Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110161947 | VIRTUAL MACHINE MAINTENANCE WITH MAPPED SNAPSHOTS - A computer-implemented method, system and/or computer program product manage software maintenance software in a computer system. A first snapshot is taken of first system states of a computer system. The first snapshot is mapped to a first maintenance software, which is further mapped to a specific user. The computer system is instructed to install the first maintenance software in response to an installation request from the specific user. If the specific user subsequently requests that the first maintenance software be removed from the computer system, then the mappings of the first snapshot and the first maintenance software are used to revert the computer system back to the first system states. | 06-30-2011 |
20130132956 | VIRTUAL IMAGE OVERLOADING FOR SOLUTION DEPLOYMENT - An instantiable virtual machine part definition and part configuration metadata of an instantiable virtual machine capable of deployment as at least a portion of a service solution is received from a master overloaded virtual image. A determination is made as to whether to configure the instantiable virtual machine to reuse, using virtual image sharing, at least one portion of the master overloaded virtual image during deployment of the instantiable virtual machine within a service solution. A minimal executable virtual machine part core of the instantiable virtual machine that reuses, using the virtual image sharing, the at least one portion of the master overloaded virtual image during execution is identified. A minimal executable virtual machine part instantiable from the identified minimal executable virtual machine part core as the instantiable virtual machine is configured to utilize, using the virtual image sharing, a shared resource within the master overloaded virtual image during execution. | 05-23-2013 |
20130186956 | ACQUIRING INFORMATION DYNAMICALLY REGARDING A HARDWARE COMPONENT IN THE CLOUD COMPUTING SYSTEM WHILE ON THE FLOOR OF THE DATA CENTER - A method, system and computer program product for managing hardware components in a cloud computing environment. A mobile device captures an image of a bar code placed on a rack that is associated with an identifier that references an Internet resource of the management software that manages the rack. The mobile device transmits a request to the management software for information regarding a component in the rack, where the request includes a unique identifier (e.g., serial number) associated with the component. The management software uses the unique identifier to identify the component of interest and transmits information regarding the component of interest to the mobile device. In this manner, the client device can conveniently access the management software as well as conveniently acquire information dynamically from the management software about specific hardware components in these racks while the user is on the floor of the data center. | 07-25-2013 |
20130191527 | DYNAMICALLY BUILDING A SET OF COMPUTE NODES TO HOST THE USER'S WORKLOAD - A method, system and computer program product for dynamically building a set of compute nodes to host a user's workload. An administrative server receives workload definitions that include the types of workloads that are to be run in a cloud group as well as a number of instances of each workload the cloud group should support. These workload definitions are used to determine the virtual machine demands that the cloud group will place on the cloud environment. The administrative server further receives the demand constraints, placement constraints and license enforcement policies. The administrative server identifies a set of compute nodes to host the user's workload based on the virtual machines demands, the demand constraints, the placement constraints and the license enforcement policies. In this manner, a set of compute nodes is dynamically built for consideration in forming a cloud group without the user requiring knowledge of the cloud's composition. | 07-25-2013 |
20130191543 | PERFORMING MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS ON CLOUD COMPUTING NODE WITHOUT REQUIRING TO STOP ALL VIRTUAL MACHINES IN THE NODE - A method, system and computer program product for performing maintenance operations on a cloud computing node. An administrative server receives an indication that a maintenance operation is to be performed on a cloud computing node. The administrative server identifies which virtual machine(s) on the cloud computing node will be affected by the maintenance operation. The administrative server relocates the virtual machine(s) to be affected by the maintenance operation to other suitable cloud computing node(s) prior to the maintenance operation being performed. The administrative server then performs the maintenance operation on the cloud computing node. The virtual machine(s) may be relocated back to the cloud computing node after the maintenance operation is completed in response to a need to rebalance resources in such a manner. In this manner, maintenance operations may be performed on a cloud computing node without requiring to stop all the virtual machines in the node. | 07-25-2013 |
