Assigning States to Cloud Resources

• US 20130232252A1
• Filed: 03/01/2012
• Published: 09/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Huang, Alex, Vittal, Chiradeep, Chan, William
• Granted Patent: US 9,213,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3891 organised in groups of units sharing resources, e.g. clusters
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• 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

Abstract

Methods and systems for management of cloud computing resources are described herein. A management server for a cloud of physical computing resources may assign states to individual physical computing resources or groups of physical computing resources. The states may include a disabled state, in which only administrator access to the resources is permitted; an enabled state, in which user access to the resources is permitted; a restricted state, in which some, but not all user requests to the resources are permitted; and an unmanaged state, in which no communications between the resources and the management server are permitted.

Claims

1. One or more tangible computer readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a system to perform:

receiving, at a management server for a cloud that includes a first group of physical computing resources, a message comprising an indication that a second group of two or more physical computing resources has been connected to the cloud, each physical computing resource capable of running an operating system;

assigning, at the management server, a disabled state to the second group of physical computing resources and, responsive to the disabled state being assigned to the second group, the management server allowing access to the second group of physical computing resources only by a predefined set of administrators; and

in response to input from one of said administrators, assigning an enabled state to the second group of physical computing resources, and, responsive to the enabled state being assigned to the second group, the management server allowing access by additional users to the second group of physical computing resources.

2. The one or more tangible computer readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions also cause the system to perform:

assigning a restricted state to a third group of physical computing resources, and, responsive to the restricted state being assigned to the third group, the management server permitting user access to existing instances of operating systems running on running on the third group of physical computing resources and preventing user-directed creation of additional instances of operating systems on the third group of physical computing resources.

3. The one or more tangible computer readable media of claim 2, wherein the restricted state is assigned to the third group of physical computing resources in response to:

measuring the performance of the third group of physical computing resources; and

determining that the measured performance of the third group of physical computing resources indicates performance that falls below a first threshold.

4. The one or more tangible computer readable media of claim 3, wherein the instructions also cause the system to perform:

assigning the enabled state to the third group of physical computing resources in responsive to a second measurement of the performance of the third group of physical computing resources indicating performance above a second threshold.

5. The one or more tangible computer readable media of claim 4, wherein the second threshold is different from the first threshold.

6. The one or more tangible computer readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions also cause the system to perform:

in response to input from one of said administrators, assigning an unmanaged state to a third group of physical computing resources, and, responsive to the unmanaged state being assigned to the third group, the management server prohibiting all communications from the management server to the third group of physical computing resources.

7. The one or more tangible computer readable media of claim 6, wherein, responsive to the unmanaged state being assigned to the third group, the management server ignores all communications received from the third group of physical computing resources.

8. The one or more tangible computer readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions also cause the system to perform:

restricting, at a gateway between at least one group of physical computing resources and the management server, communications between the at least one group of physical computing resources and the management server based on the state associated with each of the physical computing resources.

9. The one or more tangible computer readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions also cause the system to perform:

receiving, at the management server, a user request to create a new instance of an operating system on one of a plurality of physical computing resources; and

directing, at the management server, one of the plurality of physical computing resources to create the new instance of the operating system, wherein said one of the plurality of physical computing resources was selected based at least in part on the enabled state being assigned to said one of the plurality of physical computing resources.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, at a management server for a cloud that includes a first group of physical computing resources, a message comprising an indication that a second group of two or more physical computing resources has been connected to the cloud, each physical computing resource capable of running an operating system;

assigning, at the management server, a disabled state to the second group of physical computing resources and, responsive to the disabled state being assigned to the second group, the management server allowing access to the second group of physical computing resources only by a predefined set of administrators; and

in response to input from one of said administrators, assigning an enabled state to the second group of physical computing resources, and, responsive to the enabled state being assigned to the second group, the management server allowing access by additional users to the second group of physical computing resources.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

assigning a restricted state to a third group of physical computing resources, and, responsive to the restricted state being assigned to the third group, the management server permitting user access to existing instances of operating systems running on running on the third group of physical computing resources and preventing user-directed creation of additional instances of operating systems on the third group of physical computing resources.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the restricted state is assigned to the third group of physical computing resources in response to:

measuring the performance of the third group of physical computing resources; and

determining that the measured performance of the third group of physical computing resources indicates performance that falls below a first threshold.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

assigning the enabled state to the third group of physical computing resources in responsive to a second measurement of the performance of the third group of physical computing resources indicating performance above a second threshold.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second threshold is different from the first threshold.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

in response to input from one of said administrators, assigning an unmanaged state to a third group of physical computing resources, and, responsive to the unmanaged state being assigned to the third group, the management server prohibiting all communications from the management server to the third group of physical computing resources.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, responsive to the unmanaged state being assigned to the third group, the management server ignores all communications received from the third group of physical computing resources.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

restricting, at a gateway between at least one group of physical computing resources and the management server, communications between the at least one group of physical computing resources and the management server based on the state associated with each of the physical computing resources.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, at the management server, a user request to create a new instance of an operating system on one of a plurality of physical computing resources; and

directing, at the management server, one of the plurality of physical computing resources to create the new instance of the operating system, wherein said one of the plurality of physical computing resources was selected based at least in part on the enabled state being assigned to said one of the plurality of physical computing resources.

19. A system comprising:

a cloud that includes a plurality of computers; and

a management server for the cloud, the management server configured to;

store data defining an organization of said computers into groups of two or more computers;

associate at least one state with each of said groups of two or more computers, wherein each state is selected from a group of states that comprises an enabled state and a restricted state; and

restrict access to the computers based on the states associated with the computers

wherein, for the enabled stated, the management server is configured to;

permit user access to existing instances of operating systems running on the computers; and

permit user-directed creation of additional instances of operating systems on the computers; and

wherein, for the restricted state, the management server is configured to;

permit user access to existing instances of operating systems running on the computers; and

prevent user-directed creation of additional instances of operating systems on the computers.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the group of states further comprises a disabled state;

and

wherein, for the disabled state, the management server is configured to;

prevent user access to existing instances of operating systems running on the computers; and

permit only administrators of the management server to send communications to the computers.