Migrating computing environment entitlement contracts between a seller and a buyer

• US 9,760,917 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Sullivan, Patrick J., Thorburn, James C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Araque, Jr., Gerardo
• Application Number:
  US13/171,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20130006648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,267 Days
• Field of Search: 709226, 707803, 705 11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5019 Ensuring fulfilment of SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service

Abstract

Mechanisms are provided for migrating a computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) from one computing resource to another. These mechanisms generate one or more CEEC data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system. A CEEC cohort is generated comprising a collection of CEECs having similar terms. The one or more CEEC data structures are associated with a computing resource cohort and a seller of a CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures and a buyer of the CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures, is identified. The CEEC data structure is migrated from the seller to the buyer and workloads are executed in accordance with terms specified in the CEEC data structure at the buyer after migrating the CEEC data structure.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system comprising at least one computing device and a plurality of computing resources, for migrating a computing environment entitlement contract from one computing resource to another, comprising:

generating, by the at least one computing device, one or more computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system, wherein the terms of the CEEC specify a set of computing resources having a specified configuration, and further specify that the set of computing resources are to be used by the contracting party for a specified purpose at a specified level and pattern of intensity for a specified period of time;

associating, by the at least one computing device, the one or more CEEC data structures with a computing resource cohort, wherein the computing resource cohort is a collection of computing resources having similar configurations;

identifying, by the at least one computing device, a seller of a CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures;

identifying, by the at least one computing device, a buyer of a CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures;

migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer; and

executing workloads in accordance with terms specified in the CEEC data structure at the buyer after migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer, wherein the seller and the buyer are computing resources or collections of computing resources.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the seller is a computing resource that is not being utilized in accordance with the terms specified in the CEEC data structure, and wherein the buyer is a computing resource capable of satisfying the terms specified in the CEEC data structure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether or not to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer is performed based on the terms specified in the CEEC data structure.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer based on business objective criteria specified in a transaction specification, wherein the migrating of the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer is performed only in response to a determination that the migration of the CEEC data structure satisfies the business objective criteria specified in the transaction specification.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the transaction specification is generated by a user via a transaction builder user interface, and wherein the user specifies the business objective criteria via the transaction builder user interface.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a plurality of transaction instances for migrating CEEC data structures between sellers and buyers are generated based on the transaction specification, and wherein the business objective criteria of the transaction specification is used with each transaction instance to determine if migrations of CEEC data structures between sellers and buyers associated with the transaction instance are to be performed.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying a seller of a CEEC data structure, identifying a buyer of a CEEC data structure, and migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer are performed in accordance with the business objective criteria of an instance of the transaction specification.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the seller or buyer do not indicate a desire to be a seller or a buyer prior to identification of the seller and buyer in accordance with the business objective criteria of the instance of the transaction specification.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer is performed in accordance with the instance of the transaction specification, and wherein the instance of the transaction specification is executed using four transaction phases comprising a creation phase in which the instance of the transaction specification is created, an assembly phase in which the seller and the buyer signal acceptance of the transaction, an initiation phase in which a determination is made as to whether completion of the migration meets the business objective criteria specified in the instance of the transaction specification, and a settlement phase in which the migration is completed between the seller and the buyer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer comprises nullifying the CEEC data structure on the seller and creating a new CEEC data structure on the buyer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer comprises resetting an identifier in the CEEC data structure to identify the buyer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the CEEC data structure represents a sub-portion of a CEEC between the contracting party and the provider, wherein the sub-portion defines a sub-portion of the terms of the CEEC that are able to be satisfied by computing resources provided by the provider, and wherein other sub-portions of the terms of the CEEC are satisfied by other computing resources provided by other providers.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed in a data processing system comprising at least one computing device, causes a computing device of the at least one computing device to:

generate one or more computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system, wherein the terms of the CEEC specify a set of computing resources having a specified configuration, and further specify that the set of computing resources are to be used by the contracting party for a specified purpose at a specified level and pattern of intensity for a specified period of time;

associate the one or more CEEC data structures with a computing resource cohort, wherein the computing resource cohort is a collection of computing resources having similar configurations;

identify a seller of a CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures;

identify a buyer of a CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures;

migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer; and

execute workloads in accordance with terms specified in the CEEC data structure at the buyer after migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer, wherein the seller and the buyer are computing resources or collections of computing resources.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the seller is a computing resource that is not being utilized in accordance with the terms specified in the CEEC data structure, and wherein the buyer is a computing resource capable of satisfying the terms specified in the CEEC data structure.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program causes the at least one computing device to determine whether or not to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer based on the terms specified in the CEEC data structure.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program further causes the at least one computing device to determine whether or not to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer based on business objective criteria specified in a transaction specification, wherein the migrating of the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer is performed only in response to a determination that the migration of the CEEC data structure satisfies the business objective criteria specified in the transaction specification.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the transaction specification is generated by a user via a transaction builder user interface, and wherein the user specifies the business objective criteria via the transaction builder user interface.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein a plurality of transaction instances for migrating CEEC data structures between sellers and buyers are generated based on the transaction specification, and wherein the business objective criteria of the transaction specification is used with each transaction instance to determine if migrations of CEEC data structures between sellers and buyers associated with the transaction instance are to be performed.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program causes the at least one computing device to identify a seller of a CEEC data structure, identify a buyer of a CEEC data structure, and migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer in accordance with the business objective criteria of an instance of the transaction specification.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein at least one of the seller or buyer do not indicate a desire to be a seller or a buyer prior to identification of the seller and buyer in accordance with the business objective criteria of the instance of the transaction specification.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program causes the at least one computing device to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer in accordance with the instance of the transaction specification, and wherein the instance of the transaction specification is executed using four transaction phases comprising a creation phase in which the instance of the transaction specification is created, an assembly phase in which the seller and the buyer signal acceptance of the transaction, an initiation phase in which a determination is made as to whether completion of the migration meets the business objective criteria specified in the instance of the transaction specification, and a settlement phase in which the migration is completed between the seller and the buyer.

22. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program causes the at least one computing device to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer by nullifying the CEEC data structure on the seller and creating a new CEEC data structure on the buyer.

23. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program causes the at least one computing device to migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer by resetting an identifier in the CEEC data structure to identify the buyer.

24. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the CEEC data structure represents a sub-portion of a CEEC between the contracting party and the provider, wherein the sub-portion defines a sub-portion of the terms of the CEEC that are able to be satisfied by computing resources provided by the provider, and wherein other sub-portions of the terms of the CEEC are satisfied by other computing resources provided by other providers.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

generate one or more computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system, wherein the terms of the CEEC specify a set of computing resources having a specified configuration, and further specify that the set of computing resources are to be used by the contracting party for a specified purpose at a specified level and pattern of intensity for a specified period of time;

associate the one or more CEEC data structures with a computing resource cohort, wherein the computing resource cohort is a collection of computing resources having similar configurations;

identify a seller of a CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures;

identify a buyer of a CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures;

migrate the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer; and

execute workloads in accordance with terms specified in the CEEC data structure at the buyer after migrating the CEEC data structure from the seller to the buyer, wherein the seller and the buyer are computing resources or collections of computing resources.