Restricting resources consumed by ghost agents

• US 8,312,466 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2008
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Creamer, Thomas, Hilf, Bill H., Jaiswal, Peeyush, Katz, Neil, Mirt, Michael, Moore, Victor S.
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kawsar, Abdullah Al
• Application Number:
  US12/326,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20090083749A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,442 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5022 Workload threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/508 Monitor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load

Abstract

One aspect of the present invention can include a method for restricting resources consumed by ghost agents. The method can include the step of associating a ghost agent with a host. A resource utilization value can be ascertained for the ghost agent and the host combined. The ascertained resource utilization value can be compared with a usage threshold. A determination can be made as to whether operations of the ghost agent are to be executed based upon the previous comparison.

Claims

1. A system for restricting resources consumed by ghost agents within a grid computing environment, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing the at least one processor to perform the steps of;

identifying a host, wherein said host is a software object operating within said grid environment and movable from one grid to another grid within the grid environment;

associating a ghost agent with the host, wherein said ghost agent is configured to execute at least one operation, the at least one operation comprising replicating and recording at least one action of said host, and wherein the ghost agent follows the movement of the host;

identifying computing resources used by the ghost agent;

determining usage values for computing resources used by the ghost agent;

ascertaining a resource utilization for said ghost agent based the usage values for the computing resources;

comparing said resource utilization to a usage threshold value pre-established for the ghost agent, wherein the usage threshold value defines a maximum resource utilization value permitted; and

reducing a quantity of the computing resources used by the ghost agent if it is determined that the resource utilization value exceeds the usage threshold value,

wherein the ghost agent can be deactivated and reactivated, and wherein the step of reducing further comprises queuing attempted operations of the ghost agent during deactivation and executing operations from the queue after the ghost agent is reactivated.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the at least one processor to prevent said ghost agent from executing at least one operation based upon said comparison.

3. The system of claim 1, the computer-readable medium further comprising instructions for causing the at least one processor to identify said ghost agent to components within said grid environment.

4. The system of claim 1, the computer-readable medium further comprising instructions for causing the at least one processor:

disassociating said ghost agent from said host; and

associating said ghost agent with a different host.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, said code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

associating a ghost agent with the host, wherein said ghost agent is configured to execute at least one operation, the at least one operation comprising replicating and recording at least one action of said host, and wherein the ghost agent follows the movement of the host;

identifying computing resources used by the ghost agent;

determining usage values for computing resources used by the ghost agent;

ascertaining a resource utilization for said ghost agent based the usage values for the computing resources;

comparing said resource utilization to a usage threshold value pre-established for the ghost agent, wherein the usage threshold value defines a maximum resource utilization value permitted; and

reducing a quantity of the computing resources used by the ghost agent if it is determined that the resource utilization value exceeds the usage threshold value,

wherein the ghost agent can be deactivated and reactivated, and wherein the step of reducing further comprises queuing attempted operations of the ghost agent during deactivation and executing operations from the queue after the ghost agent is reactivated.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein said ascertaining step further comprises the steps of:

determining a first value specifying a usage of a first resource type;

determining a second value specifying a usage of a second resource type; and

calculating said resource utilization based on said first value and said second value.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

deactivating said ghost agent according to said comparing step;

starting an idle timer; and

,

activating said ghost agent when said idle timer reaches a predetermined time.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising the step of:

storing at least one operation in an operation queue when said ghost agent is deactivated.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising the step of:

executing said stored operation when said ghost agent is activated.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said operation queue is disposed within said ghost agent.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

identifying a first operation that requires a first quantity of computing resources; and

identifying a second operation that requires a second quantity of computing resources,

wherein said second operation can be performed by said ghost agent in place of said first operation, and wherein said determining step selects between said first operation and said second operation based upon said comparing step.