20130204918 | COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT CONFIGURATION AND INITIALIZATION - According to one aspect of the present disclosure a method and technique for automatically configuring a set of resources for deployment as a computing environment is disclosed. The method includes: executing a configuration management application, the configuration management application configured to automatically connect to and discover each hardware element forming a networked set of resources; determine whether each discovered hardware element is specified for the computing environment; responsive to determining that each discovered hardware element is specified for the computing environment, determine a configuration setting for each respective discovered hardware element; responsive to determining that the configuration setting of the discovered hardware element conflicts with a desired configuration setting for deployment of the discovered hardware element, automatically configure the discovered hardware element to the desired configuration setting; and automatically load and configure a management interface to enable deployment of the networked set of resources as a computing environment. | 08-08-2013 |
20130204960 | ALLOCATION AND BALANCING OF STORAGE RESOURCES - A method and technique for allocation and balancing of storage resources includes: determining, for each of a plurality of storage controllers, an input/output (I/O) latency value based on an I/O latency associated with each storage volume controlled by a respective storage controller; determining network bandwidth utilization and network latency values corresponding to each storage controller; responsive to receiving a request to allocate a new storage volume, selecting a storage controller having a desired I/O latency value; determining whether the network bandwidth utilization and network latency values for the selected storage controller are below respective network bandwidth utilization and network latency value thresholds; and responsive to determining that the network bandwidth utilization and network latency values for the selected storage controller are below the respective thresholds, allocating the new storage volume to the selected storage controller. | 08-08-2013 |
20130205005 | ALLOCATION AND BALANCING OF STORAGE RESOURCES - A system and technique for allocating and balancing storage resources includes: a plurality of storage controllers each controlling one or more storage volumes, and a processor unit operable to execute a management application to: determine, for each controller, an input/output (I/O) latency value based on an I/O latency associated with each storage volume controlled by a respective controller; determine network bandwidth utilization and network latency values corresponding to each controller; responsive to a request to allocate a new storage volume, select a controller having a desired I/O latency value; determine whether the network bandwidth utilization and network latency values for the selected controller are below respective network bandwidth utilization and network latency value thresholds; and responsive to determining that the network bandwidth utilization and network latency values for the selected controller are below respective thresholds, allocate the new storage volume to the selected controller. | 08-08-2013 |
20130221096 | ACQUIRING INFORMATION DYNAMICALLY REGARDING A HARDWARE COMPONENT IN THE CLOUD COMPUTING SYSTEM WHILE ON THE FLOOR OF THE DATA CENTER - A method, system and computer program product for managing hardware components in a cloud computing environment. A mobile device captures an image of a bar code placed on a rack that is associated with an identifier that references an Internet resource of the management software that manages the rack. The mobile device transmits a request to the management software for information regarding a component in the rack, where the request includes a unique identifier (e.g., serial number) associated with the component. The management software uses the unique identifier to identify the component of interest and transmits information regarding the component of interest to the mobile device. In this manner, the client device can conveniently access the management software as well as conveniently acquire information dynamically from the management software about specific hardware components in these racks while the user is on the floor of the data center. | 08-29-2013 |
20130227131 | DYNAMICALLY BUILDING A SET OF COMPUTE NODES TO HOST THE USER'S WORKLOAD - A method, system and computer program product for dynamically building a set of compute nodes to host a user's workload. An administrative server receives workload definitions that include the types of workloads that are to be run in a cloud group as well as a number of instances of each workload the cloud group should support. These workload definitions are used to determine the virtual machine demands that the cloud group will place on the cloud environment. The administrative server further receives the demand constraints, placement constraints and license enforcement policies. The administrative server identifies a set of compute nodes to host the user's workload based on the virtual machines demands, the demand constraints, the placement constraints and the license enforcement policies. In this manner, a set of compute nodes is dynamically built for consideration in forming a cloud group without the user requiring knowledge of the cloud's composition. | 08-29-2013 |
