Verifying software license compliance in cloud computing environments

• US 9,971,880 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• 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, Riveros, Gerry Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Ravetti, Dante
• Application Number:
  US12/627,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20110131315A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,088 Days
• Field of Search: 705 59, 705 16, 705 21, 380 44, 380262, 380278, 380279
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A monitoring system can monitor computing processes in clouds. The monitoring system can verify software license compliance in the computing processes instantiated in the clouds. The monitoring system can generate and maintain a software license knowledge base. The software license knowledge base can include the software license requirements for various software programs. To verify software license compliance, the monitoring system can determine the software programs utilized by the computing processes instantiated in the clouds. The monitoring system can compare the software programs utilized by the computing processes to the software license knowledge base to determine the number of software licenses required by the computing processes. The monitoring system can compare the number of software licenses required to the number of software licenses currently held by the user to determine if the user is in compliance.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a processing device, a request to instantiate a plurality of virtual machines in a cloud computing environment;

instantiating, by the processing device, the plurality of virtual machines in the cloud computing environment in view of the identified request;

monitoring, by the processing device, an execution of the plurality of virtual machines for a determined time period in accordance with the identified request;

aggregating, by the processing device, a number of instances of software utilized by a plurality of computing processes in the cloud computing environment in view of the monitored execution;

spawning, by the processing device, a computing application using a computing process of a virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the spawning comprises generating, by the processing device, a newly created instance of the software utilized by the spawned computing application;

receiving, by the processing device, utilization data associated with the cloud computing environment;

determining, by the processing device in view of the utilization data, that the number of instances of the software utilized in the cloud computing environment does not comply with a software license subscription associated with the virtual machine;

determining, by the processing device, whether the spawned computing application is utilizing the software via the virtual machine in compliance with the software license subscription in view of the utilization data;

determining, by the processing device, that the number of instances of the software utilized by the cloud computing environment does not comply with the software license subscription allocated to the cloud computing environment; and

terminating, by the processing device, the spawned computing application utilizing the newly created instance of the software in view of the determination that the number of instances of the software utilized by the cloud computing environment does not comply with the software license subscription allocated to the cloud computing environment.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving access information for the cloud computing environment; and

identifying, in view of the access information, the software utilized by at least one computing process supported by the cloud computing environment and associated with a user of the virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a knowledge base of available software and license requirements of the available software; and

searching the knowledge base to identify the first number of software licenses to be used.

4. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising purchasing additional software licenses for the software utilized by the at least one computing process in view of the determination that the number of instances of the software does not comply with the software license requirement.

5. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising receiving an indication of a second number of software licenses held by the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing process comprises at least one of a virtual machine, a software appliance, or a software program.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein the identifying comprises identifying a start time and duration of the newly created instance of the software in the cloud computing environment.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising terminating an instantiation of a machine in the cloud computing environment associated with termination of the spawned computing processes.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations, comprising:

identifying a request to instantiate a plurality of virtual machines in a cloud computing environment;

instantiating the plurality of virtual machines in the cloud computing environment in view of the identified request;

monitoring an execution of the plurality of virtual machines for a determined time period in accordance with the identified request;

aggregating a number of instances of software utilized by a plurality of computing processes in the cloud computing environment in view of the monitored execution;

spawning a computing application using a computing process of a virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the spawning comprises generating, by the processing device, a newly created instance of the software utilized by the spawned computing application;

receiving utilization data associated with the cloud computing environment;

determining, by the processing device in view of the utilization data, that the number of instances of the software utilized in the cloud computing environment does not comply with a software license subscription associated with the virtual machine;

determining, by the processing device, whether the spawned computing application is utilizing the software via the virtual machine in compliance with the software license subscription in view of the utilization data;

determining, by the processing device, that the number of instances of the software utilized by the cloud computing environment does not comply with the software license subscription allocated to the cloud computing environment; and

terminating, by the processing device, the spawned computing application utilizing the newly created instance of the software in view of the determination that the number of instances of the software utilized by the cloud computing environment does not comply with the software license subscription allocated to the cloud computing environment.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the processing device is further to:

receive access information for the cloud computing environment; and

identify, in view of the access information, the software utilized by at least one of the computing process supported by the cloud computing environment and associated with a user of the virtual machine.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the processing device is further to:

maintain a knowledge base of available software and license requirements of the available software; and

search the knowledge base to identify the first number of software licenses used.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the processing device is further to purchase additional software licenses for the software utilized by the at least one computing process in view of the determination that the number of instances of the software does not comply with the software license requirement.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the processing device is further to receive an indication of a second number of software licenses held by the user.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the computing process comprises at least one of a virtual machine, a software appliance, or a software program.

13. A system comprising:

a processing device; and

a memory device coupled to the processing device, the memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations, comprising;

identifying a request to instantiate a plurality of virtual machines in a cloud computing environment;

instantiating the plurality of virtual machines in the cloud computing environment in view of the identified request;

monitoring an execution of the plurality of virtual machines for a determined time period in accordance with the identified request;

aggregating a number of instances of software utilized by a plurality of computing processes in the cloud computing environment in view of the monitored execution;

spawning a computing application using a computing process of a virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the spawning comprises generating, by the processing device, a newly created instance of the software utilized by the spawned computing application;

receiving utilization data associated with the cloud computing environment;

determining, by the processing device in view of the utilization data, that the number of instances of the software utilized in the cloud computing environment does not comply with a software license subscription associated with the virtual machine;

determining, by the processing device, whether the spawned computing application is utilizing the software via the virtual machine in compliance with the software license subscription in view of the utilization data;

determining, by the processing device, that the number of instances of the software utilized by the cloud computing environment does not comply with the software license subscription allocated to the cloud computing environment; and

terminating, by the processing device, the spawned computing application utilizing the newly created instance of the software in view of the determination that the number of instances of the software utilized by the cloud computing environment does not comply with the software license subscription allocated to the cloud computing environment.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein, to identify the software utilized by the computing process, the processing device is to:

receive access information for the cloud computing environment; and

identify, in view of the access information, the software utilized by at least one computing process supported by the cloud computing environment and associated with a user of the virtual machine.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the processing device is further to:

maintain a knowledge base of available software and license requirements of the available software; and

search the knowledge base to identify the first number of software licenses to be used.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the processing device is further to purchase additional software licenses for the software utilized by the at least one computing process in view of the determination that the number of instances of the software does not comply with the software license requirement.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the processing device is further to receive an indication of the second number of software licenses held by the user.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the computing process comprises at least one of a virtual machine, a software appliance, or a software program.