METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING A MARKET FOR USER-CONTROLLED RESOURCES TO BE PROVIDED TO A CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20100217865A1
• Filed: 02/23/2009
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferris, James Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,485,117 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/785 among multiple network domains, e.g. multilateral agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/787 Bandwidth trade among domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction

Abstract

A cloud management system can be configured to offer a marketplace for user-controlled resources provided by third party users by performing a valuation for user controlled resources offered to the cloud. The cloud management system can be configured to determine the usage of cloud resources, demands on the clouds resources, and revenue generated by the cloud resources and determine a value for user-controlled resources based on the usage, demands, and revenue. Once the value is determined, the cloud management system can be configured to provide an indication of the value to a set of the third party users. If offered and accepted, the cloud management system can be granted access to the user-controlled resources and allocate the user-controlled resources to the cloud.

Claims

1. A method of providing a marketplace for resources in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

determining a value for additional resources to be provided to a cloud, wherein the value is based on at least one of usage of cloud resources, estimated change in the usage of the cloud resources, revenue generated by the cloud resources, and a duration the additional resources are provided to the cloud;

providing an indication of the value for the additional resources to a set of users;

receiving a request to include user-controlled resources as the additional resources from at least one user in the set of the users, wherein the request includes a specification of the user-controlled resources and a particular duration the user-controlled resources will be provided;

providing an acceptance to allocate the user-controlled resources to the cloud; and

allocating the user-controlled resources to the cloud.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the value for the additional resources comprises:

at least one of a value for an amount of memory provided to the cloud, a value for an amount of computing cycles provided to the cloud, a value for an amount of communications bandwidth provided to the cloud, a value for an amount of storage provided to the cloud, and a value for software resources provided to the cloud.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the indication of the value for the additional resources to the set of users comprises:

generating a user interface accessible by the set of users, wherein the user interface comprises the indication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the specification of the user-controlled resources comprises:

at least one of an amount of memory to allocate to the cloud, an amount of computing cycles to allocate to the cloud, an amount of communications bandwidth to allocate to the cloud, an amount of storage to allocate to the cloud, and software resources to allocate to the cloud.

5. The method of claims 1, wherein providing the acceptance to allocate the user-controlled resources:

determining a particular value for the user-controlled resources based on the specification; and

providing the particular value with the acceptance.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a new value for the additional resources provided to a cloud, wherein the new value is based on at least one of the usage of the cloud resources, the estimated change in the usage of the cloud resources, the revenue generated by the cloud resources, and the duration the additional resources are provided to the cloud, and the user-controlled resources allocated to the cloud.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a new value for additional user-controlled resources provided to the cloud from the at least one user; and

providing an new indication of the new value for the additional user-controlled resources to the at least one user.

8. A system for providing a marketplace for resources in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

a network interface to at least one cloud computing environment; and

a cloud management system, communicating with the network interface, the cloud application being configured to—

determine a value for additional resources to be provided to a cloud, wherein the value is based on at least one of usage of cloud resources, estimated change in the usage of the cloud resources, revenue generated by the cloud resources, and a duration the additional resources are provided to the cloud;

provide an indication of the value for the additional resources to a set of users;

receive a request to include user-controlled resources as the additional resources from at least one user in the set of the users, wherein the request includes a specification of the user-controlled resources and a particular duration the user-controlled resources will be provided;

provide an acceptance to allocate the user-controlled resources to the cloud; and

allocate the user-controlled resources to the cloud.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the value for the additional resources comprises:

at least one of a value for an amount of memory provided to the cloud, a value for an amount of computing cycles provided to the cloud, a value for an amount of communications bandwidth provided to the cloud, a value for an amount of storage provided to the cloud, and a value for software resources provided to the cloud.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein providing the indication of the value for the additional resources to the set of users comprises:

generating a user interface accessible by the set of users, wherein the user interface comprises the indication.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the specification of the user-controlled resources comprises:

at least one of an amount of memory to allocate to the cloud, an amount of computing cycles to allocate to the cloud, an amount of communications bandwidth to allocate to the cloud, an amount of storage to allocate to the cloud, and software resources to allocate to the cloud.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein providing the acceptance to allocate the user-controlled resources:

determining a particular value for the user-controlled resources based on the specification; and

providing the particular value with the acceptance.

13. The system of claims 8, wherein the cloud management system is further configured to—

determine a new value for the additional resources provided to a cloud, wherein the new value is based on at least one of the usage of the cloud resources, the estimated change in the usage of the cloud resources, the revenue generated by the cloud resources, and the duration the additional resources are provided to the cloud, and the user-controlled resources allocated to the cloud.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the cloud management system is further configured to—

determine a new value for additional user-controlled resources provided to the cloud from the at least one user; and

provide an new indication of the new value for the additional user-controlled resources to the at least one user.

15. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing a processing system to perform a method comprising:

determining a value for additional resources to be provided to a cloud, wherein the value is based on at least one of usage of cloud resources, estimated change in the usage of the cloud resources, revenue generated by the cloud resources, and a duration the additional resources are provided to the cloud;

providing an indication of the value for the additional resources to a set of users;

receiving a request to include user-controlled resources as the additional resources from at least one user in the set of the users, wherein the request includes a specification of the user-controlled resources and a particular duration the user-controlled resources will be provided;

providing an acceptance to allocate the user-controlled resources to the cloud; and

allocating the user-controlled resources to the cloud.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the value for the additional resources comprises:

at least one of a value for an amount of memory provided to the cloud, a value for an amount of computing cycles provided to the cloud, a value for an amount of communications bandwidth provided to the cloud, and a value for an amount of storage provided to the cloud, and a value for software resources provided to the cloud.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein providing the indication of the value for the additional resources to the set of users comprises:

generating a user interface accessible by the set of users, wherein the user interface comprises the indication.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the specification of the user-controlled resources comprises:

at least one of an amount of memory to allocate to the cloud, an amount of computing cycles to allocate to the cloud, an amount of communications bandwidth to allocate to the cloud, an amount of storage to allocate to the cloud, and software resources to allocate to the cloud.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claims 15, wherein providing the acceptance to allocate the user-controlled resources:

determining a particular value for the user-controlled resources based on the specification; and

providing the particular value with the acceptance.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, the method further comprising:

determining a new value for the additional resources provided to a cloud, wherein the new value is based on at least one of the usage of the cloud resources, the estimated change in the usage of the cloud resources, the revenue generated by the cloud resources, and the duration the additional resources are provided to the cloud, and the user-controlled resources allocated to the cloud.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, the method further comprising:

determining a new value for additional user-controlled resources provided to the cloud from the at least one user; and

providing an new indication of the new value for the additional user-controlled resources to the at least one user.