20130232268 | PERFORMING MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS ON CLOUD COMPUTING NODE WITHOUT REQUIRING TO STOP ALL VIRTUAL MACHINES IN THE NODE - A method, system and computer program product for performing maintenance operations on a cloud computing node. An administrative server receives an indication that a maintenance operation is to be performed on a cloud computing node. The administrative server identifies which virtual machine(s) on the cloud computing node will be affected by the maintenance operation. The administrative server relocates the virtual machine(s) to be affected by the maintenance operation to other suitable cloud computing node(s) prior to the maintenance operation being performed. The administrative server then performs the maintenance operation on the cloud computing node. The virtual machine(s) may be relocated back to the cloud computing node after the maintenance operation is completed in response to a need to rebalance resources in such a manner. In this manner, maintenance operations may be performed on a cloud computing node without requiring to stop all the virtual machines in the node. | 09-05-2013 |
20130297772 | UNIFIED CLOUD COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE TO MANAGE AND DEPLOY PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS - A method, system and computer program product for managing and deploying physical and virtual environments across multiple hardware platforms. A single unit, referred to herein as a cloud construction block, contains both the hardware and software components used to build a cloud computing environment. By having such a single unit contain both the hardware and software components needed to build a cloud computing environment, the user no longer needs to purchase and integrate different hardware and software components. Furthermore, the cloud construction block contains modular pieces of hardware, such as compute hardware, memory hardware, storage hardware and network hardware, that are integrated with management software configured to manage both the hardware and the cloud computing environment in a seamlessly integrated package. Since there is a single management system, the management software allows the user to manage the modular pieces of hardware via a single user interface. | 11-07-2013 |
20130297773 | UNIFIED CLOUD COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE TO MANAGE AND DEPLOY PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS - A method, system and computer program product for managing and deploying physical and virtual environments across multiple hardware platforms. A single unit, referred to herein as a cloud construction block, contains both the hardware and software components used to build a cloud computing environment. By having such a single unit contain both the hardware and software components needed to build a cloud computing environment, the user no longer needs to purchase and integrate different hardware and software components. Furthermore, the cloud construction block contains modular pieces of hardware, such as compute hardware, memory hardware, storage hardware and network hardware, that are integrated with management software configured to manage both the hardware and the cloud computing environment in a seamlessly integrated package. Since there is a single management system, the management software allows the user to manage the modular pieces of hardware via a single user interface. | 11-07-2013 |
20140006741 | Computing Processor Resources for Logical Partition Migration | 01-02-2014 |
20140007124 | Computing Processor Resources for Logical Partition Migration | 01-02-2014 |
20140052945 | OPTIMIZING STORAGE SYSTEM BEHAVIOR IN VIRTUALIZED CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS BY TAGGING INPUT/OUTPUT OPERATION DATA TO INDICATE STORAGE POLICY - A method, system and computer program product for optimizing storage system behavior in a cloud computing environment. An Input/Output (I/O) operation data is appended with a tag, where the tag indicates a class of data for the I/O operation data. Upon the storage controller reviewing the tag appended to the I/O operation data, the storage controller performs a table look-up for the storage policy associated with the determined class of data. The storage controller applies a map to determine a storage location for the I/O operation data in a drive device, where the map represents a logical volume which indicates a range of block data that is to be excluded for being stored on the drive device and a range of block data that is to be considered for being stored on the drive device. In this manner, granularity of storage policies is provided in a cloud computing environment. | 02-20-2014 |
20140059542 | OPTIMIZING VIRTUAL MACHINE DEPLOYMENT TIME BY TEMPORARILY ALLOCATING MORE PROCESSING RESOURCES DURING THE INITIAL DEPLOYMENT TIME OF THE VIRTUAL MACHINE - A method, system and computer program product for optimizing virtual machine deployment time. A cloud controller receives a request from a user to configure a virtual machine with a designated CPU capacity. If the designated CPU capacity is less than or equal to a threshold, then the cloud controller determines if there are additional cloud resources available to be allocated to deploy the virtual machine. If so, then the cloud controller allocates additional CPU capacity to the designated CPU capacity to be used to provision the virtual machine thereby enabling a multithreaded startup to initialize the operating system and middleware tiers so as to reduce the deployment time of the virtual machine. The additional resources would only be available during the initial deployment time of the virtual machine and removed before the user is granted access to the system when it comes online. | 02-27-2014 |
