International Business Machines Corporation

Michael John Fork

Brian John Cragun

Kevin Glynn Paterson

William Craig Rapp

Paul Richard Chmielewski

Rick A Hamilton, Ii

Bin Cao

Sambit Sahu

Jim C Chen

Alexei A Karve

Salman Abdul Baset

Christopher Thomas Gloe

Bradley J Erickson

Vincent Edmund Price

Egan Francis Ford

James W Seaman

Mathew Richard Odden

Lance Bragstad

Theodore J L Shrader

Adam D Reznechek

Chris M Mwarabu

James R Seaman

Techniques are disclosed for configuring a virtual machine instance accessed over a publically routable network address to host intranet applications. A virtual (or 'dummy') interface on the virtual machine instance is assigned an IP address that is inaccessible from the public interface. An application executed on the virtual machine instance is bound to a port on the network address assigned to this dummy interface. A virtual private network server assigns client's IP addresses that can be routed to the dummy interface. When a client computing system connects to the VPN server over the virtual machine instance's public interface, the client forwards traffic destined for the dummy interface's inaccessible network over the VPN connection.

Securing applications on public facing systems

A 'trusted service' establishes a trust relationship with an identity provider and interacts with the identity provider over a trusted connection. The trusted service acquires a token from the identity provider for a given user (or set of users) without having to present the user's credentials. The trusted service then uses this token (e.g., directly, by invoking an API, by acquiring another token, or the like) to access and obtain a cloud service on a user's behalf even in the user's absence. This approach enables background services to perform operations within a hosted session (e.g., via OAuth-based APIs) without presenting user credentials or even having the user present.

User impersonation/delegation in a token-based authentication system

A resource utilization mechanism (RUM) preemptively extracts data from long latency storage in a cloud computing environment to economically and quickly provide data that is infrequently accessed by customers. The RUM identifies periods of low resource utilization where capacity can be efficiently utilized, identifies data to be retrieved, and retrieves the data from long latency storage to make it available to the customer. The RUM may notify a customer that the data is available and allow the customer to accept terms of use for the data or opt out of using the data.

Preemptive extraction of data from long latency storage in a cloud computing environment

An approach for object storage power consumption optimization in a networked storage environment is provided. In a typical embodiment, a plurality of memory devices are organized into pods into which redundantly replicated objects are intelligently placed. At least one pod is activated in a read-write configuration, such that data written to the networked storage environment is written to this pod. At least one other pod is a deactivated pod, which has at least one designated memory device in a read-only configuration and a remainder of devices in a deactivated state. Requests for data contained in this deactivated pod are serviced by the designated memory device in the read-only configuration. In some embodiments, the activated and deactivated pods are rotated based on an event.

Object storage power consumption optimization

Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for placing menu items in a radial menu. A radial menu may be displayed in response to receiving a predefined gesture made with a screen pointer. A plurality of global menu items may be placed at predefined locations in the radial menu. A set of local menu items that are to be displayed in the radial menu be determined and displayed in the radial menu based on one or more predefined relationships between the local or global radial menu items.

Placement of items in radial menus

An approach for object storage power consumption optimization in a networked storage environment is provided. In a typical embodiment, a plurality of memory devices are organized into pods having a predetermined number of memory devices and to which redundantly replicated objects are intelligently placed. At least one pod is activated in a read-write configuration, such that data written to the networked storage environment is written to this pod. At least one other pod is a deactivated pod, which has at least one designated memory device in a read-only configuration and a remainder of devices in a deactivated state. Requests for data contained in this deactivated pod are serviced by the designated memory device in the read-only configuration. In some embodiments, the activated and deactivated pods are rotated based on an event.

A cloud manager uses streams to monitor state of the cloud. A cloud state streaming policy specifies state data to stream, along with one or more initial operators for processing the streams. An archive mechanism allows archiving the streamed data when specified data in the streams exceeds one or more defined thresholds. A user interface allows adjusting the streaming of cloud state data to focus on data of interest to a user. The cloud manager thus allows a user to determine state of a cloud via the streamed state data.

Streaming state data for cloud management

A method and apparatus for facilitating selection of items from a radial menu. Radial menu items may be differentiated from one another based on a desired difficulty of selection from the radial menu. Where it is desirable to make a radial menu item easy to select, the radial menu item may be placed in a relatively larger pie slice of the radial menu. Conversely, where it is desirable to make a radial menu item difficult to select, the radial menu item may be placed in a relatively smaller pie slice of the radial menu.

Radial menus with variable selectable item areas

The present invention is generally related to graphical user interfaces (GUIs), and more specifically to displaying items in a radial menu. The radial menu may include a first number of locations for displaying radial menu items. Embodiments of the invention facilitate displaying a second number of radial menu items in the radial menu, the second number being greater than the first number. For example, in some embodiments, performing a radial gesture may allow the second number of radial menu items to spiral through the locations of the radial menu.

Spiraling radial menus in computer systems

Techniques for identifying and conveying core sections of a specified document. Reference documents are identified that each includes a respective citation to a distinct portion of the specified document. The core sections are determined based on the citations of the reference documents. The core sections are output in a manner that emphasizes the core sections over non-core sections of the specified document.

Identifying core content based on citations

Techniques for improving virtual machine-to-image affinity on a physical server. A method includes identifying physical machines in a network as candidate source physical machines, wherein each candidate source physical machine stores a first virtual machine image and a set of additional virtual machine images, identifying physical machines in the network as candidate target physical machines, wherein each candidate target physical machine stores one of the additional virtual machine images, and selecting a virtual machine image from the set of additional virtual machine images and selecting a physical machine from the candidate target physical machines such that migrating the selected virtual machine image from a candidate source physical machine to the selected target physical machine results in a maximized image affinity per virtual machine in comparison to each image migration scenarios for the set of additional virtual machine images.

Virtual machine-to-image affinity on a physical server

Systems and articles of manufacture for improving virtual machine-to-image affinity on a physical server include identifying physical machines in a network as candidate source physical machines, wherein each candidate source physical machine stores a first virtual machine image and a set of additional virtual machine images, identifying physical machines in the network as candidate target physical machines, wherein each candidate target physical machine stores one of the additional virtual machine images, and selecting a virtual machine image from the set of additional virtual machine images and selecting a physical machine from the candidate target physical machines such that migrating the selected virtual machine image from a candidate source physical machine to the selected target physical machine results in a maximized image affinity per virtual machine in comparison to each image migration scenarios for the set of additional virtual machine images.

Growing community of inventors

Gibsonburg, OH, United States of America

Michael John Fork