US 7,886,021 B2 · System and method for programmatic management of distributed computing resources

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing a development and deployment platform for Software as a Service (SaaS) providers are disclosed. The platform may provide an application programming interface (API) through which customers may configure virtualized grids of language-level virtual machines (VMs), networks, and storage resources. A grid may be horizontally scalable and programmatically configurable by a customer and/or customer code. The platform may allow dynamic scaling of resources (up and down) to match changing demands, by allowing customers and/or customer code to programmatically alter their own system level structure at runtime, through the API. The grid may be accessed by both on-grid and off-grid processes, through internal and external connectivity resources provided by the platform. The platform may provide common utilities for end-user services, deployment operations, and development tasks (e.g., debugging), and may include frameworks and macro-components (e.g. web servers). The platform may host long-running Internet-based services and/or one-shot computational services.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

a computing platform receiving input on behalf of a customer specifying two or more platform resources and connections thereto, wherein the specified platform resources comprise two or more of:
a computational resource, a network resource, and a storage resource;
wherein the two or more platform resources are virtual resources allocated from a pool of platform resources shared between two or more customers;
the computing platform receiving program code on behalf of the customer;
the computing platform configuring a virtual system comprising the specified platform resources and dependent on the specified connections thereto;
the computing platform executing the program code on the virtual system to host a service on behalf of the customer.

3 more elements

A computer-implemented method comprising:

executing an operation defined by an application programming interface to obtain a reference to a computing platform comprising a pool of platform resources;
executing operations defined by the application programming interface to create two or more resources in a virtual system from the pool of platform resources, wherein the two or more resources comprise two or more of a computational resource, a network resource, and a storage resource;
wherein the two or more resources are virtual resources allocated from the pool of platform resources, wherein the pool of platform resources is shared between two or more entities;
executing an operation defined by the application programming interface to configure a connection between at least two of the two or more resources in the virtual system;
executing an operation defined by the application programming interface to populate at least one of the two or more resources in the virtual system;
and
executing an operation defined by the application programming interface to initiate operation of at least one of the two or more resources in the virtual system.

4 more elements

A system comprising:

one or more processors;
and
a memory coupled to the one or more processors and comprising program instructions executable by the one or more processors;
wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:
obtaining a reference to a computing platform comprising a pool of platform resources;
creating two or more resources in a virtual system from the pool of platform resources, wherein the two or more resources comprise two or more of a computational resource, a network resource, and a storage resource;
wherein the two or more resources are virtual resources allocated from the pool of platform resources, wherein the pool of platform resources is shared between two or more entities;
configuring a connection between at least two of the two or more resources in the virtual system;
populating at least one of the two or more resources in the virtual system;
and initiating operation of at least one of the two or more resources in the virtual system.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for programmatic management of distributed computing resources

Life of this patent

System and method for programmatic management of distributed computing resources

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19