FACILITATING MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES

• US 20150281124A1
• Filed: 03/26/2015
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhao, Tom Xiaodong
• Granted Patent: US 10,587,533 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/16 using machine learning or artificial intelligence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/746 Reaction triggered by a failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus and method for facilitating management of resources. The apparatus configured to collect all software and hardware resources available to a user; store information associated with the collected resources; present the information associated with the collected resources to the user and receive a resource allocation request from the user; and configure resources based on the resource allocation request; allocate the configured resources to the user. By means of the present disclosure, it is possible to achieve one-stop-shop resource query, fully automated resource configuration, reduced costs for maintenance and/or precise instructions for resource expansion.

Claims

1. An apparatus for facilitating management of resources, comprising:

a facilitating unit configured to

collect software and hardware resources, wherein a portion of the software and hardware resources are available to a user;

store information associated with the collected resources;

present the information associated with the collected resources to the user;

receive a resource allocation request from the user;

configure the requested resources based on the resource allocation request; and

allocate the configured resources to the user.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further configured to maintain at least a part of software and hardware resources while collecting the available portion of software and hardware resources available to the user.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further configured to determine the resources requested by the user in response to receiving the resource allocation request from the user.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further configured to:

record information associated with allocation of the requested resources; and

analyze the recorded information to optimize expansion of the collected resources.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further configured to analyze the information recorded in a predetermined time period so as to determine at least one of:

a usage rate of the resources;

vacancy windows of the resources; and

a shortage rate of the resources.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the resource allocation request comprises at least one of:

types of the requested resources;

a number of each type of the requested resources; and

configuration requirements on each of the requested resources.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the resource allocation request further comprises at least one of:

an identifier of the user;

usage of the requested resources; and

a time period in which the requested resources will be used.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, further configured to:

track states of the requested resources; and

present the states of the requested resources to the user.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the states of the requested resources comprises one of:

configuring;

ready for use;

in use; and

ready for reclaim.

10. A method for facilitating management of resources, comprising:

collecting software resources and hardware resources, wherein a portion of the software resources and the hardware resources are available to a user;

storing information associated with the collected resources;

presenting the information associated with the collected resources to the user;

receiving a resource allocation request from the user;

configuring requested resources based on the resource allocation request; and

allocating the configured resources to the user.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

while collecting the portion of the software resources and the hardware resources available to the user, maintaining at least a part of the software resources and the hardware resources.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

in response to receiving the resource allocation request from the user, accessing the information associated with the collected resources so as to determine the resources requested by the user.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

recording information associated with allocation of the requested resources; and

analyzing the recorded information to optimize expansion of the collected resources.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein analyzing the recorded information comprises analyzing the information recorded in a predetermined time period to determine at least one of:

a usage rate of the resources;

vacancy windows of the resources; and

a shortage rate of the resources.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the resource allocation request comprises at least one of:

types of the requested resources;

a number of each type of the requested resources; and

configuration requirements on each of the requested resources.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the resource allocation request further comprises at least one of:

an identifier of the user;

usage of the requested resources; and

a time period in which the requested resources will be used.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:

tracking states of the requested resources; and

presenting the states of the requested resources to the user.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the states of the requested resources comprises at least one of:

configuring;

ready for use;

in use; and

ready for reclaim.

19. A computer program product for facilitating management of resources, the computer program product being tangibly stored on a non-transient computer-readable medium and comprising machine executable instructions which, when executed, cause the machine to:

collect software resources and hardware resources, wherein a portion of the software resources and hardware resources are available to a user;

store information associated with the collected resources;

present the information associated with the collected resources to the user;

receive a resource allocation request from the user;

configure requested resources based on the resource allocation request; and

allocate the configured resources to the user.