Method for dynamic information technology infrastructure provisioning

• US 8,000,260 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2006
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DeGilio, Frank J., Swehla, Sean M., Brady, John F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ferris; Derrick W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yeung; Mang
• Application Number:
  US11/424,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20070294736A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,884 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-226, 370/254
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Provisioning and management resources are drawn from an overall pool of resources. Management and managed resources are then dynamically associated on the network to securely perform requested on-demand management functions. Since the managing system controls the networking between the devices that are managed or provisioned, the linkage of resources incurs a minimal amount of network overhead. Since provisioning resources are themselves dynamically built and automatically associated with the resources being managed, a dramatically reduced management overhead is achieved.

Claims

1. A method of providing on-demand data processing services, said method comprising:

dynamically selecting, by a processor, as a provisioning resource a resource from a pool of raw resources in response to an on-demand provisioning request and placing the provisioning resource in a pool of provisioning resources that build managed resources, wherein building managed resources comprises identifying, assigning and interconnecting one or more resources to meet on-demand provisioning requests, the pool of raw resources including dynamically provisionable resources that are not assigned a particular function in the pool of raw resources but are individually definable as any of (i) a provisioning resource that builds managed resources, (ii) a managed resource that is built by one or more provisioning resources, and (iii) a management resource that instructs the provisioning resources in building the managed resources, wherein defining a resource from the pool of raw resources comprises employing a remote booting capability which facilitates configuring the resource as a provisioning resource, a managed resource, or a management resource;

performing provisioning by the dynamically selected provisioning resource, the performing provisioning building one or more managed resources using one or more other resources from the pool of raw resources and employing the remote booting capability in configuring the one or more resources as the one or more managed resources; and

in response to completing the provisioning by the dynamically selected provisioning resource, making the dynamically selected provisioning resource available for another function.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said making the dynamically selected provisioning resource available for another function comprises returning the dynamically selected provisioning resource to the pool of raw resources to be available as a management resource, a managed resource, or a provisioning resource.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the making the dynamically selected provisioning resource available for another function further comprises, subsequent to returning the dynamically selected provisioning resource to the pool of raw resources, provisioning the dynamically selected provisioning resource as at least one of a managed resource or a management resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said on-demand provisioning request is provided through a network service protocol.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said network service protocol is the Simple Object Access Protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said on-demand data processing services include an advanced reservation capability.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said on-demand data processing services include an advanced scheduling capability.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein additional resources are defined via a network service protocol.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing provisioning is performed by a plurality of dynamically selected provisioning resources.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more other resource includes software, and said building comprises installing the software on at least one resource of the one or more other resources.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more raw resources of said pool of raw resources are identified as being in maintenance mode and unavailable for dynamic allocation, and wherein in response to completing maintenance on the one or more raw resources, the one or more raw resources are available for dynamic allocation.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamically selected provisioning resource is automatically associated with one or more raw resources of the pool of raw resources.

13. A data processing system for providing on-demand services, said system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, in communications with the memory, wherein the data processing system is configured to perform;

dynamically selecting as a provisioning resource a resource from a pool of raw resources in response to an on-demand provisioning request and placing the provisioning resource in a pool of provisioning resources that build managed resources, wherein building managed resources comprises identifying, assigning and interconnecting one or more resources to meet on-demand provisioning requests, the pool of raw resources including dynamically provisionable resources that are not assigned a particular function in the pool of raw resources but are individually definable as any of (i) a provisioning resource that builds managed resources, (ii) a managed resource that is built by one or more provisioning resources, and (iii) a management resource that instructs the provisioning resources in building the managed resources, wherein defining a resource from the pool of raw resources comprises employing a remote booting capability which facilitates configuring the resource as a provisioning resource, a managed resource, or a management resource;

the server resource to perform provisioning, the performing provisioning building one or more managed resources using one or more other resources from the pool of raw resources, and employing the remote booting capability in configuring the one or more resources as the one or more managed resources; and

in response to completing the provisioning by the dynamically selected provisioning resource, making the dynamically selected provisioning resource available for another function.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said making the dynamically selected provisioning available comprises returning the dynamically selected provisioning resource to the pool of raw resources to be available as a management resource, a managed resource, or a provisioning resource.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the making the dynamically selected provisioning resource available for another function further comprises, subsequent to returning the dynamically selected provisioning resource to the pool of raw resources, provisioning the dynamically selected provisioning resource as at least one of a managed resource and a management resource.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more other resources includes software, and said building comprises installing the software on at least one resource of the one or more other resources.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein one or more raw resources of said pool of raw resources are identified as being in maintenance mode and unavailable for dynamic allocation, and wherein in response to completing maintenance on the one or more raw resources, the one or more raw resources are available for dynamic allocation.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said on-demand provisioning request is provided through a network service protocol.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein said on-demand services include one or more of an advanced reservation capability, an advanced scheduling capability, or a capability for remote booting.