BURST CAPACITY FOR USER-DEFINED POOLS

• US 20140297868A1
• Filed: 04/02/2013
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Helfrich, Brian, Ward, David John Jr., Ennaji, Rachid, Kim, Jin Seop, Elliott, Stephen Alden, Zhai, Peng, Kapila, Dhanvi Harsha
• Granted Patent: US 9,634,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/828 Allocation of resources per group of connections, e.g. per group of users
• 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

Abstract

One or more resource slots are instantiated and allocated to a user according to a first set of pricing policies. The user is allowed to identify at least one of the resource slots and identify other users allowed to access the identified resource slots according to a second pricing policy, the second pricing policy being designated by the user. An indication is received that a request has been received that exceeds a computing capacity. In response, additional computing capacity to allow fulfillment of the request is allocated.

Claims

1. A system for allocating computing resources in a provider network, the system comprising:

one or more computing devices, the one or more computing devices comprising one or more resource slots, each resource slot configured to host a computing instance;

at least one memory having stored therein computer instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors of the system, at least cause the system to;

associate at least a portion of a plurality of resource slots with one or more users who are allowed to request access to the portion of the plurality of resource slots according to an entity-selected pricing policy, wherein the portion of the plurality of resource slots are selected from resource slots associated with an entity according to a provider-selected pricing policy;

receive an indication that a request for access to the portion of the plurality of resource slots has been received that exceeds a computing capacity of the portion of the plurality of resource slots;

in response to the indication, determine that a policy is stored for allocating excess computing capacity requests for the portion of the plurality of resource slots; and

allocating additional computing capacity to allow fulfillment of the request for access.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the portion of the plurality of resource slots, the one or more users, and the entity-selected pricing policy are selected by the entity.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising computer readable instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors of the system, cause the system to at least provide a user interface for allowing the one or more users to bid for the grouping of the plurality of resource slots.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the additional computing capacity is provided from the plurality of resource slots.

5. A method for allocating computing resources in a provider network, the method comprising:

in a computing environment comprising a plurality of computing devices and wherein capacity of each computing device is logically segmented into one or more resource slots, and wherein one or more resource slots are associated with a user according to a first set of pricing policies, allowing the user to identify at least one of the one or more associated resource slots and identify other users allowed to access the at least one associated resource slot according to a second set of pricing policies;

receive an indication that a request for access to the at least one associated resource slot has been received that exceeds a computing capacity of the at least one associated resource slot; and

in response to the indication, allocating additional computing capacity to allow fulfillment of the request for access.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising causing allocation of the at least one associated resource slot to the other users according to the second pricing policy.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the second set of pricing policies is selected by the user.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining that a policy is stored for allocating the additional computing capacity for the at least one associated resource slot, wherein the additional computing capacity is allocated in accordance with the policy.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing a user interface for allowing the other users to bid for the at least one associated resource slot.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing a user interface for facilitating selection of the at least one associated resource slot, other users allowed to access the at least one associated resource slot, and the second set of pricing policies.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising allowing the other users to bid for the at least one associated resource slot in accordance with the second pricing policy.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the second pricing policy comprises a currency to use to acquire a resource slot, minimum/maximum prices, or bidding/pricing algorithm.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said allowing comprises receiving a request to allocate the at least one associated resource slot, associating the request with a request identifier, and the at least one associated resource slot with a pool identifier.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining billing information for allocating the at least one associated resource slot and allocating the additional computing capacity.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining which of the other users have bid for one or more of the at least one associated resource slot in accordance with the second pricing policy and collecting billing information based on the determining.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising associating the other users with a user identifier and including the user identifier with records associated with the other users.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the second set of pricing policies comprises a currency to use to acquire a resource slot, minimum/maximum prices, or bidding/pricing algorithm.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the bidding/pricing algorithm comprises one of an ascending auction and a descending auction.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions comprising instructions that upon execution on one or more computing devices, to at least:

in a computing environment comprising a plurality of computing devices and wherein capacity of each computing device is logically segmented into one or more resource slots, and wherein one or more resource slots are associated with a user according to a first set of pricing policies, generate a user interface allowing the user to identify at least one of the associated resource slots and identify other users allowed to access the at least one associated resource slot according to a second set of pricing policies;

generate a user interface allowing the other users to request access to the at least one associated resource slot; and

in response to receiving an indication that a request for access to the at least one associated resource slot has been received that exceeds a computing capacity of the at least one associated resource slot, cause the computing environment to allocate additional computing capacity to allow fulfillment of the request for access.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, comprising instructions that upon execution on one or more computing devices, at least cause the computing environment to determine billing information for allowing the other users to bid for the at least one associated resource slot.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, comprising instructions that upon execution on one or more computing devices, at least cause the computing environment to determine that a policy is stored for allocating the additional computing capacity for the at least one associated resource slot, wherein the additional computing capacity is allocated in accordance with the policy.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the additional computing capacity is allocated from the one or more resource slots associated with the user.