International Business Machines Corporation

Andrew Geoffrey Tonkin

Michael Leonard Nelson

Jerrold Martin Heyman

Joseph G Baron

Antonio Pirraglia

Frank Battaglia

Kenton R Milligan

Kent R Milligan

Techniques for implementing software licensing in a massive parallel processing environment on the basis of the actual use of licensed software instances are disclosed. In one embodiment, rather than using a license server or a node-locked license strategy, each use of a licensed software instance is monitored and correlated with a token. A store of tokens is maintained within the licensing system and a token is consumed after each instance successfully executes. Further, a disclosed embodiment also allows jobs that execute multiple software instances to complete execution, even if an adequate number of tokens does not exist for each remaining software instance. Once the license tokens are repurchased and replenished, any overage consumed from previous job executions may be reconciled. In this way, token-based licensing can be adapted to large scale computing environments that execute jobs of large and unpredictable sizes, while the cancellation of executing jobs may be avoided.

Software license serving in a massively parallel processing environment

Embodiments of the invention relate to a message based scheduling tool employed to function with an electronic calendar. As messages are transmitting between clients, a tool is employed to parse the messages to search for one or more string(s) of characters characteristic of a meeting. Based upon these characteristics and the parsing, the electronic calendars are searched to find an available time slot on both calendars in which a meeting can take place, and, if an available time is found, the meeting is scheduled and the clients are sent notification of the scheduling.

Automatic scheduling tool

Responsive to a request to invoke a given virtual machine (VM) instance, a base VM instance corresponding to a number of VM instances, including the given VM instance, is retrieved. A VM change file particular to just the given VM instance is also retrieved. The VM change file indicates how the given VM instance varies from the base VM instance. The VM change file is applied to the base VM instance to dynamically generate the given VM instance, and the given VM instance is then invoked. Responsive to a request to subsequently shutdown the given VM instance, the VM change file is updated to reflect how the given VM instance varies from the base VM instance. The given VM instance is then shutdown and deleted.

Dynamic generation of VM instance at time of invocation

A scheduling system includes a client calendar application that a meeting organizer employs to send a request for free time form to prospective participants of a future meeting via email. The client calendar application receives completed request for participant free time forms back from the prospective participants via email. The client calendar application parses the completed free time forms and determines a consensus free time when all prospective participants are free for the meeting.

Method and apparatus for gathering participant free time to schedule events on an electronic calendar

A calendar system includes a calendar requester client and a calendar owner client that couple to a calendar server via one or more networks therebetween. In one embodiment, when the calendar server denies a particular calendar requester access to the calendar owner's calendar, the calendar server transmits a denial notice to the calendar owner and allows the calendar owner to dynamically add the particular calendar requester to a list of approved requesters on the calendar server.

Growing community of inventors

Morrisville, NC, United States of America

Andrew Geoffrey Tonkin