Intelligent and Elastic Resource Pools for Heterogeneous Datacenter Environments

• US 20110213886A1
• Filed: 09/29/2010
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Kelkar, Suhas A., Darda, Monish, Gujral, Karanbir
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,554 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5011 Pool
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and systems for intelligent resource pool management of heterogeneous datacenter resources. In one embodiment, intelligent resource pool management is utilized to assist in application provisioning performed based upon a blueprint and deployment model defining requirements of the provisioned application. In other embodiments, intelligent resource pool managers are configured to work in concert with other intelligent resource pool managers and/or a centralized provisioning engine. Resource pools may also be configured in a hierarchical manner whereby higher level resource pools may automatically draw resources from lower level resource pools as directed by one or more intelligent resource pool managers.

Claims

1. A method of managing hierarchically structured resource pools to support application provisioning requests, the method comprising:

receiving a first request at a provisioning engine, executing on a program control device, the first request identifying resources to support an application provisioning request;

sending a second request to one or more locally managed resource pools indicating desired resources commensurate with the first request;

receiving one or more responses associated with the second request from the one or more locally managed resource pools, the response identifying potential resources;

processing at least a portion of the one or more responses; and

allocating from the processed one or more responses a set of resources to support the application provisioning request.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein locally managed resource pools comprise resource pools configured with an intelligent resource pool manager.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending a confirmation message for each received response wherein the confirmation message indicates allocated resources selected from the identified potential resources.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified potential resources comprise resources selected from the group consisting of server resources, network resources, and storage resources.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein server resources comprise resources selected from the group consisting of device resources, managed server resources, virtual managed server resources, hypervisor resources, and frame resources.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein network resources comprise resources selected from the group consisting of internet protocol (IP) address resources, virtual local area network resources, load balanced IP resources, network address translation address resources, network container resources, and network zone resources.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein storage resources comprise resources selected from the group consisting of world wide port name (WWPN) resources, WWPN+WWPN boot resources, shared file system resources, and virtual machine disk resources.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein hierarchically structured resource pools comprise resource pools complying with an inheritance model.

9. A computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions stored thereon to cause a processing device to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A computer network comprising:

a plurality of processing units communicatively coupled to a computer network;

a first processing unit configured to perform at least a portion of the method of claim 1 wherein the entire method of claim 1 is performed collectively by the plurality of processing units.

11. A computer system comprising one or more programmable control devices communicatively coupled to each other and to a computer network, wherein the one or more programmable control devices are programmed to perform the method of claim 1.

12. A method of managing hierarchically structured resource pools, the method comprising:

receiving, at a local resource pool manager executing on a program control device, a first request from a higher level resource pool manager for resources to be obtained from a locally managed resource pool;

sending a second request to a lower level resource pool manager, the second request indicating resources commensurate with replenishing the locally managed resource pool; and

sending a response to the higher level resource pool with an indication of resources to support the first request.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the higher level resource pool manager comprises a provisioning engine deployment coordinator.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the higher level resource pool manager comprises a resource pool manager at a lower level than a provisioning engine deployment coordinator.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the local resource pool manager communicates directly with a provisioning engine deployment coordinator.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the first or second request indicate resources selected from the group consisting of server resources, network resources, and storage resources.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the server resources comprise resources selected from the group consisting of device resources, managed server resources, virtual managed server resources, hypervisor resources, and frame resources.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein network resources comprise resources selected from the group consisting of internet protocol (IP) address resources, virtual local area network resources, load balanced IP resources, network address translation address resources, network container resources, and network zone resources.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein storage resources comprise resources selected from the group consisting of world wide port name (WWPN) resources, WWPN+WWPN boot resources, shared file system resources, and virtual machine disk resources.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein hierarchically structured resource pools comprise resource pools complying with an inheritance model.

21. A computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions stored thereon to cause a processing device to perform the method of claim 12.

22. A computer network comprising:

a plurality of processing units communicatively coupled to a computer network;

a first processing unit configured to perform at least a portion of the method of claim 12 wherein the entire method of claim 12 is performed collectively by the plurality of processing units.

23. A computer system comprising one or more programmable control devices communicatively coupled to each other and to a computer network, wherein the one or more programmable control devices are programmed to perform the method of claim 12.