20140068600 | PROVIDING A SEAMLESS TRANSITION FOR RESIZING VIRTUAL MACHINES FROM A DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT TO A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT - A method, system and computer program product for providing a seamless transition for resizing virtual machines from a development environment to a production environment. An administrative server receives an instruction from a customer to resize a virtual machine running on a cloud computing node, where the resized virtual machine requires physical resources (e.g., twenty physical processor cores) to be utilized in the production environment. Instead of the administrative server utilizing the same number of physical resources in the development environment that need to be utilized in the production environment, the administrative server utilizes a fewer number of physical resources by also utilizing virtual resources (e.g., twenty virtual processor cores and only two physical processor cores) so as to provide a development environment with the same resource capacity as the production environment but with fewer physical resources thereby more efficiently utilizing the physical resources on the cloud computing node. | 03-06-2014 |
20140149421 | DYNAMICALLY QUANTIFYING THE DEMAND OF EACH SOFTWARE COMPONENT OF EACH SOFTWARE STACK DEPLOYED IN THE CLOUD ENVIRONMENT - A method, system and computer program product for dynamically quantifying a demand for the software components deployed in a cloud environment. An administrative server generates a table mapping the software levels of the software components of the deployed software stacks with the number of instances of the deployed software stacks tracked over a period of time. The depth weight based on subtracting a depth index (zero-based) from a depth size is calculated for each software component, where a depth index refers to the software level of the software component in question and a depth size refers to the number of software levels for the software stack bearing the software component in question. A metric used in quantifying the demand for the software component (“popularity index”) is then determined for each software component based on the number of deployed instances and the depth weight for that software component. | 05-29-2014 |
20140157038 | USING SEPARATE PROCESSES TO HANDLE SHORT-LIVED AND LONG-LIVED JOBS TO REDUCE FAILURE OF PROCESSES - A method, system and computer program product for reducing the failure of processes. After a job is received, a determination is made as whether the received job is a “short-lived job” or a “long-lived job.” A short-lived job refers to a job who accomplishes a given task in less than a threshold period of time. A long-lived job refers to a job who accomplishes a given task in greater than a threshold period of time. For an identified long-lived job, the long-lived job is executed on a single process apart from other processes; whereas, the short-lived job is executed on at least one process separate from the processes executing long-lived jobs. As a result of executing the long-lived jobs on separate processes from the short-lived jobs, the likelihood of having a process fail is lessened since the duration of time that the process is running will be lessened. | 06-05-2014 |
20140201365 | IMPLEMENTING A PRIVATE NETWORK ISOLATED FROM A USER NETWORK FOR VIRTUAL MACHINE DEPLOYMENT AND MIGRATION AND FOR MONITORING AND MANAGING THE CLOUD ENVIRONMENT - A method, system and computer program product for optimizing quality of service settings for virtual machine deployment and migration. A first network (e.g., user network) is provided that is dedicated to running user workloads deployed on virtual machines. A second network (e.g., cloud management network), isolated from the first network, is also provided that is dedicated to virtual machine deployment and migration. As a result of the first and second networks not being shared, the administrative server utilizes unique quality of service settings for virtual machine deployment and migration supported by the second network that would otherwise not be possible if the first and second networks were shared. | 07-17-2014 |
20140223222 | INTELLIGENTLY RESPONDING TO HARDWARE FAILURES SO AS TO OPTIMIZE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE - A method, system and computer program product for intelligently responding to hardware failures so as to optimize system performance. An administrative server monitors the utilization of the hardware as well as the software components running on the hardware to assess a context of the software components running on the hardware. Upon detecting a hardware failure, the administrative server analyzes the hardware failure to determine the type of hardware failure and analyzes the properties of the workload running on the failed hardware. The administrative server then responds to the detected hardware failure based on various factors, including the type of the hardware failure, the properties of the workload running on the failed hardware and the context of the software running on the failed hardware. In this manner, by taking into consideration such factors in responding to the detected hardware failure, a more intelligent response is provided that optimizes system performance. | 08-07-2014 |
20140223241 | INTELLIGENTLY RESPONDING TO HARDWARE FAILURES SO AS TO OPTIMIZE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE - A method, system and computer program product for intelligently responding to hardware failures so as to optimize system performance. An administrative server monitors the utilization of the hardware as well as the software components running on the hardware to assess a context of the software components running on the hardware. Upon detecting a hardware failure, the administrative server analyzes the hardware failure to determine the type of hardware failure and analyzes the properties of the workload running on the failed hardware. The administrative server then responds to the detected hardware failure based on various factors, including the type of the hardware failure, the properties of the workload running on the failed hardware and the context of the software running on the failed hardware. In this manner, by taking into consideration such factors in responding to the detected hardware failure, a more intelligent response is provided that optimizes system performance. | 08-07-2014 |
