BALANCING ACCESS TO SHARED RESOURCES

• US 20090077248A1
• Filed: 07/18/2008
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Castellucci, Antonio, Guarda, Roberto
• Application Number:
  US12/175,738
• Publication Number:
  US 20090077248A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1439 time-based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/146 using digital cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for accessing a shared resource in a data processing system by a plurality of clients are disclosed. In one example, a privilege limit for a privileged use of the shared resource is associated a with each client. A use indicator is measured for each client, which relates to use of the shared resource by the respective client. When a critical condition of the shared resource is detected, the access granted to at least one client is released. Access may then be granted to another client.

Claims

1. A method for balancing access to a shared resource in a data processing system by a plurality of exploiter entities, the method comprising:

associating a privilege limit for a privileged use of the shared resource with each one of a set of active entities;

measuring a use indicator for each active entity, the use indicator relating to actual use of the shared resource by the respective active entity;

detecting a critical condition of the shared resource;

upon receiving an access request for access to the shared resource by a new one of the active entities, releasing the access granted to at least one of a set of active entities currently accessing the shared resource; and

granting access to the new active entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein access is granted to the new active entity only if the use indicator of the new active entity has not reached the privilege limit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a maximum number of accesses is allowed concurrently to the shared resource, and wherein detecting the critical condition includes receiving an access request after reaching the maximum number of accesses.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein releasing the access granted to the at least one exploiter entity includes:

selecting one of the enabled entities having the corresponding use indicator closest to the privilege limit; and

releasing the access granted to the selected enabled entity.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising conditioning the releasing of the access granted to the at least one enabled entity to a releasing condition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared resource includes a server adapted to offer a service, wherein each entity includes a client adapted to exploit the service and each access request includes a service request for exploiting the service, wherein each active entity includes an enabled client currently exploiting the service, and wherein a handle of a working session is allocated for each enabled client.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein granting access to the new active entity includes allocating a corresponding new handle to the enabled client of the new active entity.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein releasing the access granted to at least one of a set of active entities currently accessing the shared resource includes releasing each corresponding handle.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein allocating a corresponding new handle to the enabled client of the new active entity further comprises using a handle previously allocated to another client, if available.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein each working session includes the maintenance of context information of corresponding enabled clients for exploiting the service.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein granting access to the new active entity includes loading any corresponding context information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein releasing the access granted to at least one of a set of active entities currently accessing the shared resource includes discarding any corresponding context information.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein associating a privilege limit for a privileged use of the shared resource with each one of a set of active entities further comprises:

receiving a connection request from an active client;

collecting context information of the active client;

creating a token for authorizing the active client to exploit the service, wherein the token is associated with the privilege limit of the active client initialized to a starting value; and

storing the collected context information of the active client into a profile associated with the token.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein granting access to the new active entity further comprises:

associating a new handle with the token;

retrieving any corresponding context information from the profile corresponding to the token.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein releasing the access granted to at least one of a set of active entities currently accessing the shared resource further comprises saving each corresponding context information into the profile of the corresponding token.

16. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

monitoring an activity of each enabled client; and

releasing each handle when an inactivity indicator of a corresponding enabled client reaches a first threshold.

17. A computer program product for balancing access to a shared resource in a data processing system by a plurality of exploiter entities, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to;

associate a privilege limit for a privileged use of the shared resource with each one of a set of active entities;

measure a use indicator for each active entity, the use indicator relating to actual use of the shared resource by the respective active entity;

detect a critical condition of the shared resource;

release the access granted to at least one of a set of active entities currently accessing the shared resource upon receiving an access request for access to the shared resource by a new one of the active entities; and

grant access to the new active entity using the one or more servers.

18. A dispatching system for balancing access to a shared resource in a data processing system by a plurality of exploiter entities, the dispatching system comprising:

one or more servers configured to receive requests for access to the shared resource and to return corresponding responses;

one or more storage devices configured to store information;

a dispatcher coupled to the one or more servers and to the one or more storage devices;

wherein the dispatcher is configured to associate a privilege limit for a privileged use of the shared resource with each one of a set of active entities;

wherein the dispatcher is configured to measure a use indicator for each active entity, the use indicator relating to actual use of the shared resource by the respective active entity;

wherein the dispatcher is configured to detect a critical condition of the shared resource;

wherein the dispatcher is configured to release the access granted to at least one of a set of active entities currently accessing the shared resource in response to the one or more servers receiving an access request for access to the shared resource by a new one of the active entities; and

wherein the dispatcher is configured to grant access to the new active entity.

19. The dispatching system claim 18, wherein a maximum number of accesses is allowed concurrently to the shared resource, and wherein detecting the critical condition includes receiving an access request after reaching the maximum number of accesses.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the shared resource includes a server adapted to offer a service, wherein each entity includes a client adapted to exploit the service and each access request includes a service request for exploiting the service, wherein each active entity includes an enabled client currently exploiting the service, and wherein a handle of a working session is allocated for each enabled client.