International Business Machines Corporation

John Elliott Arwe

David Bruce Lindquist

Thomas Spatzier

Gerd Breiter

Simon D Moser

Isabell Schwertle

Hoang Anh Le

Narine Kokhlikyan

Marek Chodorowski

Felix Dross

Jeffrey Alan Frey

Peter Bergersen Yocom

Michael D Williams

Steve Richard White

Jeffery J Van Heuklon

Jeffrey David Aman

Catherine Krueger Eilert

David Vincent Bostjancic

Michael J Branson

John Alan Bivens

David Arlen Elko

Donna N Dillenberger

John Joseph Rofrano

Steven Gene Halverson

Michael E Baskey

Andrew Neil Trossman

Georg Ochs

David Andrew Booz

Hendrik Wagner

Anthony Wayne Erwin

Gregory M Dritschler

Instantiating a resource of an IT-service includes analyzing a service model of an IT-service, the service model including a node representing a resource for providing the IT-service. A resource type of the resource being indicated by the node is determined, and a resource manager being operable to instantiate the resource is identified. A resource-manager-specific API of the resource manager is identified, and at least one abstract method for instantiating the resource is overridden with a resource-manager specific method of the resource-manager-specific API. The resource-manager specific method for instantiating the resource represented by the node is executed.

Instantiating resources of an IT-service

Instantiating a resource of an IT-service includes analyzing a service model of the IT-service where the service model includes a node representing a resource for providing the IT-service. The node has a generic API providing an abstract method for instantiating the resource. A determination is made whether the node is a multi-instance node representing a resource being instantiable multiple times. If so, a determination is made whether a first instance of the resource represented by the multi-instance node already exists in a runtime environment providing the IT-service. If so, a selection criteria is computed to identify and select a resource manager configured to instantiate a second instance of the resource based on collocation or anti-collocation parameters in the runtime environment. The abstract method for instantiating the second instance of the resource is overridden with a resource-manager specific method of a resource-manager-specific API specified by the selected resource manager.

Instantiating a resource of an IT-service includes analyzing a service model of the IT-service where the service model includes a node representing a resource for providing the IT-service. A resource type of the resource being indicated by the node is determined, and a service provider catalog is evaluated to determine a resource manager operable to instantiate the resource and an address of the resource manager. A request is sent to the address of the resource manager for a description of a resource-manager-specific API of the resource manager. Upon receipt of the requested description, at least one abstract method for instantiating the resource is overridden with a resource-manager specific method of the resource-manager-specific API, and the resource-manager specific method for instantiating the resource represented by the node is executed.

Instantiating a resource of an IT-service includes: analyzing a service model including nodes representing resources and being indicative of a resource type, each node comprising a generic API providing at least one abstract method for instantiating the resource represented by the respective node. For each node, determining the resource type indicated by the node; evaluating a service provider catalog indicative of a resource manager operable to provide a resource of a given resource type and determining an address of the resource manager; selecting a resource manager; sending a request to the address of the selected resource manager for a description of a resource-manager-specific API of the resource manager; receiving the requested description from the selected resource manager; overriding the abstract method by a resource-manager specific method of the resource-manager-specific API for instantiating the resource; and executing the overridden abstract method for instantiating the resource represented by the node.

A system for instantiating resources of an IT-service includes a management engine operable to analyze a service model of said IT-service comprising nodes representing the resources and being indicative of a resource type of said represented resources. Each node comprises a generic API not being specific to any particular resource manager and providing an abstract method for instantiating the resource represented by the respective node. For each node, determining the resource types being indicated by said node; evaluating a service provider catalog indicative of resource managers operable to provide a resource of a given resource type and determining an address of each resource manager; selecting one of the resource managers; sending a request to the address of the selected resource manager for a description of a resource-manager-specific API of said resource manager; overriding said abstract method by a resource-manager-specific method for the API; and executing the overridden abstract method.

Extending a plurality of manageability capabilities of manageable information technology (IT) resources utilize an 'aspect of' association for describing a relationship between a first object representing a manageable resource playing a role of a subject and one or more additional objects each playing a role of an aspect. The 'aspect of' association establishes an overall manageability function for the first object representing a manageable resource and the one or more additional objects as a logical composition of a plurality of manageability capabilities. The manageability capabilities are provided using distinct implementation classes for supporting a specific role, and for supporting management-discipline related aspects and behaviors needed by each of a plurality of resource management applications for managing the manageable resource. The one or more additional objects have an aspect life cycle that is bounded maximally by a subject lifecycle of the first manageable resource.

