Multiple cloud marketplace aggregation

• US 9,037,692 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2008
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilles, Jude Jean
• Assistant Examiner(s): NDIAYE, CHEIKH T
• Application Number:
  US12/324,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20100131624A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,365 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221, 709/222, 709/223, 709/226, 718/104, 718/105, 705/26
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5015 Service provider selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/76 using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation requested by the user or requested by the network in response to changing network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for multiple cloud marketplace aggregation. An aggregation engine communicates with a set of multiple cloud marketplaces, each of which communicates with an associated set of clouds. A requesting entity, such as a user requesting the instantiation of a set of virtual machines, can transmit a resource request to the aggregation engine. The aggregation engine can fan out or distribute a replicated request to the set of multiple cloud marketplaces. Each cloud marketplace can receive the request and respond to indicate available resources that can be produced from their respect set of clouds. The aggregation engine can collect the responses of the various marketplaces, and can generate one or more selections based on selection logic such as best match, cost factors, or other criteria. In embodiments, a user can manually select the desired marketplace(s) to instantiate or update their virtual machine or other target objects.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a request from a requesting entity, the request specifying information pertaining to a computing resource provided by one or more clouds;

generating, by the processor, a set of replicated requests in view of the request;

transmitting, by the processor, the set of the replicated requests to a plurality of marketplace systems, each of the plurality of marketplace systems being associated with at least one of the one or more clouds;

receiving, by the processor, in response to the replicated requests, a set of resource offerings from the plurality of marketplace systems;

updating, by the processor, one or more records in a repository in view of the set of resource offerings received from the plurality of marketplace systems, wherein the repository comprises a record for each of the one or more clouds, each record storing resource and service data for a respective cloud;

identifying, by the processor, resource and service data in the repository that match the information pertaining to the computing resource specified in the request in view of the updated one or more records in the repository; and

providing information to the requesting entity indicating resource and service data in the repository satisfy the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is to migrate a virtual machine and the information in the request specifies an event defined by a threshold value to be applied to the resource and service data in the repository.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying comprises searching the resource and service data in the repository for resource and service data matching the event.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the information to the requesting entity comprises:

migrating the virtual machine to a cloud having resource and service data matching the event; and

notifying the requesting entity of the migrating.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request specifies at least one of a processor resource, memory resource, input/output (I/O) resource, application resource, operating system resource, or service level represented by a service level agreement.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying comprises searching the resource and service data in the repository for resource and service data that matches the specified at least one of processor resource, memory resource, input/output (I/O) resource, application resource, operating system resource, or service level represented by a service level agreement in the request.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the information to the requesting entity comprises:

extracting resource and service data from the repository that matches the information specified in the request;

generating a report comprising the resource and service data extracted from the repository; and

providing the report to the requesting entity.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing one or more resources to the requesting entity.

9. A system comprising:

a first interface to a requesting entity;

a second interface to a plurality of marketplace systems; and

an aggregation engine, comprising a processor to communicate with memory, the requesting entity via the first interface, and the plurality of marketplace systems via the second interface, the processor to;

receive from the requesting entity a request specifying information pertaining to a computing resource provided by one or more clouds,

generate a set of replicated requests in view of the request,

transmit the set of replicated requests to the plurality of marketplace systems, each of the plurality of marketplace systems being associated with at least one of the one or more clouds,

receive, in response to the replicated requests, a set of resource offerings from the plurality of marketplace systems,

update one or more records in a repository in view of the set of resource offerings received from the plurality of marketplace systems, wherein the repository comprises a record for each of the one or more clouds, each record storing resource and service data for a respective cloud,

identify resource and service data in the repository that match the information pertaining to the computing resource specified in the request in view of the updated one or more records in the repository; and

provide information to the requesting entity indicating resource and service data in the repository satisfy the request.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the request is to migrate a virtual machine and the information in the request specifies an event defined by a threshold value to be applied to the resource and service data in the repository.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein to identify comprises the processor to search the resource and service data in the repository for resource and service data matching the event.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein to provide comprises the processor to:

migrate the virtual machine to a cloud having resource and service data matching the event; and

notify the requesting entity of the migrating.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the request specifies at least one of a processor resource, memory resource, input/output (I/O) resource, application resource, operating system resource, or service level represented by a service level agreement.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein to identify comprises the processor to search the resource and service data in the repository for resource and service data that matches the specified at least one of processor resource, memory resource, input/output (I/O) resource, application resource, operating system resource, or service level represented by a service level agreement in the request.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein to provide comprises the processor is to:

extract resource and service data from the repository that matches the information specified in the request;

generate a report comprising the resource and service data extracted from the repository; and

provide the report to the requesting entity.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further to provide one or more resources to the requesting entity.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request from a requesting entity, the request specifying information pertaining to a computing resource provided by one or more clouds;

generating a set of replicated requests in view of the request;

transmitting the set of the replicated requests to a plurality of marketplace systems, each of the plurality of marketplace systems being associated with at least one of the one or more clouds;

receiving in response to the replicated requests, a set of resource offerings from the plurality of marketplace systems;

updating, by the processor, one or more records in a repository in view of the set of resource offerings received from the plurality of marketplace systems, wherein the repository comprises a record for each of the one or more clouds, each record storing resource and service data for a respective cloud;

identifying resource and service data in the repository that match the information pertaining to the computing resource specified in the request in view of the updated one or more records in the repository; and

providing information to the requesting entity indicating resource and service data in the repository satisfy the request.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the request is to migrate a virtual machine and the information in the request specifies an event defined by a threshold value to be applied to the resource and service data in the repository, and the identifying of resource and service data in the repository comprises:

searching the resource and service data in the repository for resource and service data matching the event.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein providing the information to the requesting entity comprises:

migrating the virtual machine to a cloud having resource and service data matching the event; and

notifying the requesting entity of the migrating.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the request specifies at least one of a processor resource, memory resource, input/output (I/O) resource, application resource, operating system resource, or service level represented by a service level agreement, and the identifying of resource and service data in the repository comprises:

searching the resource and service data in the repository for resource and service data that matches the specified at least one of processor resource, memory resource, input/output (I/O) resource, application resource, operating system resource, or service level represented by a service level agreement in the request.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20 wherein providing the information to the requesting entity comprises:

extracting resource and service data from the repository that matches the information specified in the request;

generating a report comprising the resource and service data extracted from the repository; and

providing the report to the requesting entity.