SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AGGREGATE MONITORING OF UTILIZATION DATA FOR VENDOR PRODUCTS IN CLOUD NETWORKS

• US 20110295727A1
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2010
• 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 9,202,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for the aggregate monitoring of utilization data for vendor products in cloud networks. A service can be abstracted and provided external to a set of cloud networks which can access the management system(s), vendor databases, or other resources in those clouds, and generate selective reports on application or other usage across those diverse cloud networks. A network user may wish to generate a report on the usage history of software or services in multiple host clouds, without establishing or accessing individual tracking servers or services in each of the host cloud networks. In aspects, the user may also wish to generate an aggregate report combining multiple vendors, user groups, software, or other attributes. The usage report(s) can be configured to use different criteria or generate different outputs on a dynamic basis, e.g. in different times frames, or altering reports under different usage conditions.

Claims

1. A method of operating a usage monitoring service in a cloud environment, comprising:

receiving an identification of an application operated by a user hosted in a set of cloud-based networks;

aggregating a set of usage histories for the application based on operation of the application across the set of cloud-based networks; and

generating a usage report for the application based on the set of usage histories.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage monitoring service is generated via a service external to at least one cloud management system of the set of cloud-based networks.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of usage histories comprises a set of data indicating at least one of usage time of the application, a number of instances of the application, a number of registered users of the application, a number of support events associated with the application, an amount of bandwidth associated with usage of the application, or an amount of data consumption associated with the application software resources.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification of the application is received via at least one of user input or an automatically generated identification.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the data in the set of usage histories usage is received from a set of vendor repositories hosted in the plurality of cloud-based networks.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the application comprises a plurality of applications.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of applications are provided by a plurality of vendors.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the usage report is generated based on the plurality of applications provided by the plurality of vendors across the set of cloud-based networks.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising applying a set of usage history search criteria to the set of usage histories to generate the usage report.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the usage report comprises a report generated on at least one of a per-vendor, per-application, or per-cloud basis based on the set of usage history search criteria.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage report comprises at least one of a billing or subscription report based on the set of usage histories.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the application comprises a plurality of applications.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of applications are provided by a plurality of vendors.

17. The system of claim 7, wherein the usage report is generated based on the plurality of applications provided by the plurality of vendors across the set of cloud-based networks.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to apply a set of usage history search criteria to the set of usage histories to generate the usage report.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the usage report comprises a report generated on at least one of a per-vendor, per-application, or per-cloud basis based on the set of usage history search criteria.

12. A system for operating a usage monitoring service in a cloud environment in a cloud environment, comprising:

a network interface to a set of cloud-based networks; and

a processor, communicating with the set of cloud-based networks via the network interface, the processor being configured to—

receive an identification of an application operated by a user hosted in the set of cloud-based networks;

aggregate a set of usage histories for the application based on operation of the application across the set of cloud-based networks, and

generate a usage report for the application based on the set of usage histories.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the usage monitoring service is generated via a service external to at least one cloud management system of the set of cloud-based networks.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the set of usage histories comprises a set of data indicating at least one of usage time of the application, a number of instances of the application, a number of registered users of the application, a number of support events associated with the application, an amount of bandwidth associated with usage of the application, or an amount of data consumption associated with the application software resources.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the usage report comprises at least one of a billing or subscription report based on the set of usage histories.

21. A method of operating a usage monitoring service in a cloud environment, comprising:

receiving an identification of a set of executable software resources hosted in a set of cloud-based networks;

capturing a set of usage histories for the set of executable software resources in the set of cloud-based networks;

receiving a set of usage history search criteria to search the set of usage histories; and

generating a usage report based on the usage history data.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the set of executable software resources comprises at least one of a set of operating system resources, a set of application resources, a set of appliance resources, a set of service resources, or a set of database resources.