Method and System for Determining Computer Resource Usage in Utility Computing

A computer program product operating within a utility computing system having a plurality of network infrastructure nodes, each network infrastructure node including a plurality of computing resource types measured according to respective resource units, the computer program product comprising code, which, when executed on a processor, causes the processor to provide:

• a node analysis engine that:
• determines, for each resource type, an adjusted cost per predetermined time unit to deploy and operate each of the plurality of computing resource types;
• applies a cost conversion factor to each adjusted cost to determine a number of resource units comprising a quantum of a universal metric;
• and,
• for each computing resource type, generates an average number of resource units per quantum of the universal metric by averaging the number of resource units over the plurality of network infrastructure nodes;
• a metering engine that:
• receives, for an application executing on at least one of the network infrastructure nodes, periodically monitored usage of each computing resource type to generate a number of resource units used in a predetermined time period;
• for each computing resource type, determines a quanta of the universal metric consumed in the predetermined time period by converting the number of resource units used in the predetermined time period according to the average number of resource units per quantum of the universal metric for the respective computing resource type;
• and,
• a consumption engine that generates a total resource consumption by adding the quanta of the universal metric consumed by the application in the predetermined time period for each computing resource type.