20140223443 | DETERMINING A RELATIVE PRIORITY FOR A JOB USING CONTEXT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS - A method, system and computer program product for determining a relative priority for a job. A “policy” is selected based on the job itself and the reason that the job is being executed, where the policy includes a priority range for the job and for an application. A priority for the job that is within the priority range of the job as established by the selected policy is determined based on environmental and context considerations. This job priority is then adjusted based on the priority of the application (within the priority range as established by the policy) becoming the job's final priority. By formulating a priority that more accurately reflects the true priority or importance of the job by taking into consideration the environmental and context considerations, job managers will now be able to process these jobs in a more efficient manner. | 08-07-2014 |
20140223521 | ALLOWING ACCESS TO UNDERLYING HARDWARE CONSOLES TO CORRECT PROBLEMS EXPERIENCING BY USER - A method, system and computer program product for providing access to underlying hardware consoles to correct problems experiencing by a user. The administrative server receives a request from the user to access a managing system configured to provide access to the underlying hardware consoles that are combined together to service a user's computing requirements. The administrative server presents a list of managing systems for the user to connect that were identified as being able to address the problem(s) the user is experiencing. The administrative server then enables access to managing systems selected in the list in response to the user providing appropriate authentication credentials. An interface is then provided to the user by the selected managing systems to select the underlying hardware consoles to access. In this manner, the user is provided access to the underlying hardware consoles in an easy manner without presenting numerous options and configurations. | 08-07-2014 |
20140297893 | EMULATING MULTIPLE UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) KEYS SO AS TO EFFICIENTLY CONFIGURE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HARDWARE - A method, system and computer program product for efficiently configuring different types of hardware components. A computing device is connected to a hardware component to be configured. The computing device detects the type of the hardware component upon being connected to the hardware component. The computing device then identifies a profile from among multiple profiles associated with the detected type of hardware component, where each profile contains a configuration file(s) for configuring its associated type of hardware component. Upon identifying the profile associated with the connected hardware component, the computing device emulates a Universal Serial Bus (USB) key presenting the configuration file(s) contained in the identified profile to the detected hardware component. Such a process may be repeated for configuring another type of hardware component. In this manner, the user is able to efficiently configure different types of hardware by having the computing device emulate multiple USB keys. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297894 | UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) KEY FUNCTIONING AS MULTIPLE USB KEYS SO AS TO EFFICIENTLY CONFIGURE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HARDWARE - A method, data storage device and computer program product for efficiently configuring different types of hardware components. A Universal Serial Bus (USB) key is preloaded with multiple profiles, where each profile contains a configuration file(s) associated with a particular type of hardware component. Upon plugging the USB key into a hardware component, the USB key recognizes the type of hardware component based on the properties of the hardware component available on the USB interface. The USB key identifies a profile containing the configuration file(s) associated with the recognized type of hardware component. The USB key then presents the configuration file(s) contained in the identified profile to the connected hardware component. Such a process may be repeated for configuring another type of hardware component. In this manner, the user is able to efficiently configure different types of hardware by having the USB key function as multiple USB keys. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297895 | UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) KEY FUNCTIONING AS MULTIPLE USB KEYS SO AS TO EFFICIENTLY CONFIGURE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HARDWARE - A method, data storage device and computer program product for efficiently configuring different types of hardware components. A Universal Serial Bus (USB) key is preloaded with multiple profiles, where each profile contains a configuration file(s) associated with a particular type of hardware component. Upon plugging the USB key into a hardware component, the USB key recognizes the type of hardware component based on the properties of the hardware component available on the USB interface. The USB key identifies a profile containing the configuration file(s) associated with the recognized type of hardware component. The USB key then presents the configuration file(s) contained in the identified profile to the connected hardware component. Such a process may be repeated for configuring another type of hardware component. In this manner, the user is able to efficiently configure different types of hardware by having the USB key function as multiple USB keys. | 10-02-2014 |
