Access to resources in a virtual environment

A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium encoding instructions which, when executed in a computing system, are effective to cause said computing system to perform a method of providing access to a resource in a virtual environment, by:

• a) receiving, from a user of said environment, a request for access to said resource;
• b) allocating said request to a queue of requests for said resource;
• c) determining a maximum permissible rate of access of users to said resource;
• d) providing a mechanism which is operable to grant users of said virtual environment with access to said resource at a rate no greater than said maximum permissible rate;
• e) allocating requests from said queue to said mechanism at a controlled allocation rate no greater than said maximum permissible rate;
• f) upon allocation of said request from said user to said mechanism, said mechanism granting said user with access to said resource within the virtual environment.

A system for providing access to a resource in a virtual environment, the system comprising:

• a) an interface for receiving requests for access to said resource;
• b) a queuing manager controlling a queue of said requests for access to said resource;
• c) a memory storing a maximum permissible rate of access of users to said resource;
• d) a mechanism configured to grant users of said virtual environment with access to said resource at a rate no greater than said maximum permissible rate;
• wherein said queuing manager is configured to allocate requests from said queue to said mechanism at a controlled allocation rate no greater than said maximum permissible rate, and wherein said mechanism is effective to grant said user with access to said resource within the virtual environment upon allocation of said request from said user to said mechanism.