ENTERPRISE-LEVEL MANAGEMENT, CONTROL AND INFORMATION ASPECTS OF CLOUD CONSOLE

• US 20110055385A1
• Filed: 12/18/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Richter, Owen E., Tung, Teresa Sheausan, Savjani, Vipul
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,788 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3404 for parallel or distributed programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A method, computer-readable medium, and system for monitoring usage of computing resources provisioned across multiple cloud providers and/or data centers are disclosed. Events associated with usage of a plurality of computing resources may be accessed, where the plurality of computing resources may implement a virtual machine, a plurality of virtual machines of a cloud computing environment, etc. The events may be associated with a start, a stop, a status change, etc., of the plurality of computing resources. The events may be used to generate usage data for the plurality of computing resources. The usage data may include historical data associated with previous usage of the plurality of computing resources. Additionally, the usage data may be displayed using a graphical user interface, thereby enabling monitoring and/or tracking of usage of computing resources provisioned across at least one cloud provider and/or at least one data center.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring usage of computing resources, said method comprising:

accessing a first plurality of events associated with a usage of a plurality of computing resources, wherein said plurality of computing resources are provisioned across a plurality of cloud providers, and wherein said plurality of computing resources are associated with a cloud computing environment;

generating, based on said first plurality of events, usage data for said first plurality of computing resources; and

displaying, using a graphical user interface, said usage data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first plurality of events are associated with a plurality of users, and wherein each portion of a plurality of portions of said usage data corresponds to a respective user of said plurality of users.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first plurality of events are associated with a plurality of projects, and wherein each portion of a plurality of portions of said usage data corresponds to a respective project of said plurality of projects.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing a second plurality of events associated with a previous usage of said plurality of computing resources, wherein said second plurality of events occurs before said first plurality of events; and

wherein said generating further comprises generating, based on said second plurality of events, said usage data including historical data associated with said previous usage of said plurality of computing resources.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

comparing said usage to a predetermined usage threshold; and

wherein said generating further comprises generating, if said usage is greater than said predetermined usage threshold, said usage data including a notification of said usage exceeding said predetermined usage threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said first plurality of events are each selected from a group consisting of a user interaction with said graphical user interface, an event associated with a cloud provider, and an event associated with a data center.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said first plurality of events comprise an event selected from a group consisting of a request to start said plurality of computing resources, a request to stop said plurality of computing resources, and a status change associated with said plurality of computing resources.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of computing resources are associated with a component selected from a group consisting of an image, an instance of said image, a particular virtual machine of said cloud computing environment, and a plurality of virtual machines of said cloud computing environment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of computing resources are selected from a group consisting of at least one processing resource, at least one storage resource, at least one network resource, at least one operating system, at least one software application, at least one software application configuration, state data, and another type of data.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein for causing a computer system to perform a method of monitoring usage of computing resources, said method comprising:

accessing a first plurality of events associated with a usage of a plurality of computing resources, wherein said plurality of computing resources are provisioned across a plurality of cloud providers, and wherein said plurality of computing resources are associated with a cloud computing environment;

generating, based on said first plurality of events, usage data for said first plurality of computing resources; and

displaying, using a graphical user interface, said usage data.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein said first plurality of events are associated with a plurality of users, and wherein each portion of a plurality of portions of said usage data corresponds to a respective user of said plurality of users.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein said first plurality of events are associated with a plurality of projects, and wherein each portion of a plurality of portions of said usage data corresponds to a respective project of said plurality of projects.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein said method further comprises:

accessing a second plurality of events associated with a previous usage of said plurality of computing resources, wherein said second plurality of events occurs before said first plurality of events; and

wherein said generating further comprises generating, based on said second plurality of events, said usage data including historical data associated with said previous usage of said plurality of computing resources.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein said method further comprises:

comparing said usage to a predetermined usage threshold; and

wherein said generating further comprises generating, if said usage is greater than said predetermined usage threshold, said usage data including a notification of said usage exceeding said predetermined usage threshold.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein said first plurality of events are each selected from a group consisting of a user interaction with said graphical user interface, an event associated with a cloud provider, and an event associated with a data center.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein said first plurality of events comprise an event selected from a group consisting of a request to start said plurality of computing resources, a request to stop said plurality of computing resources, and a status change associated with said plurality of computing resources.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein said plurality of computing resources are associated with a component selected from a group consisting of an image, an instance of said image, a particular virtual machine of said cloud computing environment, and a plurality of virtual machines of said cloud computing environment.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein said plurality of computing resources are selected from a group consisting of at least one processing resource, at least one storage resource, at least one network resource, at least one operating system, at least one software application, at least one software application configuration, state data, and another type of data.

19. A system comprising a processor and a memory, wherein said memory comprises instructions that when executed by said system implement a method of monitoring usage of computing resources, said method comprising:

accessing a first plurality of events associated with a usage of a plurality of computing resources, wherein said plurality of computing resources are provisioned across a plurality of cloud providers, and wherein said plurality of computing resources are associated with a cloud computing environment;

generating, based on said first plurality of events, usage data for said first plurality of computing resources; and

displaying, using a graphical user interface, said usage data.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said first plurality of events are associated with a plurality of users, and wherein each portion of a plurality of portions of said usage data corresponds to a respective user of said plurality of users.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein said first plurality of events are associated with a plurality of projects, and wherein each portion of a plurality of portions of said usage data corresponds to a respective project of said plurality of projects.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein said method further comprises:

accessing a second plurality of events associated with a previous usage of said plurality of computing resources, wherein said second plurality of events occurs before said first plurality of events; and

wherein said generating further comprises generating, based on said second plurality of events, said usage data including historical data associated with said previous usage of said plurality of computing resources.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein said method further comprises:

comparing said usage to a predetermined usage threshold; and

wherein said generating further comprises generating, if said usage is greater than said predetermined usage threshold, said usage data including a notification of said usage exceeding said predetermined usage threshold.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein said first plurality of events are each selected from a group consisting of a user interaction with said graphical user interface, an event associated with a cloud provider, and an event associated with a data center.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein said first plurality of events comprise an event selected from a group consisting of a request to start said plurality of computing resources, a request to stop said plurality of computing resources, and a status change associated with said plurality of computing resources.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein said plurality of computing resources are associated with a component selected from a group consisting of an image, an instance of said image, a particular virtual machine of said cloud computing environment, and a plurality of virtual machines of said cloud computing environment.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein said plurality of computing resources are selected from a group consisting of at least one processing resource, at least one storage resource, at least one network resource, at least one operating system, at least one software application, at least one software application configuration, state data, and another type of data.