Managing entitlements in a networked environment

• US 10,719,587 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Issued: 07/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: McCune, Michael B., Vetere, Peter A., Norwood, Robin L., Duffy, Maureen E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Giroux, George
• Application Number:
  US12/215,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20090328056A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,409 Days
• Field of Search: 718100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Some embodiments of an entitlement model have been presented. In one embodiment, a centralized server distributes copies of an operating system from a software vendor to a set of virtual guests of a virtual host running on a physical computing machine. The centralized server and the physical computing machine are coupled to each other within an internal network of a customer of the software vendor, whereas the centralized server has access to the software vendor external to the internal network of the customer. The centralized server may interact with a hypervisor of the physical computing machine to determine what type of license of the operating system the virtual host has and a number of copies of the operating system requested by the virtual guests.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

querying, by a processing device of a first server, a hypervisor of a physical computing machine, the physical computing machine executing a virtual host and a first virtual guest, wherein the querying is regarding entitlements associated with the virtual host and the first virtual guest;

instructing, by the processing device, the virtual host to provision the first virtual guest with a copy of an operating system executing on the virtual host and that is provided by a software vendor, wherein the first server is coupled, across an internal network of a customer, to the physical computing machine;

receiving, from the hypervisor, identification of a type of entitlement corresponding to the operating system of the virtual host and the operating system currently used by the first virtual guest;

distributing, by the processing device in view of the type of entitlement and a number of copies of the operating system provisioned by the virtual host, a second copy of the operating system to at least a second virtual guest of the virtual host;

retrieving from an external server of the software vendor, by the processing device synchronizing with the external server, metadata related to the operating system provisioned by the virtual host, wherein the external server is located outside of the internal network of the customer;

retrieving, by the processing device, a specification and resource requirements of the second virtual guest received by the first server through a graphical user interface, wherein the specification and resource requirements are related to execution of the operating system on the second virtual quest;

creating, by the processing device for the second virtual guest, a provisioning profile in view of the operating system, the metadata related to the operating system, and in view of the specification and resource requirements of the second virtual guest;

responsive to receiving updated information associated with the entitlements, updating, by the processing device, the provisioning profile for the second virtual guest to generate an updated provisioning profile; and

instructing the hypervisor of the physical computing machine, by the first server in response to a request, to provision the second virtual guest in view of the updated provisioning profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first virtual guest and the virtual host are managed by the first server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein responsive to the number of copies of the operating system exceeding a threshold and the virtual host having a limited license of the operating system:

releasing, by the processing device, an entitlement of the operating system from the first virtual guest for use by the second virtual guest, and

charging an account of the customer, by the processing device, for use of the entitlement by the second virtual guest.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing, via the first server, an unlimited number of copies of the operating system to be provisioned in response to the virtual host having an unlimited license.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving an update of the operating system from the software vendor, by the first server, after distributing the second copy of the operating system to the second virtual guest; and

distributing the updates, via the server, to at least one other virtual guest.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first server distributes the second copy of the operating system to the second virtual guest in response to a request to provision the second virtual guest.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising releasing an entitlement of the operating system, via the first server in response to the first virtual guest being deleted and the virtual host having a limited license.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining current computing resource usage by the first virtual guest for which an entitlement of the operating system is to be released.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the updated information comprises providing a prompt to a user computing device to purchase an adjustment to a number of the entitlements associated with the virtual host.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the processing device is also to manage the first virtual guest and the virtual host.

10. A system comprising:

a network interface; and

a processing device communicably coupled to the network interface, the processing device to;

query, over the network interface, a hypervisor of a physical computing machine, the physical computing machine executing a virtual host and a first virtual guest, regarding entitlements associated with the virtual host and the virtual guest;

instruct, across an internal network to the physical computing machine, the virtual host to provision the first virtual guest with a copy of an operating system executing on the virtual host and that is provided by a software vendor;

receive, from the hypervisor, identification of a type of entitlement corresponding to the operating system of the virtual host and the operating system currently used by the first virtual guest;

distribute, via the network interface in view of the type of entitlement and a number of copies of the operating system provisioned by the virtual host, a second copy of the operating system to a second virtual guest of the virtual host;

