Facilitating availability of information technology resources based on pattern system environments

• US 8,428,983 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Issued: 04/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AirBNB Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bobak, Mythili K., McConnell, Tim A., Swanson, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunham, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): Puri, Venay
• Application Number:
  US11/965,851
• Publication Number:
  US 20090171706A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,943 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis

Abstract

A Pattern System Environment is formed. The Pattern System Environment is a representation of information technology (IT) resources of a customer'"'"'s business environment. The Pattern System Environment is based on information associated with the IT resources of the customer, and that information indicates how the IT resources are utilized during a business cycle of the customer. Pattern System Environments are usable in many environments, including those that support business resiliency.

Claims

1. A method of forming a pattern system environment, said method comprising:

automatically forming, by a processor, a pattern system environment for a customer of a computing environment, the pattern system environment being a representation of behavior and use of resources during a business cycle of the customer and including how the resources are used during the business cycle of the customer, the forming of the pattern system environment comprising;

selecting one or more criteria to be used in grouping of observations that form the pattern system environment, wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of;

a set of recovery time objective properties;

selection of an observation for the pattern system environment based on minimizing differences in a collection of resources that form the observation;

or resource utilization metrics associated with a resource;

selecting one or more observation logs to be processed;

choosing from the one or more observation logs a set of observation log records, the choosing being based on at least one of the one or more criteria or results from cluster analysis;

determining a set of metrics to be used in forming the pattern system environment; and

using the set of observation log records and the set of metrics to form the pattern system environment, the pattern system environment to include one or more observation log records of the set of observation log records.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing weighting of the set of metrics to provide a set of weighted metrics, the set of weighted metrics used to form the pattern system environment.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically determining a number of pattern system environments to be formed based on the set of observation log records, wherein the pattern system environment formed is one pattern system environment of the number of pattern system environments.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating statistics for the pattern system environment;

determining based on the statistics whether the set of metrics for the pattern system environment is to be revised; and

revising the set of metrics based on the determining indicating that the set of metrics is to be revised.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining from the set of observation log records one or more observation log records to be included in the formed pattern system environment, the determining being based on operation execution times of the observation log records, wherein the pattern system environment has a time range associated therewith and the one or more observation log records included in the formed pattern system environment have operation execution times within the time range.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining whether a particular observation log record that is outside the time range is still to be included within the pattern system environment, wherein the particular observation log record is to be included in the pattern system environment based on the pattern system environment being a best fit out of a plurality of pattern system environments for the particular observation log record.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining whether the particular observation log record that is outside the time range is still to be included comprises:

determining a center of gravity for the pattern system environment;

determining a center of gravity for the particular observation log record;

determining, for the particular observation log record, a distance from the particular observation log record to each pattern system environment of the plurality of pattern system environments; and

based on the distance, determining for the particular observation log record whether the pattern system environment is a best fit for the particular observation log record.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining the center of gravity for the pattern system environment comprises using at least one of:

average and standard deviation for operation execution data, and non-operational metric data of the one or more observation log records of the pattern system environment.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of determining the center of gravity for the pattern system environment or determining the center of gravity for the particular observation log record uses weights in the determining.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining the center of gravity for the particular observation log record uses one or more distance formulas provided in forming of the pattern system environment.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the pattern system environment to manage at least one goal of the business environment of the customer.

12. A system of forming a pattern system environment, said system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

automatically forming a pattern system environment for a customer of a computing environment, the pattern system environment being a representation of behavior and use of resources during a business cycle of the customer and including how the resources are used during the business cycle of the customer, the forming of the pattern system environment comprising;

selecting one or more criteria to be used in grouping of observations that form the pattern system environment, wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of;

a set of recovery time objective properties;

selection of an observation for the pattern system environment based on minimizing differences in a collection of resources that form the observation;

or resource utilization metrics associated with a resource;

selecting one or more observation logs to be processed;

choosing from the one or more observation logs a set of observation log records, the choosing being based on at least one of the one or more criteria or results from cluster analysis;

determining a set of metrics to be used in forming the pattern system environment; and

using the set of observation log records and the set of metrics to form the pattern system environment, the pattern system environment to include one or more observation log records of the set of observation log records.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises performing weighting of the set of metrics to provide a set of weighted metrics, the set of weighted metrics used to form the pattern system environment.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises determining from the set of observation log records one or more observation log records to be included in the formed pattern system environment, the determining being based on operation execution times of the observation log records, wherein the pattern system environment has a time range associated therewith and the one or more observation log records included in the formed pattern system environment have operation execution times within the time range.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises determining whether a particular observation log record that is outside the time range is still to be included within the pattern system environment, wherein the particular observation log record is to be included in the pattern system environment based on the pattern system environment being a best fit out of a plurality of pattern system environments for the particular observation log record.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the determining whether the particular observation log record that is outside the time range is still to be included comprises:

determining a center of gravity for the pattern system environment;

determining a center of gravity for the particular observation log record;

determining, for the particular observation log record, a distance from the particular observation log record to each pattern system environment of the plurality of pattern system environments; and

based on the distance, determining for the particular observation log record whether the pattern system environment is a best fit for the particular observation log record.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the determining the center of gravity for the pattern system environment comprises using at least one of:

average and standard deviation for operation execution data, and non-operational metric data of the one or more observation log records of the pattern system environment.

18. A computer program product for forming, a pattern system environment, said computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

automatically forming, by a processor, a pattern system environment for a customer of a computing environment, the pattern system environment being a representation of behavior and use of resources during a business cycle of the customer and including how the resources are used during the business cycle of the customer, the forming of the pattern system environment comprising;

selecting one or more criteria to be used in grouping of observations that form the pattern system environment, wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of;

a set of recovery time objective properties;

selection of an observation for the pattern system environment based on minimizing differences in a collection of resources that form the observation;

or resource utilization metrics associated with a resource;

selecting one or more observation logs to be processed;

choosing from the one or more observation logs a set of observation log records, the choosing being based on at least one of the one or more criteria or results from cluster analysis;

determining a set of metrics to be used in forming the pattern system environment; and

using the set of observation log records and the set of metrics to form the pattern system environment, the pattern system environment to include one or more observation log records of the set of observation log records.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises performing weighting of the set of metrics to provide a set of weighted metrics, the set of weighted metrics used to form the pattern system environment.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises determining from the set of observation log records one or more observation log records to be included in the formed pattern system environment, the determining being based on operation execution times of the observation log records, wherein the pattern system environment has a time range associated therewith and the one or more observation log records included in the formed pattern system environment have operation execution times within the time range.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises determining whether a particular observation log record that is outside the time range is still to be included within the pattern system environment, wherein the particular observation log record is to be included in the pattern system environment based on the pattern system environment being a best fit out of a plurality of pattern system environments for the particular observation log record.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the determining whether the particular observation log record that is outside the time range is still to be included comprises:

determining a center of gravity for the pattern system environment;

determining a center of gravity for the particular observation log record;

determining, for the particular observation log record, a distance from the particular observation log record to each pattern system environment of the plurality of pattern system environments; and

based on the distance, determining for the particular observation log record whether the pattern system environment is a best fit for the particular observation log record.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the determining the center of gravity for the pattern system environment comprises using at least one of:

average and standard deviation for operation execution data, and non-operational metric data of the one or more observation log records of the pattern system environment.