Systems and methods for providing dynamic quality of service for a distributed system

• US 7,660,887 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2003
• Issued: 02/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Reedy, Dennis G., Mitchell, Larry J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne; Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Burgess; Barbara N
• Application Number:
  US10/390,895
• Publication Number:
  US 20040030777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,519 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/223, 709/229, 709/225, 709/226, 709/227, 709/228, 709/232
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3442 for planning or managing the needed capacity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Methods and systems consistent with certain aspects related to the present invention provide a dynamic service delivery system based on a capability to provide services through a distributed system using qualitative and quantitative Quality of Service (QoS) attributes. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method for providing a service that includes collecting capability information reflecting a current operating condition of a compute resource and determining a platform capability and a measurable capability value for a depletion-oriented characteristic of the compute resource based on the collected capability information. Based on at least one of the platform capability and the measurable capability value; a capability value for the compute resource is determined and this value is provided to a provision manager that determines whether the compute resource is worthy of being an available resource in the distributed system based on the capability value. Additionally, the provision manager may determine which of a plurality of services provided by compute resources is more capable of handling a service request based on service capability values corresponding to platform capabilities and/or the depletion-oriented characteristics of each of the compute resources.

Claims

1. A method for providing a service in a distributed system, comprising:

collecting capability information reflecting a current operating condition of a compute resource, wherein the compute resource comprises a computer system;

determining a measurable capability value for a depletion-oriented characteristic of the computer system based on the collected capability information;

determining a platform capability for the computer system;

determining a capability value for the computer system based on at least one of the platform capability and the measurable capability value, wherein the capability value reflects an overall ability for the compute resource to provide the service based on at least one of the platform capability and the measurable capability value and the overall ability for the compute resource reflected in the capability value is directly proportional to a fluctuation of the depletion-oriented characteristic;

providing the capability value to a provision manager that designates the computer system as an available resource in the distributed system based on the capability value;

providing software for the service on the computer system in the distributed system;

dynamically instantiating a Service Level Agreement manager on the computer system upon said providing software for the service, wherein the Service Level Agreement manager ensures that minimum capabilities defined in the Service Level Agreement are maintained;

wherein

the provision manager determines whether the compute resource is to be designated an available resource in the distributed system based on the capability value and another capability value associated with another compute resource included in the distributed system; and

providing the service by the computer system to a requesting entity based on a determination from the provision manager that the compute resource is more capable of providing the service than another compute resource included in the distributed system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the depletion-oriented characteristic of the computer system is a measurable platform characteristic comprising at least one of memory usage, processor utilization, network bandwidth usage, and an operating system resource, associated with the compute resource, having an upper threshold value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the platform capability reflects at least one of hardware and software based capabilities that are associated with the compute resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination from the provision manager that the compute resource is more capable of providing the service than the another compute resource is based on the capability value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the capability value includes:

creating a resource capability object that includes the capability value; and

providing the resource capability object to the provision manager.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the compute resource may update the resource capability object based on changes to at least one of the platform capability and the depletion-oriented characteristic.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the compute resource updates the resource capability object by invoking a method provided by the provision manager.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the capability information is collected periodically.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the capability value is provided to the provision manager periodically.

32. A computer-readable storage medium including instructions for, when executed by a processor, performing the method of claim 1.

10. A method for providing a service in a distributed system, comprising:

collecting a resource capability object from a compute resource, wherein the compute resource provides the service and comprises a computer system;

determining a measurable QoS capability associated with a depletion-oriented characteristic of the computer system;

determining whether the computer system satisfies a QoS capability threshold based on the resource capability object, wherein the resource capability object reflects an overall ability for the compute resource to provide the service, and the overall ability for the compute resource reflected in the resource capability object is directly proportional to a fluctuation of the depletion-oriented characteristic;

registering the computer system as an available resource in the distributed system based on the determination;

providing software for the service on the computer system in the distributed system;

dynamically instantiating a Service Level Agreement manager on the computer system upon said providing of software for the service, wherein the Service Level Agreement manager ensures that minimum capabilities defined in the Service Level Agreement are maintained;

receiving a service request from a requesting entity; and

determining that the compute resource is more capable of providing the requested service to the requesting entity using the service than the second compute resource included in the distributed system that provides a second service; and

providing, by the computer system, the requested service to the requesting entity.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a platform capability is associated with a capability provided by a hardware or software mechanism operating within the compute resource.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the depletion-oriented characteristic of the computer resource is a measurable platform characteristic comprising at least one of a memory usage, processor utilization, network bandwidth usage, and an operating system resource, associated with the compute resource, having an upper threshold value.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether the compute resource satisfies a QoS capability threshold includes:

determining whether a resource capability value reflecting a capability associated with a depletion-oriented characteristic of the compute resource is one of greater than, equal to, and less than, a predetermined capability threshold value.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the resource capability value is determined by the compute resource and is included in the resource capability object provided by the compute resource.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein registering the compute resource as an available resource includes:

providing an entry for the compute resource in a data structure including other identifiers for other registered compute resources.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the compute resource is more capable of providing the service includes:

comparing a first cost value associated with the service and a second cost value associated with the second service; and

providing the service to the requesting entity based on the comparison.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first and second cost values are associated with one or more depletion-oriented characteristics of the compute and second compute resources, respectively.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether the compute resource satisfies a QoS capability threshold includes:

comparing a resource capability value associated with a depletion-oriented characteristic of the compute resource with a corresponding QoS capability threshold value.

