Managing subscriptions for cloud-based virtual machines

• US 8,943,497 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2008
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferris, James Michael, Darcy, Aaron Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): FENNEMA, ROBERT E
• Application Number:
  US12/128,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20090300608A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,434 Days
• Field of Search: 718/1
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/301 where the computing system is a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems virtual machines G06F9/45533; logical partitioning of resources G06F9/5077
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A cloud management system can track the usage of the virtual machines in order to determine the fees associated with the user'"'"'s subscription to the cloud computing environment. The usage can include the resources consumed to support the virtual machines and can include the utilization of the virtual machines by the user or third parties. The cloud management system can determine the fees charged to the user for utilizing the cloud computing environment based on the tracked usage.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

subscribing, by a processing device, a user to a cloud computing environment managed by a cloud management system;

receiving a defined period of time for which a virtual machine is instantiated;

instantiating, for the subscribed user, a set of virtual machines in the cloud computing environment in view of the defined period of time, wherein a management ID is embedded within each virtual machine of the set of instantiated virtual machines;

tracking, using the embedded management IDs, a group usage by the subscribed user of the set of instantiated virtual machines in the cloud computing environment;

storing the group usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines in the cloud management system; and

determining a group charge for the subscribed user in view of the stored group usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking the usage comprises tracking at least one of a time period for the set of instantiated virtual machines, a duration of the set of instantiated virtual machines, or a resource usage of set of instantiated virtual machines.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a record of the usage and the charge to a requester of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining payment of the charge from a requester of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein tracking the usage comprises tracking at least one of a time period for the set of instantiated virtual machines, a duration of the set of instantiated virtual machines, or a resource usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering a requesting user of the set of virtual machines in the cloud management system, prior to instantiating the set of virtual machines; and

determining a base charge for instantiating the set of virtual machines in the cloud computing system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the cloud computing environment comprises a set of resource servers to deliver resources to instantiate the set of virtual machines.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking the usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines in the cloud computing environment, comprises:

tracking an individual usage of components of the set of instantiated virtual machines;

storing the individual usage of the components in a cloud management system; and

determining an individual charge for the individual usage of the components.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining a base component charge of the components.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein tracking the individual usage comprises tracking at least one of a time period for the components, a duration of the components, or a resource usage of the components.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

tracking a group component usage of the components;

storing the group component usage of the components in a cloud management system; and

determining a charge for the group component usage of the components.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the components comprise at least one of an operating system, an application, middleware, or an appliance.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machines in the set of instantiated virtual machines in the cloud computing environment perform a same process.

14. A system comprising:

a memory;

a processing device communicably coupled to the memory;

a network interface device to communicably couple the memory and the processing device to a set of virtual machines in a cloud computing environment; and

a cloud management module executable from the memory by the processing device and communicably coupled to the network interface device, the cloud management module to;

subscribe a user to a cloud in the cloud computing environment managed by the cloud management module;

receive a defined period of time for which a virtual machine is instantiated;

instantiate, for the subscribed user, the set of virtual machines in the cloud computing environment in view of the defined period of time, wherein a management ID is embedded within each virtual machine of the set of instantiated virtual machines;

track, using the embedded management IDs, a group usage by the subscribed user of the set of instantiated virtual machines in the cloud computing environment;

store the group usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines in the cloud management system; and

determine a group charge for the subscribed user in view of the stored group usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

15. The system of claim 14, the cloud management module is to track at least one of a time period for the set of instantiated virtual machines, a duration of the set of instantiated virtual machines, or a resource usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

16. The system of claim 14, the cloud management module is to provide a record of the usage and the charge to an owner of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

17. The system of claim 14, the cloud management module is to determine payment of the charge from a requester of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

18. The system of claim 17, the cloud management module to track at least one of a time period for the set of instantiated virtual machines, a duration of the set of instantiated virtual machines, or a resource usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

19. The system of claim 14, the cloud management module is further to:

register a requesting user of the set of virtual machines in the cloud management system, prior to instantiating the set of virtual machines; and

determine a base charge for instantiating the set of virtual machines in the cloud computing system.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the cloud computing environment comprises a set of resource servers to deliver resources to instantiate the set of virtual machines.

21. The system of claim 14, the cloud management module is further to:

track an individual usage of components of the set of instantiated virtual machines;

store the individual usage of the components in a cloud management system; and

determine an individual charge for the individual usage of the components.

22. The system of claim 21, the cloud management module is further to determine a base component charge of the components.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein tracking the individual usage comprises tracking at least one of a time period for the components, a duration of the components, or a resource usage of the components.

24. The system of claim 21, the cloud management module is further to:

track a group component usage of the components;

store the group component usage of the components in a cloud management system; and

determine a charge for the group component usage of the components.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the components comprise at least one of an operating system, application, middleware, or appliance.

26. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, an access request from a subscriber to a cloud computing environment managed by a cloud management system;

receiving a defined period of time for which a virtual machine is instantiated;

searching, by the computing device, for an existing record of the subscriber in a repository associated with the cloud management system;

when a record for the subscriber is located, instantiating, by the computing device, a set of virtual machines in a cloud of the cloud computing environment in view of the defined period of time, wherein a management ID is embedded within each virtual machine of the set of instantiated virtual machines;

tracking, by the computing device in view of the embedded management IDs, a consumption of resources of the cloud by the set of instantiated virtual machines and a group usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines by the subscriber; and

determining a charge for the tracked consumption of resources of the cloud and the tracked group usage of the set of instantiated virtual machines.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

if the subscriber does not have an existing record in the repository, registering a requesting user of the set of virtual machines in the cloud management system, prior to instantiating the set of virtual machines; and

determining a base charge for instantiating the set of virtual machines in the cloud computing system.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the cloud computing environment comprises a set of resource servers to deliver resources to instantiate the set of virtual machines.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the set of instantiated virtual machines comprises components, the components including at least one of an operating system, application, middleware, or appliance.