Service level agreements and management thereof

• US 7,120,694 B2
• Filed: 10/22/1999
• Issued: 10/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Laboratories Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Laboratories Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Sinha, Himanshu S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLAIR, DOUGLAS B
• Application Number:
  US09/425,088
• Publication Number:
  US 20030187966A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,545 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/226, 709/228, 709/225, 709/229, 370/465, 370/252, 713200-202
• US Class Current: 709/228
• 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: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5019 Ensuring fulfilment of SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing

Abstract

Method and apparatus for service level agreement formation and management is described. More particularly, a service level agreement (SLA) manager is described. This SLA manager comprises an admission controller, a specification module and a performance measurement module. Such SLA manager is interposed between one or more client computer systems and a service provider computer system.

Claims

1. In a system having a client computer system and a service provider computer system programmed with a service implementation, an apparatus comprising:

a service level agreement manager disposed between the client computer system and the service implementation, the service level agreement manager comprising;

an admission controller configured to control admission of the client computer system to the service implementation using a service level agreement;

a performance measurement module in communication with the admission controller and configured to;

measure performance of the service implementation, and

modify an estimated capacity of the service provider based on the measured performance; and

a specification module in communication with the admission controller and with the performance measurement module.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the specification module is configured to compare service implementation performance data and client usage information.

3. A method for service level formation, comprising:

providing a service level agreement manager, the service level agreement manager having an admission controller, a specification module and a performance measurement module;

establishing communication between a client computer system and the service level agreement manager;

invoking the specification module or the service level agreement manager;

obtaining performance information from the performance measurement module;

obtaining usage information from the client;

comparing the performance information and the usage information to determine if there exists a basis for forming a service level agreement;

measuring, by the performance measurement module, actual performance associated with at least one service level agreement; and

modifying estimated capacity, by the service level agreement manager, based on the measured actual performance.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

forming the service level agreement; and

providing the admission controller with specification information from the service level agreement formed.

5. A method for managing system performance, comprising:

providing a service level agreement manager;

forming a service level agreement between a client organization and a service organization;

receiving a request from the client organization to the service level agreement manager;

with the service level agreement manager,

determining if the request is within the scope of the service level agreement;

if the request is within the scope of the service level agreement, providing the request to a performance measurement module and to the service organization;

obtaining a result from the service organization in response to the request;

taking at least one performance measurement associated with performance response of the service organization to the request; and

checking the at least one performance measurement taken against the service level agreement;

recording the at least one performance measurement; and

modifying an estimated capacity associated with the service organization based on the at least one performance measurement.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing the result obtained to the client.

7. A network, comprising:

a plurality of service level managers;

at least one invocation infrastructure for communication between a plurality of client processes and the plurality of service level managers; and

each service level manager of the service level managers in communication with a respective service implementation and configured to;

receive a request from at least one of the client processes,

determine whether to accept the request based on an estimated capacity of a service provider,

accept the request when the estimated capacity is adequate,

measure performance associated with fulfilling the request, and

modify the estimated capacity based on the measured performance.

8. The network of claim 7, wherein the invocation infrastructure comprises a Common Object Request Broker Architecture.

9. The network of claim 7, wherein the invocation infrastructure comprises Java Remote Method Invocation.

10. The network of claim 7, wherein the invocation infrastructure comprises Hypertext Transport Protocol.

11. The network of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of client processes is assigned a number of tokens and when determining whether to accept the request from a first client process to a first service level manager, the first service level manager is further configured to:

determine whether to accept the request based on the number of tokens associated with the first client process.

12. The network of claim 11, wherein when the request from the first client process is accepted, the first service level manager is further configured to:

deduct a number of tokens from the first client process.

13. A network, comprising:

a first plurality of service level managers;

at least one invocation infrastructure for communication between said first plurality of service level managers and a client process;

each service level manager of said first plurality of service level managers in communication with a respective service implementation of a first plurality of service implementations;

each said service implementation of said first plurality of service implementations in communication with at least one service level manager of a second plurality of service level managers; and

each service level manager of said second plurality of service level managers in communication with a respective service implementation of a second plurality of service level implementations, wherein at least one of the first plurality and second plurality of service level managers is configured to;

enter into a service level agreement with the client process,

receive a request from the client process,

determine whether to accept the request based on an estimated capacity of a service provider,

accept the request when the estimated capacity is adequate,

measure performance associated with fulfilling the request, and

modify the estimated capacity based on the measured performance.

14. The network of claim 13, wherein the invocation infrastructure comprises a Common Object Request Broker Architecture.

15. The network of claim 13, wherein the invocation infrastructure comprises Java Remote Method Invocation.

16. The network of claim 13, wherein the invocation infrastructure comprises Hypertext Transport Protocol.