US 8,819,240 B2Granted

Managing computing environment entitlement contracts and associated resources using cohorting

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsPatrick J. O'Sullivan, James C. Thorburn

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Abstract

Mechanisms are provided for managing computing resources relative to a computing environment entitlement contract. These mechanisms generate one or more computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system. A CEEC cohort is generated comprising a collection of CEECs having similar terms. Utilization of a collection of computing resources in accordance with the similar terms of the collection of CEECs is monitored to identify a usage pattern within the CEEC cohort. Membership of a CEEC in the CEEC cohort based on the identified usage pattern is modified based on the monitored utilization.

A method, in a data processing system comprising at least one computing device and a plurality of computing resources, for monitoring a use of the computing resources relative to a computing environment entitlement contract, comprising:

generating, by the at least one computing device, one or more computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system, wherein the terms of the CEEC data structure specify a set of computing resources having a specified configuration, and further specify that the set of computing resources are to be used by the contracting party for a specified purpose at a specified level and pattern of intensity for a specified period of time;
generating, by the at least one computing device, a CEEC cohort comprising a collection of CEEC data structures having similar terms;
monitoring, by the at least one computing device, utilization of a collection of computing resources in accordance with the similar terms of the collection of CEEC data structures to identify a usage pattern within the CEEC cohort;
and
modifying, by the at least one computing device, a membership of a CEEC data structure in the CEEC cohort based on the identified usage pattern, wherein generating a CEEC cohort comprising a collection of CEEC data structures having similar terms comprises:
defining a profile specifying parameters used to define a CEEC cohort and specifying characteristics of CEEC data structures that are included as members of the CEEC cohort;
applying the profile to data in CEEC data structures of the one or more CEEC data structures to determine which CEEC data structures meet requirements specified by the parameters of the profile;
and
selecting one or more CEEC data structures to include in the collection of CEEC data structures of the CEEC cohort.

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Facts

Application

13/677,394Filed 15 Nov 2012 · continuation

Priority

29 Jun 2011

Published

US 2013/0007761 A111 Apr 2013

Granted

26 Aug 2014

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

G06F 16/22
Of structured data, e.g. relational data: indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
G06Q 10/00
Administration
G06F
Computing and data processing
G06Q
Information and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial

Abstract

Claims11