PEAK-PERFORMANCE-AWARE BILLING FOR CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20140032405A1
• Filed: 06/14/2011
• Published: 01/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Kurabayashi, Shuichi, Yoshida, Naofumi, Takano, Kosuke
• Granted Patent: US 9,727,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction

Abstract

In some examples, a method is described that may include determining, by a computing device, from a service level agreement (SLA) with a user, an upper limit on computer resources in a cloud computing environment that can be consumed per unit time by at least one application executed for the user in the cloud computing environment. The method may also include charging a fixed cost per period under the SLA.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by a computing device, from a service level agreement (SLA) with a user, an upper limit on computer resources in a cloud computing environment that can be consumed per unit time by at least one application executed for the user in the cloud computing environment; and

charging a fixed cost per period under the SLA.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

estimating an amount of computer resources to satisfy the SLA; and

determining the fixed cost according to the estimated amount of computer resources compared to a total available amount of computer resources.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer resources include at least one processing resource and at least one storage resource.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring consumption of the computer resources by the at least one application per unit time;

determining that consumption of the computer resources by the at least one application per unit time exceeds the upper limit; and

in response to the determination, decreasing allocation of the computer resources to the at least one application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein decreasing allocation of the computer resources to the at least one application comprises decreasing a priority level of a virtual machine executing the at least one application in the cloud computing environment.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the measured consumption per unit time includes at least one of central processing unit (CPU) cycles per unit time and input/output (I/O) data amount per unit time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the upper limit varies with time.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the upper limit varies between a first value at a first time of day and a second value at a second time of day, and wherein the first value is lower than the second value.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first time of day is included in a core business time during daytime, and the second time of day is included in an economy time during nighttime.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the upper limit during a first time of year corresponding to a corporate accounting period is relatively lower than during a second time of year.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the SLA comprises a first SLA, the upper limit comprises a first upper limit, and the fixed cost comprises a first fixed cost, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to increase computer resources that can be consumed by the at least one application per unit time;

while the at least one application is being executed for the user in the cloud computing environment, migrating from the first SLA to a second SLA having a second upper limit that is higher than the first upper limit; and

charging a second fixed cost per period under the second SLA, wherein the second fixed cost is higher than the first fixed cost.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to increase computer resources that can be consumed by the at least one application per unit time;

allocating computer resources in excess of the upper limit for execution of the at least one application; and

charging a usage based fee for consumption of computer resources that exceeds the upper limit.

13. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:

storing an upper limit on computer resources in a cloud computing environment that can be consumed per unit time by at least one application executed for a user in the cloud computing environment;

measuring consumption of the computer resources by the at least one application per unit time;

determining whether consumption of the computer resources by the at least one application per unit time exceeds the upper limit; and

in response to determining that consumption by the at least one application exceeds the upper limit, decreasing allocation of the computer resources to the at least one application.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein decreasing allocation of the computer resources to the at least one application comprises decreasing a priority level of a virtual machine executing the at least one application in the cloud computing environment.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the upper limit varies with time.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the upper limit varies between a first value at a first time of day and a second value at a second time of day, and wherein the first value is lower than the second value.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the first time of day is included in a core business time during daytime, and the second time of day is included in an economy time during nighttime.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the upper limit during a first time of year corresponding to a corporate accounting period is relatively lower than during a second time of year.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein the computer resources include at least one central processing unit (CPU) and at least one storage device.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 19, wherein the measured consumption per unit time includes at least one of central processing unit (CPU) cycles per unit time and input/output (I/O) data amount per unit time.

21. A back end system of a cloud computing environment, the back end system comprising:

a service level agreement (SLA) information module comprising computer-executable instructions that are executable by at least one processing resource to store, in at least one storage resource, an upper limit on computer resources that can be consumed per unit time by at least one application executed for a user in the cloud computing environment;

a resource counter module comprising computer-executable instructions that are executable by the at least one processing resource to measure consumption of the computer resources by the at least one application per unit time; and

a priority controller module comprising computer-executable instructions that are executable by the at least one processing resource to;

determine whether consumption of the computer resources by the at least one application per unit time exceeds the upper limit; and

in response to determining that consumption by the at least one application exceeds the upper limit, decreasing allocation of the computer resources to the at least one application.

22. The back end system of claim 21, further comprising the computer resources including the at least one processing resource and the at least one storage resource.

23. The back end system of claim 22, further comprising a virtual machine configured to execute the at least one application using virtualized resources allocated from the computer resources.

24. The back end system of claim 23, wherein the virtual machine comprises VMware ESX, VMware GSX, XEN 3.0, or KVM.

25. The back end system of claim 23, wherein:

a priority level of the virtual machine determines a frequency of allocation of resources to the virtual machine for execution of the at least one application; and

the priority controller module is configured to decrease allocation of the computer resources to the at least one application by decreasing the priority level of the virtual machine.