retrieve from an external server of the software vendor, by synchronizing with the external server, metadata related to the operating system provisioned by the virtual host, wherein the external server is located outside of the internal network of the customer;

retrieve a specification and resource requirements of the second virtual guest received through a graphical user interface, wherein the specification and resource requirements are related to execution of the operating system on the second virtual guest;

create, for the second virtual guest, a provisioning profile in view of the operating system, the metadata related to the operating system, and in view of the specification and resource requirements of the second virtual guest;

responsive to receiving updated information associated with the entitlements, update the provisioning profile for the second virtual guest to generate an updated provisioning profile; and

instruct the hypervisor of the physical computing machine, in response to a request, to provision the second virtual guest in view of the updated provisioning profile.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing device is further to limit the number of copies of the operating system in response to the virtual host having a limited license of the operating system.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing device is further to allow an unlimited number of copies of the operating system to be provisioned in response to the virtual host having an unlimited license.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

an external network interface, communicably coupled to a network external to the internal network of the customer via a secured connection, to receive an update of the operating system from the software vendor after at least one copy of the operating system is distributed to the second virtual guest; and

wherein the processing device is to distribute the updates to the second virtual guest.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing device is to retrieve updates of the operating system after the second copy of the operating system is distributed to the second virtual guest, and wherein the processing device is to distribute the updates to the second virtual guest.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein responsive to the number of copies of the operating system exceeding a threshold and the virtual host having a limited license of the operating system, the processing device is further to:

release an entitlement of the operating system from the first virtual guest for use by the second virtual guest, and

charge an account of the customer for the second virtual guest for the entitlement.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing device is further to release an entitlement of the operating system in response to the first virtual guest being deleted and the virtual host having a limited license.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

query, a first server, a hypervisor of a physical computing machine, the physical computing machine executing a virtual host and a first virtual guest, wherein the query is regarding entitlements associated with the virtual host and the first virtual guest;

instruct the virtual host to provision the first virtual guest with a copy of an operating system executing on the virtual host and that is provided by a software vendor, wherein the first server is coupled, across an internal network of a customer, to the physical computing machine;

receive, by the processing device of the first server from the hypervisor, identification of a type of entitlement corresponding to the operating system of the virtual host and the operating system currently used by the first virtual guest;

distribute, by the processing device in view of the type of entitlement and a number of copies of the operating system currently provisioned by the virtual host, a second copy of the operating system to a second virtual guest of the virtual host;

retrieve from an external server of the software vendor, by synchronizing with the external server, metadata related to the operating system provisioned by the virtual host, wherein the external server is located outside of the internal network of the customer;

retrieve a specification and resource requirements of the second virtual guest received by the first server through a graphical user interface, wherein the specification and resource requirements are related to execution of the operating system on the second virtual guest;

create, for the second virtual guest, a provisioning profile in view of the operating system, the metadata related to the operating system, and of the specification and in view of the resource requirements of the second virtual guest;

responsive to receiving updated information associated with the entitlements, update the provisioning profile for the second virtual guest to generate an updated provisioning profile; and

instruct the hypervisor of the physical computing machine, in response to a request, to provision the second virtual guest in view of the updated provisioning profile.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the first virtual guest and the virtual host are managed by the first server.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein responsive to the number of copies of the operating system exceeding a threshold and the virtual host having a limited license of the operating system, the executable instructions further cause the processing device to:

release an entitlement of the operating system from the first virtual guest for use by the second virtual guest, and

charge an account of the customer for the second virtual guest for the entitlement.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the executable instructions further cause the processing device to allow, via the first server, an unlimited number of copies of the operating system to be provisioned in response to the virtual host having an unlimited license.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the executable instructions further cause the processing device to:

receive an update of the operating system from the software vendor, by the first server, after distributing the second copy of the operating system to the second virtual guest; and

distribute the updates, via the first server, to the second virtual guest.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the executable instructions further cause the processing device to release an entitlement of the operating system, via the first server in response to the first virtual guest being deleted and the virtual host having a limited license.