Method and system for policy based lifecycle management of virtual software appliances

• US 9,426,090 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2012
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mohindra, Ajay, Neogi, Anindya
• Primary Examiner(s): KESSLER, GREGORY AARON
• Application Number:
  US13/460,037
• Publication Number:
  US 20120215923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,576 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• 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

A system and method for managing dynamically allocated resources assigned to a service includes providing a service to be used by a plurality of sites in a federation. Usage information associated with the service is communicated to each of the plurality of sites. A disposition of the service is determined based on local policies and the usage information received from other sites by a service owner. The disposition of the service is updated across a plurality of sites in accordance with messages sent by the service owner to reduce resource usage.

Claims

1. A method for managing dynamic resources used by a virtual software appliance (VSA), comprising:

representing characteristics of a virtual software appliance employed in a distributed environment;

representing policies that affect the VSA in the distributed environment;

transitioning a state of the VSA based on the policies such that the state is determined by local and global attribute matching in accordance with the policies; and

determining a disposition of services based on the policies, commands, and historic usage information.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the states include active and passive and transitioning includes transitioning from the active state to the passive state when resource usage inactive for a predefined period of time.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the states include active and passive and transitioning includes transitioning from the active state to the passive state when resource usage indicates hyperactivity for a predefined period of time.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising deleting the virtual software appliance if resource usage inactivity satisfies an inactivity policy.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising maintaining and updating the disposition of the VSA based upon a Policy manager assigned to the VSA.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the Policy manager comprises a plurality of states such that the state is determined in accordance with local policies and rate functions from other sites employing the VSA.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the states include one or more of active, inactive, provisioning and passive.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising transitioning between the states by employing policy triggered transitions, wherein the policy triggered transitions include one or more of activate, deactivate, and uninstall.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the local and global attribute matching is based upon one or more most current attributes and one or more attribute thresholds or levels as dictated by the policies.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer-readable program for managing dynamic resources used by a virtual software appliance (VSA), wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform the steps of:

representing characteristics of a virtual software appliance employed in a distributed environment;

representing policies that affect the VSA in the distributed environment;

transitioning a state of the VSA based on the policies such that the state is determined by local and global attribute matching in accordance with the policies; and

determining a disposition of services based on the policies, commands, and historic usage information.

10. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 9, wherein the states include active and passive and transitioning includes transitioning from the active state to the passive state when resource usage inactive for a predefined period of time.

11. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 9, wherein the states include active and passive and transitioning includes transitioning from the active state to the passive state when resource usage indicates hyperactivity for a predefined period of time.

12. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 9, further comprising deleting the virtual software appliance if resource usage inactivity satisfies an inactivity policy.

13. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 9, further comprising maintaining and updating the disposition of the VSA based upon a Policy manager assigned to the VSA.

14. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the Policy manager comprises a plurality of states such that the state is determined in accordance with local policies and rate functions from other sites employing the VSA.

15. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the states include one or more of active, inactive, provisioning and passive.

16. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 14, further comprising transitioning between the states by employing policy triggered transitions, wherein the policy triggered transitions include one or more of activate, deactivate, and uninstall.

18. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 9, wherein the local and global attribute matching is based upon one or more most current attributes and one or more attribute thresholds or levels as dictated by the policies.

19. A method for managing dynamic resources used by a virtual software appliance (VSA), comprising:

representing characteristics of a virtual software appliance employed in a distributed environment;

representing policies that affect the VSA in the distributed environment;

transitioning a state of the VSA based on the policies such that the state is determined by local and global attribute matching in accordance with the policies;

determining a disposition of services based on the policies, commands, and historic usage information; and

managing disposition of the VSA based upon a Policy manager assigned to the VSA, the Policy manager comprising a plurality of states such that the state is determined in accordance with local policies and rate functions from other sites employing the VSA.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the local and global attribute matching is based upon one or more most current attributes and one or more attribute thresholds or levels as dictated by the policies.