US 6,990,666 B2Granted

Near on-line server

AssigneeSurgient, Inc.

InventorsRobert A. Hirschfeld, Dave D. McCrory

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A dynamic state manager (DSM) for a server cloud manager (SCM) of a virtualized logical server cloud including a resource definition, a rules module and a state manager engine. The resource definition incorporates information of the available physical and logical resources of the server cloud, including cost, priority, usage and demand information of the resources. The resource definition further incorporates dependencies and relationships between physical and logical resources. The rules module includes predetermined behavioral rules based on demand, usage, priority and cost information. The behavioral rules define optimized resource utilization of the resources of the server cloud. The state manager engine is linked to the resource definition and the rules module and cooperates with the SCM to apply the behavioral rules to achieve optimized resource utilization.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A virtualized logical server cloud comprising:

physical resources comprising a plurality of networked physical servers executing virtualization software that virtualizes a portion of the physical resources to implement logical resources which includes at least one logical server;
each logical server having a plurality of different activation states including an active state, a suspended state, an off state and at least one storage state, wherein each of the plurality of activation states consumes a successively reduced amount of the physical resources from the active state to the at least one storage state;
and
a server cloud manager (SCM) interfaced to the physical resources for managing operation and activation state of each logical server, the SCM including a dynamic state manager (DSM) comprising:
a resource definition that incorporates information of the physical and logical resources of the virtualized logical server cloud, including cost, priority, usage and demand information of the physical and logical resources and that incorporates dependencies and relationships between the physical and logical resources;
a rules module that comprises predetermined behavioral rules based on demand, usage, priority and cost information, wherein the behavioral rules define optimized utilization of the physical and logical resources of the virtualized logical server cloud;
and
a state manager engine, linked to the resource definition and the rules module, that cooperates with the SCM to apply the behavioral rules to control the activation state of each logical server of the virtualized logical server cloud between the active, suspended, off and storage states to achieve optimized utilization of the physical and logical resources.

5 more elements

A server cloud management system that virtualizes physical resources comprising a plurality of networked physical servers into a virtualized logical server cloud including logical resources comprising at least one logical server and that manages operation of each logical server, the server cloud management system comprising:

virtualization software executed on the physical servers for implementing each logical server;
and
a server cloud manager (SCM) for controlling each logical server and the physical and logical resources, each logical server capable of existing in any one of a plurality of different activation states including an active state, a suspended state, an off state and at least one storage state wherein each of the plurality of activation states consumes a successively reduced amount of the physical resources from the active state to the at least one storage state, the SCM comprising:
a plurality of core components that serve as a shared foundation to collectively manage events, validate and authorize virtualized logical server cloud users and agents, enforce predetermined requirements and rules and store operation data;
and
a plurality of interface components that enable communication with and control of entities associated with the virtualized logical server cloud, the interface components including a dynamic state manager (DSM) that applies predetermined behavioral rules based on demand, usage, priority and cost to control the activation state of each logical server of the virtualized logical server cloud between the active, suspended, off and storage states to optimize usage of the logical and physical resources of the virtualized logical server cloud.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/202,754Filed 25 Jul 2002 · continuation in part
Priority: 18 Mar 2002
Published: US 2003/0051021 A118 Sep 2003
Granted: 24 Jan 2006
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification13 codes

G06F 9/5077
Partitioning or combining of resources: logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources
G06F 9/485
By program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system: task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution
G06F 9/5027
To service a request: the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
G06F 9/5061
Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]: partitioning or combining of resources

Family

Application10/100,216Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 18 Mar 2002
Application10/124,195Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 17 Apr 2002
US 2003/0177176 A1Pre-grant publication · published 18 Sep 2003
US 2003/0051021 A1Published application
US 2003/0105810 A1Published application
US 6,880,002 B2Related patent
US 7,574,496 B2Related patent
US 6,990,666 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.