Uplifting of computer resources

• US 9,898,708 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2016
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Barnes, Sharon Gail, Marisa, Kerry A., Mingl, Steven Wayne, Murphy, Kevin R., Naik, Harish R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mejia, Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): DABIPI, DIXON F
• Application Number:
  US15/276,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20170011321A1
• Time in Patent Office: 512 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/70 Protecting specific internal or peripheral components, in which the protection of a component leads to protection of the entire computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network

Abstract

The present disclosure improves upon existing systems and methods by providing a tool for managing processing resources. For instance, the presently described tool may be used to time replacement, plan for uplifts, budget for uplifts/decommissioning of hardware, and/or maintain a plurality of servers. This tool may lead to increased satisfaction, uptime, and a reduction of unexpected costs. The system may include initiating collection of variables to compile a prioritized list of servers, executing, a calculation application for determining a prioritized list of servers'"'"' end of life targets based on both technical and business parameters based on the entered variables, and prioritizing uplifts of the servers based on the technical and the business parameters.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a computer-based system, an application criticality score for an application processed by a server based on a weighted Sarbanes Oxley score and a weighted data security score, wherein the weighting is based on an importance of a security of the application;

comparing, by the computer-based system, an operating system platform of the application processed by the server with the application criticality score of the application processed by the server;

determining, by the computer-based system and based on the comparison, an end of life target for the server;

prioritizing, by the computer-based system, uplifts of the server, along with a plurality of servers to create a prioritized list of servers, wherein the prioritizing is based on a set of parameters; and

removing, by the computer-based system, the server from the prioritized list of servers based on an indicator signifying the server was previously designated to be uplifted.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising uplifting, by the computer-based system, the server of the plurality of servers based on the prioritizing, wherein the uplifting includes at least one of replacement, refresh, modification, upgrade or update to at least one of hardware or software of the server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, by the computer-based system, a weight for a Sarbanes Oxley score to create the weighted Sarbanes Oxley score;

obtaining, by the computer-based system, a weight for a data security score to create the weighted data security score;

adjusting, by the computer-based system, the application criticality score based on an importance of the application for an organization, a customer or a merchant;

determining, by the computer-based system, an application criticality based on the application criticality score being above a pre-determined threshold;

comparing, by the computer-based system, an operating system platform of the application processed by the server with the application criticality of the application processed by the server;

adjusting, by the computer-based system and based on the comparison, the end of life target for the server; and

determining, by the computer-based system, a designated year to replace the server, based on the end of life target.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising compiling the prioritized list of servers of the plurality of servers based on variables and wherein the variables include a server install date, the operating system of an application being processed by each server of the plurality of servers, a Sarbanes-Oxley score designated to an application processed by each server of the plurality of servers, and a data security score attributed to an application processed by each server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising assessing, by the computer-based system and based on a standard, data security of an application processed by each server of the plurality of servers to create the data security score, wherein the data security score includes a public, business confidential, restricted or secret designation of the application processed by each server of the plurality of servers, wherein the data security score is based on an assigned scaled weight of security needed for each application running on each server of the plurality of servers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the Sarbanes Oxley score is based on a Sarbanes Oxley code designated to the application processed by the server based on the application'"'"'s association with the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, wherein the Sarbanes Oxley code indicates whether the application is at least one of active critical application, inactive or not Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 critical.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the server'"'"'s end of life target is based on a matrix where the operating system platform of the application processed by the server is compared with an application criticality of the application processed by the server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the server'"'"'s end of life target comprises a designated year for uplifting as calculated from the installation date of the server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of parameters comprise at least one of variables, server characteristics, uptime reliability score, flexibility, or a maintenance cost score.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the server characteristics comprise a virtual or physical server designation.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the uptime reliability score is based on at least one of the age of the server, server utilization, the application being processed by the server'"'"'s criticality, age of manufacturer'"'"' hardware model for the server, hardware warranty status for the server, or availability of operating system support for the server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of parameters comprise flexibility, and wherein the flexibility is based on at least one of the age of the manufacturers hardware model or an alignment with current hardware standards of an organization running applications on the server.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of parameters comprise a maintenance cost score, and wherein the maintenance cost score is based on at least one of alignment with current hardware standards of an organization running applications on the server, designation of orphaned servers, or power consumption of the server.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the prioritizing the servers based on the start of a new budget term.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising specifying the server with a history of faults ahead of older servers on an individual basis.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing, by the computer-based system, the server from the prioritized list of servers based on the indicator further signifying the server is previously designated to be uplifted out of turn and that a business unit is planning on paying for the uplift.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator is retrieved from at least one of a server repository or an application repository.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising scoring, by the computer-based system, the application running on the server to create the data security score based on assessing data security of the application compared to a standard.

19. A computer-based system comprising:

a processor,

a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

determining, by the computer-based system, an application criticality score for an application processed by a server based on a weighted Sarbanes Oxley score and a weighted data security score, wherein the weighting is based on an importance of a security of the application;

comparing, by the computer-based system, an operating system platform of the application processed by the server with the application criticality score of the application processed by the server;

determining, by the computer-based system and based on the comparison, an end of life target for the server;

prioritizing, by the computer-based system, uplifts of the server, along with a plurality of servers to create a prioritized list of servers, wherein the prioritizing is based on a set of parameters; and

removing, by the computer-based system, the server from the prioritized list of servers based on an indicator signifying the server was previously designated to be uplifted.

20. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system, cause the computer-based system to perform operations comprising:

determining, by the computer-based system, an application criticality score for an application processed by a server based on a weighted Sarbanes Oxley score and a weighted data security score, wherein the weighting is based on an importance of a security of the application;

comparing, by the computer-based system, an operating system platform of the application processed by the server with the application criticality score of the application processed by the server;

determining, by the computer-based system and based on the comparison, an end of life target for the server;

prioritizing, by the computer-based system, uplifts of the server, along with a plurality of servers to create a prioritized list of servers, wherein the prioritizing is based on a set of parameters; and

removing, by the computer-based system, the server from the prioritized list of servers based on an indicator signifying the server was previously designated to be uplifted.