Methods and systems of generating a billing feed of a distributed network

• US 9,521,004 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2013
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rackspace US Incorporated (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rackspace US Incorporated (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Voccio, Paul, Dietz, Matthew Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Scheibel, Robert C
• Assistant Examiner(s): GEORGE, AYANAH S
• Application Number:
  US13/752,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20140211665A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1432 Metric aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/145 trading network capacity or selecting route based on tariff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP

Abstract

A system and methods are provided for generating a billing feed for a distributed network system and reselling resources of the distributed network system. In one embodiment, a method includes observing a plurality of messages sent and received among components of the distributed network system, generating a call flow graph based on the plurality of messages of the distributed network system, and outputting a billing feed for the distributed network based on the call flow graph, to provide a billing feed including one or more billable events. billable events may be are based on one or more of received requests, underlying resource usage, time of usage, scope of usage. In this regard, the system may provide for one or more models of reselling resources of a distributed network system.

Claims

1. A method of generating a billing feed for a distributed network system providing cloud services, the method comprising:

observing, by a tracing, service implemented on one or more processors, a plurality of messages sent and received among one or more service components of the distributed network system providing cloud services, wherein the observing includes receiving one or more sequences of message traces transmitted by the one or more service components, the one or more service components modified to transmit message traces in response to sending or receiving of messages;

generating, by the tracing service, a call flow graph encoding of causal relationships between processing activities of the one or more service components of the distributed network system, the generating being based on the plurality of messages of the distributed network system; and

outputting, by the tracing service, a billing feed for the distributed network based on the call flow graph encoding, to provide a billing feed including one or more billable events.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the observing includes subscribing to one or more message queues of a messaging service associated with the distributed network system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the observing includes a separate tracing service within each service component of the distributed network system, the separate tracing service with a separate message domain.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein messages in the distributed network system are sent based on the routing envelope and observed by characterizing responses and requests.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the call flow graph provides a representation of observed calls in the distributed network system as a call stack.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the billable events are based on one or more of received requests, underlying resource usage, time of usage, scope of usage.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the billable feed includes billable events based on requests to the reseller and reseller billing.

8. A distributed network system comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer readable media;

one or more processors configured to execute service components stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable media;

wherein the one or more non-transitory computer readable media comprise;

a plurality of service components;

a message service component to provide communication between the service components; and

, a tracing service component configured to observe a plurality of messages sent and received among service components of the distributed network system, wherein the observing includes receiving one or more sequences of message traces transmitted by the one or more service components, the one or more service components modified to transmit message traces in response to sending or receiving of messages;

generate a call flow graph encoding, the tracing service component being configured to generate based on the plurality of messages of the distributed network system, the call flow graph representing causal relationships between processing activities of the one or more service components of the distributed network system; and

output a billing feed for the distributed network based on the call flow graph encoding, to provide a billing feed including one or more billable events.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the observing includes subscribing to one or more message queues of a messaging service associated with the distributed network system.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the observing includes a separate tracing service within each service component of the distributed network system, the separate tracing service with a separate message domain.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein messages in the distributed network system are sent based on the routing envelope and observed by characterizing responses and requests.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the call flow graph provides a representation of observed calls in the distributed network system as a call stack.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the billable events are based on one or more of received requests, underlying resource usage, time of usage, scope of usage.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the billable feed includes billable events based on requests to the reseller and reseller billing.

15. A non-transitory computer-accessible storage medium storing program instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to implement a distributed tracing service in a distributed application to:

observe a plurality of messages sent and received among service components of the distributed application, wherein the observing includes receiving one or more sequences of message traces transmitted by the one or more service components, the one or more service components modified to transmit message traces in response to sending or receiving of messages;

generate a probabilistic model of a call flow from observed messages of the distributed system; and

construct a call flow graph encoding, of causal relationships between processing activities of the one or more service components of the distributed network system, the constructing being based on the probabilistic;

model for the distributed application.

16. A system for reselling resources of a distributed network, comprising

a reseller system configured to generate requests for cloud services;

and

a distributed network system comprising;

one or more non-transitory computer readable media;

one or more processors configured to execute service components stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable media;

wherein the one or more non-transitory computer readable media comprise;

a plurality of service components,

a message service component to provide communication between the service components, and,

a tracing service component configured to;

observe a plurality of messages sent and received among service components of the distributed network system, including receiving one or more sequences of message traces transmitted by the one or more service components, the one or more service components modified to transmit message traces in response to sending or receiving of messages;

generate a call flow graph encoding of causal relationships between processing activities of the one or more service components of the distributed network system, the generating being based on the plurality of messages of the distributed network system; and

output a billing feed for the distributed network based on the call flow graph encoding, to provide a billing feed including one or more billable events.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the observing includes subscribing to one or more message queues of a messaging service associated with the distributed network system.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the observing includes a separate tracing service within each service of the distributed network system, the separate tracing service with a separate message domain.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein messages in the distributed network system are sent based on the routing envelope and observed by characterizing responses and requests.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the call flow graph provides a representation of observed calls in the distributed network system as a call stack.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the billable events are based on one or more of received requests, underlying resource usage, time of usage, scope of usage.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the billable feed includes billable events based on requests to the reseller and reseller billing.