Optimization of aspects of information technology structures

• US 8,121,996 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2009
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Andreev, Dmitry, Greenstein, Paul G., Grunin, Galina, Vilshansky, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Mahmoudi, Tony
• Assistant Examiner(s): McCue, Brittany N
• Application Number:
  US12/424,698
• Publication Number:
  US 20090204693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,041 Days
• Field of Search: 707/999.002, 707/705, 706/19, 717/151, 700/28, 700/33, 700/52
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/24 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A computer system and computer program product for optimizing an aspect of an Information Technology (IT) structure of an IT system. The aspect of the IT structure is optimized with respect to at least one control parameter. The IT structure includes a plurality of elements. Each element independently is a hardware element, a software element, or a combination of a hardware element and a software element. Each control parameter has a value that is specific to each element of the IT structure.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising a processor and a computer readable memory unit coupled to the processor, said memory unit containing instructions that when executed by the processor implement a method for optimizing an aspect of an Information Technology (IT) structure of an IT system, said method comprising:

selecting at least one control parameter from a set of externally modifiable properties of a plurality of elements comprised by the IT structure, wherein each element is independently a hardware element, a software element, or a combination thereof, and wherein each control parameter has a value that is specific to each element of the plurality of elements;

specifying permissible values for each control parameter of the at least one control parameter;

after said selecting at least one control parameter and said specifying permissible values, optimizing the aspect of the IT structure wherein said optimizing constrains each control parameter of the at least one control parameter to have a value within the specified permissible values for each control parameter of the at least one control parameter, wherein said optimizing is subject to at least one soft constraint, wherein the at least one soft constraint comprises a first soft constraint expressed in terms of a first parameter (P₁) and a specified desired value (P₀₁) of P₁, wherein said optimizing comprises minimizing a goal function that comprises a sum of the aspect of the IT structure and the first soft constraint, wherein the first soft constraint is a product of (P₁-P₀₁) and a specified first weight coefficient, and wherein said minimizing comprises determining a value of each control parameter of the at least one control parameter and a value of the first parameter P₁ such that the goal function is minimized;

providing, to an output device of the computer system, at least one quantity selected from the group consisting of the optimized aspect of the IT structure, the value of each control parameter that optimizes the aspect of the IT structure, and a combination thereof; and

selecting a transaction path for the IT structure, said transaction path being a sequential series of requests and responses from one operant of the IT structure to another operant of the IT structure, wherein the selected transaction path comprises at least one group of functionally equivalent fragments of the IT structure.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first parameter P₁ is an availability for the IT structure or a response time of the IT structure.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the aspect of the IT structure is a Total Cost of Ownership (TO) of the IT structure, wherein the TO of the IT structure is a summation over the respective TCOs of the elements of the IT structure, and wherein the first parameter P₁ is an availability for the IT structure or a response time of the IT structure.

4. The computer system of claim 1,

wherein the at least one control parameter comprises a control parameter selected from the group consisting of hardware mode, processor speed of each hardware server of a plurality of hardware servers, storage capacity of a central processor unit, an identification of each hardware server of the plurality of hardware servers to which a corresponding software program of a plurality of software programs is allocated, and combinations thereof;

and

wherein at least one element of the plurality of elements comprised by the IT structure is selected from the group consisting of a firewall, a load balancer, an application server, a messaging server, a database server, and combinations thereof.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein each element of the IT structure is a software element, and wherein a control parameter of the at least one control parameter is an identifier that identifies a hardware server specific to each software element of the IT structure and on which said each software element of the IT structure is executed.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the aspect of the IT structure is a response time of the IT structure or an availability of the IT structure.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

computing an availability of the IT structure as a product of the availability of the operants of the IT structure along the selected transaction path.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

computing a response time of the IT structure as a sum of the response time of the operants of the IT structure along the selected transaction path, wherein the response time of each group of the at least one group of functionally equivalent fragments is a weighted sum of the response time of the fragments of said each group.

17. The computer system of claim 8, wherein a weight applied to each fragment of said each group is proportional to a processor speed of a hardware server on which the software elements comprised by said each fragment are executed.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the hardware server is comprised by a load balanced group of hardware servers.

9. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program that when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform a method for optimizing an aspect of an Information Technology (IT) structure of an IT system, said method comprising:

selecting at least one control parameter from a set of externally modifiable properties of a plurality of elements comprised by the IT structure, wherein each element is independently a hardware element, a software element, or a combination thereof, and wherein each control parameter has a value that is specific to each element of the plurality of elements;

specifying permissible values for each control parameter of the at least one control parameter;

after said selecting at least one control parameter and said specifying permissible values, optimizing the aspect of the IT structure wherein said optimizing constrains each control parameter of the at least one control parameter to have a value within the specified permissible values for each control parameter of the at least one control parameter, wherein said optimizing is subject to at least one soft constraint, wherein the at least one soft constraint comprises a first soft constraint expressed in terms of a first parameter (P₁) and a specified desired value (P₀₁) of P₁, wherein said optimizing comprises minimizing a goal function that comprises a sum of the aspect of the IT structure and the first soft constraint, wherein the first soft constraint is a product of (P₁-P₀₁) and a specified first weight coefficient, and wherein said minimizing comprises determining a value of each control parameter of the at least one control parameter and a value of the first parameter P₁ such that the goal function is minimized;

providing, to an output device of the computer system, at least one quantity selected from the group consisting of the optimized aspect of the IT structure, the value of each control parameter that optimizes the aspect of the IT structure, and a combination thereof; and

selecting a transaction path for the IT structure, said transaction path being a sequential series of requests and responses from one operant of the IT structure to another operant of the IT structure, wherein the selected transaction path comprises at least one group of functionally equivalent fragments of the IT structure.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the first parameter P₁ is an availability for the IT structure or a response time of the IT structure.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the aspect of the IT structure is a Total Cost of Ownership (TO) of the IT structure, wherein the TO of the IT structure is a summation over the respective TCOs of the elements of the IT structure, and wherein the first parameter P₁ is an availability for the IT structure or a response time of the IT structure.

12. The computer program product of claim 9,

wherein the at least one control parameter comprises a control parameter selected from the group consisting of hardware mode, processor speed of each hardware server of a plurality of hardware servers, storage capacity of a central processor unit, an identification of each hardware server of the plurality of hardware servers to which a corresponding software program of a plurality of software programs is allocated, and combinations thereof;

and

wherein at least one element of the plurality of elements comprised by the IT structure is selected from the group consisting of a firewall, a load balancer, an application server, a messaging server, a database server, and combinations thereof.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein each element of the IT structure is a software element, and wherein a control parameter of the at least one control parameter is an identifier that identifies a hardware server specific to each software element of the IT structure and on which said each software element of the IT structure is executed.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the aspect of the IT structure is a response time of the IT structure or an availability of the IT structure.

15. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

computing an availability of the IT structure as a product of the availability of the operants of the IT structure along the selected transaction path.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

computing a response time of the IT structure as a sum of the response time of the operants of the IT structure along the selected transaction path, wherein the response time of each group of the at least one group of functionally equivalent fragments is a weighted sum of the response time of the fragments of said each group.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein a weight applied to each fragment of said each group is proportional to a processor speed of a hardware server on which the software elements comprised by said each fragment are executed.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the hardware server is comprised by a load balanced group of hardware servers.