Method and system for operating an E-commerce service provider
First Claim
1. A system coupled to the Internet so as to provide dynamic management of hosted services for a plurality of customer accounts comprising:
- a plurality of servers coupled to a network switch, each server configured to independently load a boot image, including an operating system, upon initialization;
at least a first of the plurality of servers allocated to a first administrative group for a first customer account of the plurality of customer accounts, and configured to access a software boot image and data unique to the first customer account;
at least a second of the plurality of servers allocated to a second administrative group for a second of the plurality of customer accounts, the server configured to access a software boot image and data unique to the second customer account, and be isolated from the data unique to the first customer account;
at least one of the plurality of servers configured to automatically monitor each administrative group, and to automatically and dynamically reallocate at least one active server from the first administrative group for the first of the plurality of customer accounts to the second administrative group for the second of the plurality of customer accounts in response to the automatic monitoring;
at least one of the plurality of servers configured to update a connectivity rule in the network switch to allocate the at least one server to the second administrative group for the second of the plurality of customer accounts; and
at least one of the plurality of servers configured to, at the end of a predetermined time period, bill each customer account based at least in part on at least one attribute related to servers dynamically allocated to each customer account of the plurality of customer accounts for the predetermined time period.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for operating a commissioned e-commerce service provider provides services to businesses on a computerized network such as the Internet in exchange for a small commission on the commercial transactions generated using those services. Unlike most ISPs that provide services to individuals and businesses, the e-commerce service provider preferably provides Internet services for businesses operating web sites based on the amount of service utilized by the individual or business. Instead of paying a monthly fee for the Internet services required to host a web site or operate and e-commerce site, the business contracts with the e-commerce service provider to provide these services based on usage of these services. Preferably, the usage rate is tiered in accordance with the amount of traffic at the site to provide a nominal level of service at a lower rate, yet allow for an exceptional volume of traffic to be accommodated by the site at a higher rate without having the site fail or the service become overwhelmed.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A system coupled to the Internet so as to provide dynamic management of hosted services for a plurality of customer accounts comprising:
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a plurality of servers coupled to a network switch, each server configured to independently load a boot image, including an operating system, upon initialization; at least a first of the plurality of servers allocated to a first administrative group for a first customer account of the plurality of customer accounts, and configured to access a software boot image and data unique to the first customer account; at least a second of the plurality of servers allocated to a second administrative group for a second of the plurality of customer accounts, the server configured to access a software boot image and data unique to the second customer account, and be isolated from the data unique to the first customer account; at least one of the plurality of servers configured to automatically monitor each administrative group, and to automatically and dynamically reallocate at least one active server from the first administrative group for the first of the plurality of customer accounts to the second administrative group for the second of the plurality of customer accounts in response to the automatic monitoring; at least one of the plurality of servers configured to update a connectivity rule in the network switch to allocate the at least one server to the second administrative group for the second of the plurality of customer accounts; and at least one of the plurality of servers configured to, at the end of a predetermined time period, bill each customer account based at least in part on at least one attribute related to servers dynamically allocated to each customer account of the plurality of customer accounts for the predetermined time period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An automatic method for operating a service provider for the Internet so as to provide dynamic management of hosted services comprising:
- for each of a plurality of customer accounts;
providing a plurality of servers allocated to a common administrative group for a customer account and configured to access software and data unique to that customer account to provide hosted services to the Internet for that customer account; establishing a pool of a plurality of servers that may be selectively configured to access software and data for each of the plurality of customer accounts, each server having at least one network interface; at least one network switch communicatively coupled to the at least one network interface of each server; automatically monitoring each administrative group; automatically allocating at least one server to join the plurality of servers of a first administrative group in response to the automatic monitoring; configuring the at least one network switch, coupled to the at least one server, to couple the at least one server to the plurality of servers allocated to the first administrative group; and at the end of a predetermined time period, billing each customer account based at least in part on at least one attribute related to servers dynamically allocated to that customer account for the predetermined time period. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- for each of a plurality of customer accounts;
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20. A system couple to the Internet for providing hosting services for each of a plurality of customer accounts comprising:
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a plurality of servers operably connected to a switch, each server having an interface providing a communication channel with at least one of the other plurality of servers, each of the servers executing a local decision software program that monitors the server and communicates status information across the communication channel; at least a first of the plurality of servers allocated to a first administrative group for a first customer account, and configured to access software and data unique to the first customer account; at least a second of the plurality of servers allocated to a second administrative group for a second customer account, configured to access software and data unique to the second customer account, and isolated from the data unique to the first customer account; and at least one of the servers executing a master decision software program that collects status information from the other servers and dynamically reallocates at least one server from the first administrative group to the second administrative group in response to at least the status information provided through the communication channel, and at the end of a predetermined time period, billing each customer account based at least in part on an average usage of the hosting services for that customer account for the predetermined time period. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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Specification