Systems and methods for assessing application usage

• US 9,009,289 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2014
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
• Original Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
• Inventors: Jacob, Jiju
• Primary Examiner(s): Daftuar, Saket K
• Application Number:
  US14/230,515
• Time in Patent Office: 379 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709/206, 709/219, 709/220, 709/221, 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226, 709/227, 709/228, 709/231, 709/235, 709/237, 707/10, 707/999.01, 707/999.1, 707/601, 707/769, 707/803, 718/104, 718/105, 718/100, 370/216, 370/231
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Various of the disclosed embodiments disclose systems and methods for assessing usage of a resource, such as hardware, software, or firmware, in a computer system. For example, some embodiments contemplate a model in which an enterprise application derives its license cost based upon the actual business value provided by the licensed resource to the enterprise. If an enterprise has purchased software that it uses very heavily, then the license cost may increase. Conversely, if the enterprise uses the software rarely, then the license cost may decrease. This usage granularity may allow an enterprise executive to purchase a software license without fear that the software will be inefficiently utilized. A licensor may similarly use the system to charge more accurate fees.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for contextually assessing the relative usage of an n-tier enterprise application in a given business environment context comprising:

determining the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure including the number of tiers that are deployed and the number of nodes that service each tier;

determining a plurality of server characteristic values based upon the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure;

summing the plurality of server characteristic values weighted by a plurality of server characteristic weights to generate a server hardware score for a node, the server characteristic weights having values in accordance with the relative usage associated with the business environment context;

determining a plurality of middleware characteristic values based upon the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure;

summing the plurality of middleware characteristic values weighted by a plurality of middleware characteristic weights to generate a middleware score for the node, the plurality of middleware characteristic weights having values in accordance with the relative usage associated with the business environment context;

generating a first node score for the node by combining the server hardware score and the middleware score, where the node is one of a plurality of nodes in a tier of the n-tier enterprise application;

determining an aggregate tier node score by summing a plurality of node scores in the tier, including the first node score, where each of the node scores is weighted based upon the node'"'"'s usage by the n-tier enterprise application, the aggregate tier node normalized by the number of nodes in the tier;

determining a combined application middleware and server score by dividing the aggregate tier node score by a number of tiers used by the application;

determining an application characteristics score by summing a plurality of application characteristic values weighted by a plurality of weights; and

determining the relative usage of the n-tier enterprise application for the given business environment context by scaling the application characteristics score by the combined application middleware and server score.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the number of tiers used by the application comprises a business logic tier and a persistence tier.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the server characteristic values include an indication of the context switches on the server.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the middleware characteristic values include one or more of an indication of a number of active methods of Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) modules, an indication of a number of instantiates and destroys of EJB instances, and the total number of EJB method calls.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further comprising aggregating the Application Usage Score with a plurality of Application Usage Scores determined over a period of time.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining an aggregate tier node score comprises determining a load-balancing distribution of the application'"'"'s operations across nodes.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions configured to cause at least one processor to perform a method to contextually assess the relative usage of an n-tier enterprise application in a given business environment context, the method comprising:

determining the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure including the number of tiers that are deployed and the number of nodes that service each tier;

determining a plurality of server characteristic values based upon the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure;

summing the plurality of server characteristic values weighted by a plurality of server characteristic weights to generate a server hardware score for a node, the server characteristic weights having values in accordance with the relative usage associated with the business environment context;

determining a plurality of middleware characteristic values based upon the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure;

summing the plurality of middleware characteristic values weighted by a plurality of middleware characteristic weights to generate a middleware score for the node, the plurality of middleware characteristic weights having values in accordance with the relative usage associated with the business environment context;

generating a first node score for the node by combining the server hardware score and the middleware score, where the node is one of a plurality of nodes in a tier of the n-tier enterprise application;

determining an aggregate tier node score by summing a plurality of node scores in the tier, including the first node score, where each of the node scores is weighted based upon the node'"'"'s usage by the n-tier enterprise application, the aggregate tier node normalized by the number of nodes in the tier;

determining a combined application middleware and server score by dividing the aggregate tier node score by a number of tiers used by the application;

determining an application characteristics score by summing a plurality of application characteristic values weighted by a plurality of weights; and

determining the relative usage of the n-tier enterprise application for the given business environment context by scaling the application characteristics score by the combined application middleware and server score.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein a first tier of the n-tiers comprises a business logic tier and a second tier of the n-tiers comprises a persistence tier.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, the method further comprising determining a licensing value based on a determination that the relative usage of the n-tier enterprise application exceeds a first application usage barrier, but is less than a second application usage barrier.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the n-tiers used by the application comprise a business logic tier and a persistence tier.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the server characteristic values include an indication of the context switches on the server.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the middleware characteristic values include one or more of an indication of a number of active methods of Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) modules, an indication of a number of instantiates and destroys of EJB instances, and the total number of EJB method calls.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, the method further comprising aggregating the Application Usage Score with a plurality of Application Usage Scores determined over a period of time.

14. A computer system comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory comprising instructions configured to cause the at least one processor to perform a method to contextually assess the relative usage of an n-tier enterprise application in a given business environment context, the method comprising;

determining the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure including the number of tiers that are deployed and the number of nodes that service each tier;

determining a plurality of server characteristic values based upon the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure;

summing the plurality of server characteristic values weighted by a plurality of server characteristic weights to generate a server hardware score for a node, the server characteristic weights having values in accordance with the relative usage associated with the business environment context;

determining a plurality of middleware characteristic values based upon the n-tier enterprise application'"'"'s deployment structure;

summing the plurality of middleware characteristic values weighted by a plurality of middleware characteristic weights to generate a middleware score for the node, the plurality of middleware characteristic weights having values in accordance with the relative usage associated with the business environment context;

generating a first node score for the node by combining the server hardware score and the middleware score, where the node is one of a plurality of nodes in a tier of the n-tier enterprise application;

determining an aggregate tier node score by summing a plurality of node scores in the tier, including the first node score, where each of the node scores is weighted based upon the node'"'"'s usage by the n-tier enterprise application, the aggregate tier node normalized by the number of nodes in the tier;

determining a combined application middleware and server score by dividing the aggregate tier node score by a number of tiers used by the application;

determining an application characteristics score by summing a plurality of application characteristic values weighted by a plurality of weights; and

determining the relative usage of the n-tier enterprise application for the given business environment context by scaling the application characteristics score by the combined application middleware and server score.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein a first tier of the n-tiers comprises a business logic tier and a second tier of the n-tiers comprises a persistence tier.

16. The computer system of claim 14, the method further comprising determining a licensing value based on a determination that the relative usage of the n-tier enterprise application exceeds a first application usage barrier, but is less than a second application usage barrier.

17. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the n-tiers used by the application comprise a business logic tier and a persistence tier.

18. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the server characteristic values include an indication of the context switches on the server.

19. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the middleware characteristic values include one or more of an indication of a number of active methods of Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) modules, an indication of a number of instantiates and destroys of EJB instances, and the total number of EJB method calls.

20. The computer system of claim 14, the method further comprising aggregating the Application Usage Score with a plurality of Application Usage Scores determined over a period of time.