20140298487 | MULTI-USER UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) KEY WITH CUSTOMIZABLE FILE SHARING PERMISSIONS - A method, data storage device and computer program product for having multiple users share a single data storage device securely. A data storage device, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) key, is plugged into a computing device. A USB controller of the USB key recognizes the computing device and creates an account for the user. The created account is associated with the user as well as associated with the computing device. Data uploaded to the USB key by the user is then associated with the created account. Only that user will be able to view that data on his/her computing device (computing device associated with the created account) unless the user indicates to share that data with other users. Such a process may be repeated each time the USB key is plugged into a different computing device thereby creating multiple accounts associated with multiple computing devices and users. | 10-02-2014 |
20140298489 | MULTI-USER UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) KEY WITH CUSTOMIZABLE FILE SHARING PERMISSIONS - A method, data storage device and computer program product for having multiple users share a single data storage device securely. A data storage device, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) key, is plugged into a computing device. A USB controller of the USB key recognizes the computing device and creates an account for the user. The created account is associated with the user as well as associated with the computing device. Data uploaded to the USB key by the user is then associated with the created account. Only that user will be able to view that data on his/her computing device (computing device associated with the created account) unless the user indicates to share that data with other users. Such a process may be repeated each time the USB key is plugged into a different computing device thereby creating multiple accounts associated with multiple computing devices and users. | 10-02-2014 |
20140372497 | DETERMINING LOCATION OF HARDWARE COMPONENTS IN A CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT BASED ON HARDWARE COMPONENTS SELF-LOCATING OTHER HARDWARE COMPONENTS - A method, system and computer program product for managing hardware components in a cloud computing environment. Each hardware component in a data center of the cloud computing environment detects and identifies other hardware components within a communication range of the hardware component using a wireless protocol. Furthermore, each hardware component determines its actual location as well as its relative location with respect to the detected hardware components, such as based on a triangulation of the wireless signals. Such information is transmitted to an administrative server. An inventory of the hardware components in the data center, including their current location, is then compiled by the administrative server. In this manner, a hardware component can be more easily located after being relocated in the data center. Furthermore, the administrative server will be able to balance a workload across these hardware components based on their location. | 12-18-2014 |
20140372595 | DETERMINING LOCATION OF HARDWARE COMPONENTS IN A CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT BASED ON HARDWARE COMPONENTS SELF-LOCATING OTHER HARDWARE COMPONENTS - A method, system and computer program product for managing hardware components in a cloud computing environment. Each hardware component in a data center of the cloud computing environment detects and identifies other hardware components within a communication range of the hardware component using a wireless protocol. Furthermore, each hardware component determines its actual location as well as its relative location with respect to the detected hardware components, such as based on a triangulation of the wireless signals. Such information is transmitted to an administrative server. An inventory of the hardware components in the data center, including their current location, is then compiled by the administrative server. In this manner, a hardware component can be more easily located after being relocated in the data center. Furthermore, the administrative server will be able to balance a workload across these hardware components based on their location. | 12-18-2014 |
20150016000 | PREVENTING MOISTURE DAMAGE TO A DEVICE - A device including a system for preventing moisture damage to the device includes a processor and a module operable on the processor for monitoring for a predetermined capacitance criterion on a surface of the device. The device is automatically powered off in response to detecting the predetermined capacitance criterion. | 01-15-2015 |
20150016001 | PREVENTING MOISTURE DAMAGE TO A DEVICE - A method, device and computer program product for preventing moisture damage to electronic circuitry of a device may include monitoring for a predetermined capacitance criterion on a surface of the device; and automatically powering off the device in response to detecting the predetermined capacitance criterion. | 01-15-2015 |