19. A system for providing a service in a distributed system, comprising:

a provision manager configured to provide the service to a requesting entity based on a service capability value corresponding to each of a plurality of services instantiated in the distributed system; and

a computer system that provides one of the instantiated services, said computer system being configured to monitor a QoS capability of the computer system, determine a resource capability value of the computer system reflecting an overall ability for the computer system to provide the instantiated service based on the monitored QoS capability, provide the capability value to the provision manager, and dynamically instantiate a Service Level Agreement manager on the computer system upon said provision manager providing said service, wherein the Service Level Agreement manager ensures that minimum capabilities defined in the Service Level Agreement are maintained, wherein the capability value reflects an overall ability for a compute resource to provide the service, and the overall ability for the compute resource reflected in the capability value is directly proportional to a fluctuation of a depletion-oriented characteristic of the computer system; and

the provision manager determines whether the computer system is to be designed an available resource in the distributed based on the capability value and another capability value associated with another computer system included in the distributed system.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the provision manager determines that computer system is capable of providing the instantiated service to the requesting entity based on a service capability value associated with the instantiated service.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the service capability value associated with the instantiated service is based on the resource capability value.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer system is configured to remove itself as an available resource based on a determination that the QoS capability does not meet a QoS threshold.

23. The system of claim 19, further including:

an enforcement module that performs an action based on an event provided by the computer system indicating that the QoS capability does not meet a QoS threshold.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the action includes canceling a lease held by the computer system with the provision manager.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the action includes one of canceling a lease held by the computer system with a provision manager, providing a notification to a user identifying the depletion-oriented characteristic, and moving the service provided by the computer system to another compute resource included in the distributed system.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer system includes a monitoring object that periodically monitors the QoS capability of the computer system.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer system includes a compute resource object that determines the resource capability value of the computer system.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the compute resource object provides a resource capability object including the capability value to the provision manager.

29. The system of claim 19, wherein the resource capability value is a value that is independent of a type of platform of the computer system.

30. The system of claim 19, wherein the provision manager compares the resource capability value of the computer system with a second resource capability value of a second compute resource to determine whether the computer system is worthy of being an available resource in the distributed system.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the second computer system includes a platform architecture that is different that a platform architecture of the computer system.

33. A computer-readable storage medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor, for providing a service in a distributed system, the method comprising:

providing software for the service on a computer system in the distributed system;

dynamically instantiating a Service Level Agreement manager on the computer system upon said provision of software for the service, wherein the Service Level Agreement manager ensures that minimum capabilities defined in the Service Level Agreement are maintained;

collecting a resource capability object from the compute resource, wherein the compute resource provides the service and comprises the computer system;

determining a measurable QoS capability associated with a depletion-oriented characteristic of the compute resource does not exceed an amount defined in the SLA manager;

determining whether the compute resource satisfies a QoS capability threshold based on the resource capability object, wherein the resource capability object reflects an overall ability for the compute resource to provided the services, and the overall ability for the compute resource reflected in the resource capability object is directed proportional to fluctuation of the depletion-oriented characteristic;

registering the compute resource as an available resource in distributed system based on the determination;

receiving a service request from a requesting entity; and

determining that the compute resource is more capable of providing the requested service to the requesting entity using the service than a second compute resource included in the distributed system that provides a second service.

34. A system for providing a service, comprising:

a memory including;

a set of instructions for receiving a depletion-oriented resource capability value from each of a number of computer resource in a distributed system, wherein;

a computer resource comprises a computer system;

the depletion-oriented resource capability value is a measurable platform characteristic comprising at least one of processor utilization, network bandwidth usage, and an operating system resource, associated with a respective computer resource, having an upper threshold value; and

the capability value reflects an overall ability for the computer resource to provide a service, and the overall ability for the computer resource reflected in the capability value is directly proportional to a fluctuation of the depletion-oriented characteristic;

a set of instructions for determining which of the compute resources is more capable of providing a service to a requesting entity based on each compute resource'"'"'s depletion-oriented capability value, and

a set of instructions for providing software for the service on a computer system and dynamically instantiating a Service Level Agreement manager on the computer system, upon said provision of software for the service, to the requesting entity based on the determination and for monitoring the capability value of the computer system while the service is provisioned, wherein

the Service Level Agreement manager ensures that minimum capabilities defined in the Service Level Agreement are maintained; and

a provision manager determines whether the computer resource is to be designated an available resource in the distributed system based on the capability value and another capability value associated with another computer resource included in the distributed system; and

a processor for executing the sets of instructions included in the memory.

35. A system, comprising:

a memory including;

a set of instructions for determining a depletion-oriented resource capability value for each of number of computer resources in a distributed system, wherein the depletion-oriented capability value represents an overall ability of the computer resource to provision a service that is directly proportion to a fluctuation of the depletion-oriented characteristic;

a computer resource comprises a computer system, and the depletion-oriented resource capability value is a measurable platform characteristic comprising at least one of processor utilization, network bandwidth usage, and an operating system resource, associated with a respective computer resource, having an upper threshold value,

a set of instructions for registering as an available resource with a provision manager based on the depletion-oriented resource capability value,

a set of instructions for providing software for the service on a computer system and dynamically instantiating a Service Level Agreement manager on the computer system, upon said provision of software for the service; and

a set of instructions for monitoring QoS capabilities of the computer system using the instantiated Service Level Agreement manager to monitor the computer system and determine whether the compute resource is currently able to provision the service based on one or more QoS threshold values, wherein the Service Level Agreement manager ensures that minimum capabilities defined in the Service Level Agreement are maintained; and

the provision manager determines whether the computer resource is to be designated an available resource in the distributed system based on the capability value and another capability value associated with another computer resource included in the distributed system; and

a processor for executing the sets of instructions included in the memory.