the domain processing list as if it were a root domain, and the step of determining sub domains of said root domain of the domain tree that have only one computing environment, until said domain processing list is empty.

23. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the step of connecting is performed by a service provider.

25. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing creation of a hierarchical representation of an entity, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 17.

26. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for creating a hierarchical representation of an entity, said method steps comprising the steps of claim 17.

24. (canceled)

27. An apparatus comprising:

means for creating an automatic hierarchical representation of a computing infrastructure for an entity comprising means for organizing the entity into a domain tree of domains, wherein each domain represents an organization within the entity, said each domain obtains computing environments and resources from a computing utility.

28. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing creation of a hierarchical representation of an entity, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 27.

29. An apparatus comprising a plurality of collectors to represent a plurality of domains in a computing utility, each of said collectors being linked to at least one other collector, each collector having:

a controller to control reserved resources for each domain;

a policy advisor to interpret any policy; and

a resource manager to manage resource acquisition for computing environments.

30. An apparatus as recited in claim 29, said apparatus further comprising at least one base resource library service, at least one collector is associated with at least one of said at least one base resource library service, said base resource library service having a Resource Operations interface and a Catalog interface.

31. An apparatus as recited in claim 30, wherein said at least one base resource library service includes at least one public Base Resource Library Service to provide library services to at least one domain, said public base resource library service having a Resource Operations interface and a Catalog interface.

32. An apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein said Resource operations interface provides an operation taken form a group of operations consisting of:

Reserve, CancelReservation, CheckIn, CheckOut, Query, Update; and

any combination of these operations.

33. An apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein said Catalog operations interface provides an operation taken form a group of operations consisting of:

Reserve, Add, Remove, Update, Query, and any combination of these operations.

38-43. -43. (canceled)

44. An architecture for a computing utility comprising an apparatus to provide at least one service for a plurality of clients, said apparatus comprising:

a Base Resource Distribution Service to allocate resources to said at least one service;

said Base Resource Distribution Service having at least one collector;

at least one Provisioned and Managed Resource Service coupled to said Base Resource Distribution Service to provision and manage said resources for said at least one service; and

at least one Base Resource Library Service coupled to said Base Resource Distribution Service to provide reservation and allocation of resources.

45. An architecture as recited in claim 44, wherein said Base Resource Distribution Service comprises:

at least one collector, each collector anchoring a representation of a particular domain and holds polices of said particular domain and holds resources reserved for said particular domain;

, and

an arbiter coupled to said base resource distribution service and available to each of said collectors, said arbiter provides dynamic resource allocation to each collector of said computing utility.

46. An architecture as recited in claim 44, wherein the architecture is used by an on-demand service.

47. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for controlling and managing resources, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim as in 29.