Providing user-controlled resources for cloud computing environments

• US 9,485,117 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2009
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2009
• 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): COX, NATISHA D
• Application Number:
  US12/390,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20100217865A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,808 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/785 among multiple network domains, e.g. multilateral agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/787 Bandwidth trade among domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction

Abstract

A cloud management system can be configured to offer a marketplace for user-controlled resources provided by third party users by performing a valuation for user controlled resources offered to the cloud. The cloud management system can be configured to determine the usage of cloud resources, demands on the clouds resources, and revenue generated by the cloud resources and determine a value for user-controlled resources based on the usage, demands, and revenue. Once the value is determined, the cloud management system can be configured to provide an indication of the value to a set of the third party users. If offered and accepted, the cloud management system can be granted access to the user-controlled resources and allocate the user-controlled resources to the cloud.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processing device, a general value for a first-resource to be associated with a pool of resources in view of at least one of;

a current usage of the pool of resources by a first plurality of virtual machines, or an estimated change in the current usage of the pool of resources by the first plurality of virtual machines;

providing an indication of the general value for the first resource to a first computer system;

receiving, from the first computer system, a response to the indication, wherein the response comprises a request to offer, within the pool of resources, an identified resource local to the first computer system, wherein the request to offer comprises information corresponding to the identified resource;

determining a revised value for the identified resource in view of the information corresponding to the identified resource and the general value;

providing a first offer to the first computer system, wherein the first offer comprises a service level agreement (SLA) comprising the revised value offered in exchange for making the identified resource available for addition to the pool of resources;

adding the identified resource to the pool of resources in response to receiving an acceptance of the SLA;

receiving, from a second computer system, a request to instantiate a second virtual machine, wherein the request to instantiate the second virtual machine comprises a plurality of parameters defining an operation of the second virtual machine to be invoked;

selecting, from the pool of resources, a set of resources in view of the plurality of parameters;

instantiating the second virtual machine using the selected set of resources; and

tracking the selected set of resources to manage the second virtual machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the general value for the first resource comprises at least one of:

a value for an amount of memory provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of computing cycles provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of communications bandwidth provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of storage provided to the pool of resources, or a value for a software resource provided to the pool of resources.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the general value for the first-resource is provided to a set of users via a user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a second request to offer a second identified resource within the pool of resources.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a value for the second identified resource.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining the value for the second resource in view of at least one of the current usage of the pool of resources or the estimated change in the current usage of the pool of resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the general value for the first-resource is further determined in view of a revenue generated by the current usage of the pool of resources by the first plurality of virtual machines.

8. A system comprising:

a network interface device; and

a processing device, operatively coupled to the network interface device, to;

determine a general value for a first-resource to be associated with a pool of resources in view of at least one of;

a current usage of the pool of resources by a first plurality of virtual machines, or an estimated change in the current usage of the pool of resources by the first plurality of virtual machines;

provide an indication of the general value for the first resource to a first computer system;

receive, from the first computer system, a response to the indication, wherein the response comprises a request to offer, within the pool of resources, an identified resource local to the first computer system, wherein the request to offer comprises information corresponding to the identified resource;

determine a revised value for the identified resource in view of the information corresponding to the identified resource and the general value;

provide a first offer to the first computer system, via the network interface device, wherein the first offer comprises a service level agreement (SLA) comprising the revised value offered in exchange for making the identified resource available for addition to the pool of resources;

add the identified resource to the pool of resources in response to receiving an acceptance of the SLA;

receive, from a second computer system, a request to instantiate a second virtual machine, wherein the request to instantiate the second virtual machine comprises a plurality of parameters defining an operation of the second virtual machine to be invoked;

select, from the pool of resources, a set of resources in view of the plurality of parameters;

instantiate the second virtual machine using the selected set of resources; and

track the selected set of resources to manage the second virtual machine.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the general value for the first resource comprises at least one of:

a value for an amount of memory provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of computing cycles provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of communications bandwidth provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of storage provided to the pool of resources, or a value for a software resource provided to the pool of resources.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the general value for the first-resource is provided to a set of users via a user interface.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the processing device is further to receive, via the network interface device, a second request to offer a second identified resource within the pool of resources.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing device is further to determine a value for the second identified resource.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing device is further to determine the value for the second resource in view of at least one of:

the current usage of the pool of resources, or the estimated change in the current usage of the pool of resources.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the general value for the first-resource is further determined in view of a revenue generated by the current usage of the pool of resources by the first plurality of virtual machines.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause a processing device to:

determine, by the processing device, a general value for a first-resource to be associated with a pool of resources in view of at least one of;

a current usage of the pool of resources by a first plurality of virtual machines, or an estimated change in the current usage of the pool of resources by the first plurality of virtual machines;

provide an indication of the general value for the first resource to a first computer system;

receive, from the first computer system, a response to the indication, wherein the response comprises a request to offer, within the pool of resources, an identified resource local to the first computer system, wherein the request to offer comprises information corresponding to the identified resource;

determine a revised value for the identified resource in view of the information corresponding to the identified resource and the general value;

provide a first offer to the first computer system, wherein the first offer comprises a service level agreement (SLA) comprising the revised value offered in exchange for making the identified resource available for addition to the pool of resources;

add the identified resource to the pool of resources in response to receiving an acceptance of the SLA;

receive, from a second computer system, a request to instantiate a second virtual machine, wherein the request to instantiate the second virtual machine comprises a plurality of parameters defining an operation of the second virtual machine to be invoked;

select, from the pool of resources, a set of resources in view of the plurality of parameters;

instantiate the second virtual machine using the selected set of resources; and

track the selected set of resources to manage the second virtual machine.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the general value for the first resource comprises at least one of:

a value for an amount of memory provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of computing cycles provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of communications bandwidth provided to the pool of resources, a value for an amount of storage provided to the pool of resources, or a value for a software resource provided to the pool of resources.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the general value for the first-resource is provided to a set of users.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further to receive a second request to offer a second identified resource within the pool of resources.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the processing device is further to determine a value for the second identified resource.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, the processing device further to:

determine the value for the second resource in view of at least one of;

the current usage of the pool of resources, or the estimated change in the current usage of the pool of resources.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the general value for the first-resource is further determined in view of a revenue generated by the current usage of the pool of resources by the first plurality of virtual machines.