Dynamic boundary based monitoring and metering

• US 9,906,420 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2014
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Harishankar, Raman, Iyer, Sreekanth R., Narendra, Nanjangud C., Sivakumar, Gandhi
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOUDHURY, AZIZUL Q
• Application Number:
  US14/578,832
• Publication Number:
  US 20160182324A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1435 volume-based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/60 based on actual use of network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

In an approach for providing a dynamic boundary based approach for monitoring and metering, a processor provisions at least one agent to one or more network accessible resources, wherein the at least one agent is configured to allow for monitoring and metering. A processor provides at least one dynamic boundary for monitoring and metering. A processor receives information captured by the at least one agent provisioned to the one or more network accessible resources based on the dynamic boundary for monitoring and metering. A processor causes the information to be available for use.

Claims

1. A method for providing a dynamic boundary based approach for monitoring and metering, the method comprising:

provisioning, by one or more processors, at least one agent to one or more network accessible resources, wherein the at least one agent is configured to allow for monitoring and metering, and wherein the at least one agent is optimized to manage the plurality of individual dynamic boundaries;

provisioning, by one or more processors, at least one entity to the one or more network accessible resources, wherein the at least one entity is configured to monitor the one or more network accessible resources for inactive users, and wherein the at least one entity is further configured to trigger archival of information for an inactive user captured by the at least one agent;

providing, by one or more processors, at least one dynamic boundary for monitoring and metering, wherein the at least one dynamic boundary follows a top-down approach, wherein the top-down approach is a breaking down of a system to gain insight into the system'"'"'s compositional sub-systems, and wherein the top down approach measures a transit of traffic from a user request to data and data back to the requesting user, and wherein the at least one dynamic boundary comprises a plurality of individual dynamic boundaries, and;

wherein the at least one dynamic boundary has at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter identifies at least a user, and wherein the at least one parameter has at least one counter for the at least one agent, and

wherein the at least one dynamic boundary is a dynamic composite boundary, wherein the dynamic composite boundary has at least two parameters, wherein the at least two parameters identify at least two additional dynamic boundaries;

provisioning, by one or more processors, object identifiers at levels of hierarchy, wherein the object identifiers allow, at the levels of hierarchy, for resource statistics as a whole, resource statistics as a logical partition, resource statistics at the tenant level, and resource statistics at the user level for the one or more network accessible resources;

receiving, by one or more processors, information captured by the at least one agent provisioned to the one or more network accessible resources based on the dynamic boundary for monitoring and metering;

generating, by one or more processors, reports for monitoring and management in real-time at the user level to address issues and apply policies to provide benefits to users within a network, based on the at least one agent, the dynamic boundary, and the object identifiers being manipulated, structurally, for the addition and subtraction of the user from the network; and

causing, by one or more processors, the information to be available for use.

2. A computer program product for providing a dynamic boundary based approach for monitoring and metering, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executed by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising;

provisioning at least one agent to one or more network accessible resources, wherein the at least one agent is configured to allow for monitoring and metering, and wherein the at least one agent is optimized to manage the plurality of individual dynamic boundaries;

provisioning at least one entity to the one or more network accessible resources, wherein the at least one entity is configured to monitor the one or more network accessible resources for inactive users, and wherein the at least one entity is further configured to trigger archival of information for an inactive user captured by the at least one agent;

providing at least one dynamic boundary for monitoring and metering, wherein the at least one dynamic boundary follows a top-down approach, wherein the top-down approach is a breaking down of a system to gain insight into the system'"'"'s compositional sub-systems, and wherein the top down approach measures a transit of traffic from a user request to data and data back to the requesting user, and wherein the at least one dynamic boundary comprises a plurality of individual dynamic boundaries, and;

wherein the at least one dynamic boundary has at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter identifies at least a user, and wherein the at least one parameter has at least one counter for the at least one agent, and

wherein the at least one dynamic boundary is a dynamic composite boundary, wherein the dynamic composite boundary has at least two parameters, wherein the at least two parameters identify at least two additional dynamic boundaries;

provisioning object identifiers at levels of hierarchy, wherein the object identifiers allow, at the levels of hierarchy, for resource statistics as a whole, resource statistics as a logical partition, resource statistics at the tenant level, and resource statistics at the user level for the one or more network accessible resources;

receiving information captured by the at least one agent provisioned to the one or more network accessible resources based on the dynamic boundary for monitoring and metering;

generating reports for monitoring and management in real-time at the user level to address issues and apply policies to provide benefits to users within a network, based on the at least one agent, the dynamic boundary, and the object identifiers being manipulated, structurally, for the addition and subtraction of the user from the network; and

causing the information to be available for use.

3. A computer system for providing a dynamic boundary based approach for monitoring and metering, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors and a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executed by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising;

provisioning at least one agent to one or more network accessible resources, wherein the at least one agent is configured to allow for monitoring and metering, and wherein the at least one agent is optimized to manage the plurality of individual dynamic boundaries;

provisioning at least one entity to the one or more network accessible resources, wherein the at least one entity is configured to monitor the one or more network accessible resources for inactive users, and wherein the at least one entity is further configured to trigger archival of information for an inactive user captured by the at least one agent;

providing at least one dynamic boundary for monitoring and metering, wherein the at least one dynamic boundary follows a top-down approach, wherein the top-down approach is a breaking down of a system to gain insight into the system'"'"'s compositional sub-systems, and wherein the top down approach measures a transit of traffic from a user request to data and data back to the requesting user, and wherein the at least one dynamic boundary comprises a plurality of individual dynamic boundaries, and;

wherein the at least one dynamic boundary has at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter identifies at least a user, and wherein the at least one parameter has at least one counter for the at least one agent, and

wherein the at least one dynamic boundary is a dynamic composite boundary, wherein the dynamic composite boundary has at least two parameters, wherein the at least two parameters identify at least two additional dynamic boundaries;

provisioning object identifiers at levels of hierarchy, wherein the object identifiers allow, at the levels of hierarchy, for resource statistics as a whole, resource statistics as a logical partition, resource statistics at the tenant level, and resource statistics at the user level for the one or more network accessible resources;

receiving information captured by the at least one agent provisioned to the one or more network accessible resources based on the dynamic boundary for monitoring and metering;

generating reports for monitoring and management in real-time at the user level to address issues and apply policies to provide benefits to users within a network, based on the at least one agent, the dynamic boundary, and the object identifiers being manipulated, structurally, for the addition and subtraction of the user from the network; and

causing the information to be available for use.