System for determining unreturned standby resource usage

• US 7,958,218 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2008
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grimm, Randall Lane, Lewis, David Otto, Schardt, Terry Lyle, Birkestrand, Daniel Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US11/970,789
• Publication Number:
  US 20080109805A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,246 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-229, 709/233, 709/231
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/508 Monitor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

An apparatus, program product and method for determining unreturned standby resource usage. Unreturned standby resource data is monitored and stored separately from other standby resource data for billing and other accounting purposes.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a computer including a standby resource comprising an allocatable component configured to affect the functionality of the computer and to be selectively activated to address a computing need and having a specified window of activity; and

program code in communication with the computer, the program code configured to determine expected usage data of the standby resource operating within the specified window of activity, as well as unreturned usage data of the standby resource operating outside of the specified window of activity, the program code further configured to process the unreturned usage data of the standby resource separately from the expected usage data of the standby resource, and to output the processed unreturned usage data, wherein the program code initiates restricting the activity of a second standby resource in response to determining the unreturned resource usage.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code initiates a count associated with the unreturned usage data in response to the standby resource operating outside of the specified window of activity.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the program code initiates incrementing the count in response to detecting a measurable billing occurrence.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the measurable billing occurrence includes at least one event selected from a group consisting of:

a time unit, a day, a processor cycle, a software prompt and resource usage.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code initiates storing a record of the standby resource operating outside of the specified window of activity.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code initiates processing the unreturned usage data as a function of a billable cost per measurable unit.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code initiates storing the unreturned usage data separately from the expected usage data.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code initiates communicating the processed unreturned usage data to a billing computer.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the standby resource includes at least one computing resource selected from a group consisting of:

a processor, memory, an interface, an input/output controller, an adaptor, a hardware device and a card.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code initiates determining that the standby resource is unrecliamable.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the program code initiates designating the standby resource as unreclaimable.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer is a logically partitioned computer.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the standby resource comprises at least one of a processor or a memory asset.

14. A non-transitory computer recordable medium bearing a program product, comprising:

program code configured to determine expected usage data of a standby resource comprising an allocatable component configured to affect the functionality of a data processing system executing the program code and to be selectively activated to address a computing need and operating within a specified window of activity, as well as unreturned usage data of the standby resource operating outside the specified window of activity, the program code further configured to process the unreturned usage data of the standby resource separately from the expected usage data of the standby resource, and to output the processed unreturned usage data, wherein the program code initiates determining that the standby resource is unreclaimable without interrupting the standby resource.