METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR GENERATING A SOFTWARE LICENSE KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR VERIFYING SOFTWARE LICENSE COMPLIANCE IN CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20110131134A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• 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, Riveros, Gerry Edward
• Granted Patent: US 10,402,544 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products

Abstract

A monitoring system can monitor computing processes in clouds. The monitoring system can verify software license compliance in the computing processes instantiated in the clouds. The monitoring system can generate and maintain a software license knowledge base. The software license knowledge base can include the software license requirements for various software programs. To generate the software license knowledge base, the monitoring system can communicate with various sources (software vendors, clouds, publicly available sources, etc.) to determine license requirements for the various software programs.

Claims

1. A method for verifying software licenses, comprising:

receiving, from at least one software vendor, software license requirements associated with a software program provided by the at least one software vendor;

generating a record comprising an identification of software program and the software license requirements for the software program;

storing the record in a computer readable storage medium; and

utilizing the record to verify that computing processes executing the software program in at least one cloud comply with the software license requirements.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

searching a publicly available source for additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program; and

inserting, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additionally software license requirements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the publicly available source comprises the Internet.

4. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a fee from the software vendor to verify that the computing processes executing the software program in the at least one cloud comply with the software license requirements, prior to receiving the software license requirements.

5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

providing an interface to receive additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program from a third party not associated with the additional software program; and

inserting, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additional software license requirements.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the software license requirements comprise at least one of an allowed usage of the software program, an allowed duration of use of the software program, and a number of allowed instances of the software program.

7. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program provided by the at least one cloud; and

inserting, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additional software license requirements.

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

receiving, from at least one software vendor, software license requirements associated with a software program provided by the at least one software vendor;

generating a record comprising an identification of software program and the software license requirements for the software program;

storing the record in a computer readable storage medium; and

utilizing the record to verify that computing processes executing the software program in at least one cloud comply with the software license requirements.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

searching a publicly available source for additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program; and

inserting, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additionally software license requirements.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the publicly available source comprises the Internet.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

receiving a fee from the software vendor to verify that the computing processes executing the software program in the at least one cloud comply with the software license requirements, prior to receiving the software license requirements.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

providing an interface to receive additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program from a third party not associated with the additional software program; and

inserting, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additional software license requirements.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the software license requirements comprise at least one of an allowed usage of the software program, an allowed duration of use of the software program, and a number of allowed instances of the software program.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

receiving additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program provided by the at least one cloud; and

inserting, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additional software license requirements.

15. A system for monitoring a cloud computing environment, comprising:

a network interface to at least one software vendor;

a computer readable storage medium; and

a processor communicating with the network interface and executing an software compliance module, the software compliance module being configured to

receive, from the at least one software vendor, software license requirements associated with a software program provided by the at least one software vendor;

generate a record comprising an identification of software program and the software license requirements for the software program;

store the record in the computer readable storage medium; and

utilize the record to verify that computing processes executing the software program in at least one cloud comply with the software license requirements.

16. The system of claim 15, the software compliance module being further configured to

search, via the network interface, a publicly available source for additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program;

and

insert, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additionally software license requirements.

17. The system of claim 15, the software compliance module being further configured to

receive, via the network interface, a fee from the software vendor to verify that the computing processes executing the software program in the at least one cloud comply with the software license requirements, prior to receiving the software license requirements.

18. The system of claim 15, the software compliance module being further configured to

provide, via the network interface, an interface to receive additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program from a third party not associated with the additional software program;

and

insert, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additional software license requirements.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the software license requirements comprise at least one of an allowed usage of the software program, an allowed duration of use of the software program, and a number of allowed instances of the software program.

20. The system of claim 15, the software compliance module being further configured to

receive, via the network interface, additional software license requirements associated with an additional software program provided by the at least one cloud;

and

insert, into the record, an identification of the additional software program and the additional software license requirements.