SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING CLOUD MITIGATION AND OPERATIONS CONTROLLERS

• US 20110106927A1
• Filed: 11/05/2009
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Olds, Dale Robert, Carter, Stephen R., McClain, Carolyn Bennion, Burch, Lloyd Leon
• Granted Patent: US 9,742,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

System and method for implementing cloud mitigation and operations controllers are described. One embodiment is a system for controlling operation of a cloud computing environment, wherein the system comprises a repository for storing data regarding characteristics of the cloud computing environment, wherein the stored data includes policy notations designating compliance or noncompliance of the data with policy; an analyst module for analyzing the stored data in combination with external report information regarding the cloud computing environment and for providing results of the analysis; and a controller for evaluating the analysis results and issuing instructions for controlling operation of the cloud computing environment based on the evaluating.

Claims

1. A system for controlling operation of a cloud computing environment, the system comprising:

a repository for storing data regarding characteristics of the cloud computing environment, wherein the stored data includes policy notations designating compliance or noncompliance of the data with policy;

an analyst module for analyzing the stored data in combination with external report information regarding the cloud computing environment and for providing results of the analysis; and

a controller for evaluating the analysis results and issuing instructions for controlling operation of the cloud computing environment based on the evaluating.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the external report information comprises at least one of intrusion, virus, attack, penetration, safety, cost, and complaint information.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a prospector for generating the data stored in the cloud repository in accordance with a prospector policy.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the cloud repository stores at least one of S-cloud operational characteristics, C-cloud operational characteristics, S-cloud reputation, and C-cloud reputation.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the policy comprises at least one of failover policy, usage policy, redundancy policy, and locality policy.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller comprises an operations controller, the operations controller evaluating policy and cloud specifications and compute specifications along with the analysis results to determine whether desired operational characteristics of the cloud computing environment are being realized, wherein the issued instructions comprise instructions for modifying job spawning and distribution processes of the cloud computing environment as indicated by the evaluating.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller comprises a mitigation controller, the mitigation controller evaluating the analysis results to discover undesirable operational characteristics of the cloud computing environment, wherein the issued instructions comprise instructions for modifying operational use of resources of the cloud computing environment to mitigate the discovered undesirable operational characteristics.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising an operations controller, the operations controller configured to evaluate the instructions issued by the mitigation controller, policy and cloud specifications, compute specifications, and the analysis results to determine whether desired operational characteristics of the cloud computing environment are being realized and for issuing instructions for modifying job spawning and distribution processes of the cloud computing environment as indicated by the operations controller evaluating.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to receive administrative instructions for controlling operation of the controller.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller means comprises a mitigation controller, the mitigation controller evaluating the analysis results to discover undesirable operational characteristics of the cloud computing environment, wherein the issued instructions comprise instructions for modifying operational use of resources of the cloud computing environment to mitigate the discovered undesirable operational characteristics.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising an operations controller, the operations controller configured to evaluate the instructions issued by the mitigation controller, policy and cloud specifications, compute specifications, and the analysis results to determine whether desired operational characteristics of the cloud computing environment are being realized and for issuing instructions for modifying job spawning and distribution processes of the cloud computing environment as indicated by the operations controller evaluating.

10. A system for controlling operation of a cloud computing environment, the system comprising:

repository means for storing data regarding characteristics of the cloud computing environment, wherein the stored data includes policy notations designating compliance or noncompliance of the data with policy;

analyst means for analyzing the stored data in combination with external report information regarding the cloud computing environment and for providing results of the analysis; and

controller means for evaluating the analysis results and issuing instructions for controlling operation of the cloud computing environment based on the evaluating.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the external report information comprises at least one of intrusion, virus, attack, penetration, safety, cost, and complaint information.

12. The system of claim 10 further comprising prospector means for generating the data stored in the repository means in accordance with a prospector policy and wherein the repository means stores at least one of S-cloud operational characteristics, C-cloud operational characteristics, S-cloud reputation, and C-cloud reputation.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the policy comprises at least one of failover policy, usage policy, redundancy policy, and locality policy.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the controller means comprises an operations controller, the operations controller evaluating policy and cloud specifications and compute specifications along with the analysis results to determine whether desired operational characteristics of the cloud computing environment are being realized, wherein the issued instructions comprise instructions for modifying job spawning and distribution processes of the cloud computing environment as indicated by the evaluating.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the controller means is configured to receive administrative instructions for controlling operation thereof.

18. A method of controlling operation of a cloud computing environment, the method comprising:

storing data regarding characteristics of the cloud computing environment in a repository, the stored data including policy notations designating compliance or noncompliance of the data with policy, wherein the stored data is generated in accordance with a prospector policy and comprises at least one of S-cloud operational characteristics data, C-cloud operational characteristics data, S-cloud reputation data, and C-cloud reputation data.

analyzing the stored data in combination with external report information regarding the cloud computing environment and for providing results of the analysis; and

evaluating the analysis results and issuing instructions for controlling operation of the cloud computing environment based on the evaluating.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the evaluating comprises evaluating policy and cloud specifications and compute specifications along with analysis results to determine whether desired operational characteristics of the cloud computing environment are being realized, wherein the issued instructions comprise instructions for modifying job spawning and distribution processes of the cloud computing environment as indicated by the evaluating.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the evaluating comprises evaluating analysis results to discover undesirable operational characteristics of the cloud computing environment, wherein the issued instructions comprise instructions for modifying operational use of resources of the cloud computing environment to mitigate the discovered undesirable operational characteristics.