Migrating Computing Environment Entitlement Contracts Based on Seller and Buyer Specified Criteria

• US 20130006793A1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Sullivan, Patrick J., Thorburn, James C.
• Application Number:
  US13/171,574
• Publication Number:
  US 20130006793A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Mechanisms are provided for migrating a computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) from one computing resource to another. These mechanisms generate one or more CEEC data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system. A first request from a provider system is received requesting to be a buyer of a CEEC data structure. The first request comprises first selection criteria for selecting a seller of the CEEC data structure. A second request from a seller system that owns a CEEC data structure is received requesting to be a seller of the CEEC data structure. The second request comprises second selection criteria for selecting a buyer for the CEEC data structure. The provider system is paired with the seller system based on the first and second selection criteria and the CEEC data structure is migrated from the seller system to the provider system.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system comprising at least one computing device and a plurality of computing resources, for migrating a computing environment entitlement contract from one computing resource to another, comprising:

generating, by the at least one computing device, one or more computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system, wherein the terms of the CEEC specify a set of computing resources having a specified configuration that are to be used by the contracting party for a specified purpose at a specified level and pattern of intensity for a specified period of time;

receiving, in the at least one computing device, a first request from a provider system that provides one or more computing resources, requesting to be a buyer of a CEEC data structure, wherein the first request comprises first selection criteria for selecting a seller of the CEEC data structure;

receiving, in the at least one computing device, a second request from a seller system that owns a CEEC data structure, requesting to be a seller of the CEEC data structure, wherein the second request comprises second selection criteria for selecting a buyer for the CEEC data structure;

pairing, by the at least one computing device, the provider system with the seller system based on the first and second selection criteria;

migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the provider system; and

executing workloads on the provider system in accordance with the terms specified in the migrated CEEC data structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first selection criteria specifies at least one of a requirement of the buyer to provide a certain amount of computing resources and a certain type of computing resources to satisfy a measured computing resource utilization corresponding to the CEEC data structure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second selection criteria specifies at least one of a requirement of the seller to utilize a certain amount of computing resources and a certain type of computing resources.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the buyer system based on business objective criteria specified in a transaction specification, wherein the migrating of the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the buyer system is performed only in response to a determination that the migration of the CEEC data structure satisfies the business objective criteria specified in the transaction specification.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the transaction specification is generated by a user via a transaction builder user interface, and wherein the user specifies the business objective criteria via the transaction builder user interface.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a plurality of transaction instances for migrating CEEC data structures between seller systems and buyer systems are generated based on the transaction specification, and wherein the business objective criteria of the transaction specification is used with each transaction instance to determine if migrations of CEEC data structures between seller systems and buyer systems associated with the transaction instance are to be performed.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein pairing the seller system with the buyer system is performed in accordance with the first selection criteria, the second selection criteria, and the business objective criteria of an instance of the transaction specification.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the buyer system is one of a plurality of buyer systems that each buy a portion of the CEEC data structure by separating the CEEC data structure into constituent parts based on the terms in the CEEC data structure.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer is performed in accordance with the instance of the transaction specification, and wherein the instance of the transaction specification is executed using four transaction phases comprising a creation phase in which the instance of the transaction specification is created, an assembly phase in which the seller system and the buyer system signal acceptance of the transaction, an initiation phase in which a determination is made as to whether completion of the migration meets the business objective criteria specified in the instance of the transaction specification, and a settlement phase in which the migration is completed between the seller system and the buyer system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer comprises nullifying the CEEC data structure on the seller system and creating a new CEEC data structure on the buyer system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the buyer system comprises resetting an identifier in the CEEC data structure to identify the buyer system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the buyer system and the seller system each comprise a computing resource cohort comprising a plurality of computing resources.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed in a data processing system comprising at least one computing device, causes a computing device of the at least one computing device to:

generate one or more computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system, wherein the terms of the CEEC specify a set of computing resources having a specified configuration that are to be used by the contracting party for a specified purpose at a specified level and pattern of intensity for a specified period of time;

receive a first request from a provider system that provides one or more computing resources, requesting to be a buyer of a CEEC data structure, wherein the first request comprises first selection criteria for selecting a seller of the CEEC data structure;

receive a second request from a seller system that owns a CEEC data structure, requesting to be a seller of the CEEC data structure, wherein the second request comprises second selection criteria for selecting a buyer for the CEEC data structure;

pair the provider system with the seller system based on the first and second selection criteria;

migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the provider system; and

execute workloads on the provider system in accordance with the terms specified in the migrated CEEC data structure.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the first selection criteria specifies at least one of a requirement of the buyer to provide a certain amount of computing resources and a certain type of computing resources to satisfy a measured computing resource utilization corresponding to the CEEC data structure.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the second selection criteria specifies at least one of a requirement of the seller to utilize a certain amount of computing resources and a certain type of computing resources.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program further causes the at least one computing device to determine whether or not to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the buyer system based on business objective criteria specified in a transaction specification, wherein the migrating of the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the buyer system is performed only in response to a determination that the migration of the CEEC data structure satisfies the business objective criteria specified in the transaction specification.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the transaction specification is generated by a user via a transaction builder user interface, and wherein the user specifies the business objective criteria via the transaction builder user interface.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein a plurality of transaction instances for migrating CEEC data structures between seller systems and buyer systems are generated based on the transaction specification, and wherein the business objective criteria of the transaction specification is used with each transaction instance to determine if migrations of CEEC data structures between seller systems and buyer systems associated with the transaction instance are to be performed.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program further causes the at least one computing device to pairing the seller system with the buyer system in accordance with the first selection criteria, the second selection criteria, and the business objective criteria of an instance of the transaction specification.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein at least one of the buyer system is one of a plurality of buyer systems that each buy a portion of the CEEC data structure by separating the CEEC data structure into constituent parts based on the terms in the CEEC data structure.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program further causes the at least one computing device to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer in accordance with the instance of the transaction specification, and wherein the instance of the transaction specification is executed using four transaction phases comprising a creation phase in which the instance of the transaction specification is created, an assembly phase in which the seller system and the buyer system signal acceptance of the transaction, an initiation phase in which a determination is made as to whether completion of the migration meets the business objective criteria specified in the instance of the transaction specification, and a settlement phase in which the migration is completed between the seller system and the buyer system.

22. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program further causes the at least one computing device to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer by nullifying the CEEC data structure on the seller system and creating a new CEEC data structure on the buyer system.

23. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program further causes the at least one computing device to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the buyer system by resetting an identifier in the CEEC data structure to identify the buyer system.

24. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the buyer system and the seller system each comprise a computing resource cohort comprising a plurality of computing resources.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

generate one or more computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system, wherein the terms of the CEEC specify a set of computing resources having a specified configuration that are to be used by the contracting party for a specified purpose at a specified level and pattern of intensity for a specified period of time;

receive a first request from a provider system that provides one or more computing resources, requesting to be a buyer of a CEEC data structure, wherein the first request comprises first selection criteria for selecting a seller of the CEEC data structure;

receive a second request from a seller system that owns a CEEC data structure, requesting to be a seller of the CEEC data structure, wherein the second request comprises second selection criteria for selecting a buyer for the CEEC data structure;

pair the provider system with the seller system based on the first and second selection criteria;

migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller system to the provider system; and

execute workloads on the provider system in accordance with the terms specified in the migrated CEEC data structure.