Dynamically extending a plurality of manageability capabilities of it resources through the use of manageability aspects

A computer-executable method for allocating resource discovery and identification processes among a plurality of management tools and resources in a distributed and heterogeneous IT management system includes providing at least one authoritative manageable resource having minimal or no responsibility for reporting its identity, minimal or no responsibility for advertising any lifecycle-related creation event for the resource, and minimal or no responsibility for advertising any lifecycle-related destruction event for the resource; using a service oriented architecture (SOA) to define one or more services needed to manage the resource within the management system; and using a component model to define one or more interfaces and one or more interactions to be implemented by the manageable resource within the management system.

Discovering and identifying manageable information technology resources

Allocating resource discovery and identification processes among a plurality of management tools and resources in a distributed and heterogeneous information technology (IT) management system by providing at least one authoritative manageable resource having minimal or no responsibility for reporting its identity, minimal or no responsibility for advertising any lifecycle-related creation event for the resource, and minimal or no responsibility for advertising any lifecycle-related destruction event for the resource. A service oriented architecture (SOA) defines one or more services needed to manage the resource within the management system. A component model defines one or more interfaces and one or more interactions to be implemented by the manageable resource within the management system.

An apparatus and method provides visualization of IT resources that are exposed as WSDM resources. A management system with a console provides visibility and functionality for WSDM resources by employing a visualization mechanism that processes standardized visualization metadata that is sent from a WSDM resource. The visualization mechanism uses standardized information to enable the management system console to display a robust presentation of the resource without needing to update the management system and console code when new types of resources are added.

Visualization of web services distributed management (WSDM) resources

An apparatus and method for distributing traffic across a group of machines using application instance statistics. In order to perform load balancing in accordance with the present invention, a method of generating weights to bias load balancing distributions is provided. The application instances to which traffic is being distributed, or the application middleware, are instrumented to establish certain metrics about the application while running. The application instance instrumentation will provide application statistics such as number of successful transactions, application response times, application topology, importance of transactions being processed, time the application is blocked waiting for resources, resource consumption data, and the like. These metrics are collected, processed, and then presented as a set of weights to the load balancing apparatus to govern its distribution of traffic. With such application metrics available, traffic can be disbursed based on the current state of the application instances and other application instances in the transaction's path, the application instance's likelihood to complete the request, or even higher level business-oriented goals.

Method for determining load balancing weights using application instance topology information

A method and apparatus for managing contention among users for access to serialized resources in a system cluster containing multiple systems. Each user has an assigned need that is independent of contention of the user for a resource and may be either a holder or a waiter for a resource it is seeking to access. A local system stores local cluster data indicating a grouping of the resources into local clusters on the basis of contention on the local system and indicating for each local cluster the assigned need of a waiter for resources in the cluster. The local system receives remote cluster data from remote systems in the system cluster, which it combines with the local cluster data to generate composite cluster data. A holder on the local system of a resource in a composite cluster is managed in accordance with the composite cluster data for the cluster.

Method and apparatus for managing resource contention in a multisystem cluster

A method and apparatus for controlling the number of servers in a multisystem cluster. Incoming work requests are organized into service classes, each of which has a queue serviced by servers across the cluster. Each service class has defined for it a local performance index for each particular system of the cluster and a multisystem performance index for the cluster as a whole. Each system selects one service class as a donor class for donating system resources and another service class as a receiver class for receiving system resources, based upon how well the service classes are meeting their goals. Each system then determines the resource bottleneck causing the receiver class to miss its goals. If the resource bottleneck is the number of servers, each system determines whether and how many servers should be added to the receiver class, based upon whether the positive effect of adding such servers on the performance index for the receiver class outweighs the negative effect of adding such servers on the performance measure for the donor class. If a system determines that servers should be added to the receiver class, it then determines the system in the cluster to which the servers should be added, based upon the effect on other work on that system. To make this latter determination, each system first determines whether another system has enough idle capacity and, if so, lets that system add servers. If no system has sufficient idle capacity, each system then determines whether the local donor class will miss its goals if servers are started locally. It not, the servers are started on the local system. Otherwise, each system determines where the donor class will be hurt the least and acts accordingly. To ensure the availability of a server capable of processing each of the work requests in the queue, each system determines whether there is a work request in the queue with an affinity only to a subset of the cluster that does not have servers for the queue and, if so, starts a server for the queue on a system in the subset to which the work request has an affinity.

Method and apparatus for controlling the number of servers in a multisystem cluster

A method and apparatus for controlling the number of servers in an information handling system in which incoming work requests belonging to a first service class are placed in a queue for processing by one or more servers. The system also has units of work assigned to a second service class that acts as a donor of system resources. In accordance with the invention, a performance measure is defined for the first service class as well as for the second service class. Before adding servers to the first service class, there is determined not only the positive effect on the performance measure for the first service class, but also the negative effect on the performance measure for the second service class. Servers are added to the first service class only if the positive effect on the performance measure for the first service class outweighs the negative effect on the performance measure for the second service class.

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Poughkeepsie, NY, United States of America

John Elliott Arwe