Method and system for autonomic application program spawning in a computing environment

• US 8,726,280 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2013
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hogan, Natalie S., Menadue, Andrew J. E., van der Veen, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): KIM, DONG U
• Application Number:
  US13/901,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20130254774A1
• Time in Patent Office: 355 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/504 Resource capping
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method and system for self-managing an application program in a computing environment, is provided. One implementation involves spawning a primary application for execution in the computing environment; the primary application monitoring status of the primary application and the computing environment resources while executing; and upon detecting a first status threshold, the primary application spawning a secondary application in the computing environment, wherein the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application, and the primary application terminating.

Claims

1. A method of self-managing an application program in a computing environment, comprising:

spawning a primary application for execution in a computing environment;

the primary application monitoring status of the primary application and the computing environment resources while executing;

upon detecting a first status threshold based on a response time, the primary application spawning a secondary application in the computing environment, wherein the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application, and the primary application terminating, wherein the first status threshold represents first computing environment conditions under which the primary application may spawn the secondary application and a second status threshold represents second computing environment conditions under which the secondary application may re-spawn the primary application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary application spawns the secondary application based on spawning rules.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the spawning rules comprise one or more of:

level of availability of one or more computing resources, amount of free memory resources, processor usage percentage, and number of applications in a processing queue.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the secondary application re-spawns the primary application based on re-spawning rules.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the re-spawning rules comprise one or more of:

level of availability of one or more computing resources, amount of free memory resources, processor usage percentage, and number of applications in a processing queue.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary application provides one or more core application features, and the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application while providing the one or more core application features of the primary application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second status threshold is based on availability of computing environment processing resources required by the primary application.

8. A computer program product for self-managing an application program in a computing environment, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a computer to:

spawn a primary application for execution in the computing environment;

the primary application monitoring status of the primary application and the computing environment resources while executing; and

upon detecting a first status threshold based on response time, the primary application spawns a secondary application in the computing environment, wherein the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application, and the primary application terminating, wherein the first status threshold represents first computing environment conditions under which the primary application may spawn the secondary application and a second status threshold represents second computing environment conditions under which the secondary application may re-spawn the primary application.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the primary application spawns the secondary application based on spawning rules, and the spawning rules comprise one or more of:

level of availability of one or more computing resources, amount of free memory resources, processor usage percentage, and number of applications in a processing queue.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the secondary application re-spawns the primary application based on re-spawning rules, and the re-spawning rules comprise one or more of:

level of availability of one or more computing resources, amount of free memory resources, processor usage percentage, and number of applications in a processing queue.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the primary application provides one or more core application features, and the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application while providing the one or more core application features of the primary application.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the second status threshold is based on availability of computing environment processing resources required by the primary application.

13. A system for self-managing an application program in a computing environment, comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory;

a primary application monitoring status of the primary application and the computing environment resources while executing, the primary application including a spawning processor function configured such that upon detecting a first status threshold based on a response time, the primary application spawns a secondary application in the computing environment, wherein the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application, and the primary application terminating, wherein the first status threshold represents first computing environment conditions under which the primary application may spawn the secondary application and a second status threshold represents second computing environment conditions under which the secondary application may re-spawn the primary application.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the primary application comprises a monitoring processor function configured for monitoring status of the primary application and a computing environment resources while executing.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the primary application provides one or more core application features, and the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application while providing the one or more core application features of the primary application.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the second status threshold is based on availability of computing environment processing resources required by the primary application.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the primary application spawns the secondary application based on spawning rules.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the spawning rules comprise one or more of:

level of availability of one or more computing resources, amount of free memory resources, processor usage percentage, and number of applications in a processing queue.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the secondary application re-spawns the primary application based on re-spawning rules.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the re-spawning rules comprise one or more of:

level of availability of one or more computing resources, amount of free memory resources, processor usage percentage, and number of applications in a processing queue.