U.S. patent application number 16/058688 was filed with the patent office on 2019-08-08 for system and method for a cloud computing abstraction layer with security zone facilities.
The applicant listed for this patent is CSC Agility Platform, Inc.. Invention is credited to Frank R. Martinez, Eric Pulier.
Application Number | 20190245888 16/058688 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46491761 |
Filed Date | 2019-08-08 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20190245888 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Martinez; Frank R. ; et
al. |
August 8, 2019 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A CLOUD COMPUTING ABSTRACTION LAYER WITH
SECURITY ZONE FACILITIES
Abstract
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities
are described for a virtualization environment adapted for
development and deployment of at least one software workload, the
virtualization environment having a metamodel framework that allows
the association of a policy to the software workload upon
development of the workload that is applied upon deployment of the
software workload. This allows a developer to define a security
zone and to apply at least one type of security policy with respect
to the security zone including the type of security zone policy in
the metamodel framework such that the type of security zone policy
can be associated with the software workload upon development of
the software workload, and if the type of security zone policy is
associated with the software workload, automatically applying the
security policy to the software workload when the software workload
is deployed within the security zone.
Inventors: |
Martinez; Frank R.; (La
Canada, CA) ; Pulier; Eric; (Los Angeles,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
CSC Agility Platform, Inc. |
Falls Church |
VA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
46491761 |
Appl. No.: |
16/058688 |
Filed: |
August 8, 2018 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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15621443 |
Jun 13, 2017 |
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16058688 |
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14720681 |
May 22, 2015 |
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15621443 |
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13354275 |
Jan 19, 2012 |
9069599 |
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14720681 |
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13009774 |
Jan 19, 2011 |
8931038 |
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13354275 |
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12488424 |
Jun 19, 2009 |
8514868 |
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13009774 |
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61434396 |
Jan 19, 2011 |
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61296405 |
Jan 19, 2010 |
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61074027 |
Jun 19, 2008 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 63/0272 20130101;
H04L 63/105 20130101; H04L 12/4633 20130101; H04L 12/66 20130101;
H04L 63/102 20130101; G06F 9/5072 20130101; G06F 9/45558 20130101;
H04L 67/02 20130101; H04L 63/0209 20130101; G06F 9/455 20130101;
H04L 67/34 20130101; H04L 67/16 20130101; H04L 63/20 20130101; H04L
12/6418 20130101; G06F 2009/45587 20130101; H04L 67/10
20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/06 20060101
H04L029/06; H04L 29/08 20060101 H04L029/08; G06F 9/455 20060101
G06F009/455; H04L 12/66 20060101 H04L012/66; H04L 12/64 20060101
H04L012/64; H04L 12/46 20060101 H04L012/46; G06F 9/50 20060101
G06F009/50 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a
computing system, a computing workflow to be performed in a
cloud-computing environment including a plurality of
cloud-computing resources; identifying, by the computing system, a
computer workload to perform the computing workflow, wherein the
computer workload includes a software unit of computing processing
performed via at least one of an Infrastructure-as-a-Service
(IaaS), a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), or a Service-as-a-Service
(SaaS); associating, by the computing system, a policy with the
computer workload, wherein the policy is applied to the computer
workload when the computer workload is deployed within a security
zone assigned for the computer workload, wherein one or more
boundaries of the security zone are updatable, wherein the policy
is updatable for the computer workload when the computer workload
is deployed within the security zone, and wherein the security zone
is definable at differing levels of abstraction; deploying, by the
computing system, the computer workload in a virtual private cloud
within the clouding-computing environment; applying, by the
computing system, the policy to the computer workload when the
computer workload performs the computing workflow within the
virtual private cloud; and tagging, by the computing system, the
computer workload to perform communications across a plurality of
security zones, each security zone in the plurality of security
zones having a defined set of associated firewalls, wherein the
tagging the computer workload comprises applying firewall rules to
the defined set of associated firewalls for the plurality of
security zones to enable the computer workload to perform
communications across the plurality of security zones.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
testing the computer workload in a second virtual private cloud
within the cloud-computing environment prior to deploying the
computer workload.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the virtual
private cloud corresponds to a production virtual private cloud,
and wherein the second virtual private cloud corresponds to a
pre-production virtual private cloud.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the security
zone is definable by a developer, and wherein the policy is
applicable, by the developer, with respect to the security
zone.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
tagging the computer workload based on the security zone to enable
the computer workload to perform operations in the security
zone.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
cloud-computing environment is associated with a virtualization
environment, and wherein the virtualization environment has a
metamodel framework that allows the policy to be associated with
the computer workload.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer
workload is included in an identified plurality of computer
workloads configured to perform the computing workflow.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the security
zone is associated with at least one of a geographic zone, a
network zone, an enterprise zone, an operational zone, or an
organizational zone.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the policy
includes a security policy, and wherein the security policy is
associated with at least one of an access policy, a
write-permission policy, a resource utilization policy, or an
editing permission policy.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:
receiving, at a central policy server, a definition for the
security policy, wherein the central policy server is configured to
associate the security policy to at least one of the computer
workload or a particular cloud-computing resource, out of the
plurality of cloud-computing resources, that performs the computer
workload; and pushing the security policy to the particular
cloud-computing resource.
11. A system comprising: at least one processor; and a memory
storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one
processor, cause the system to perform: receiving a computing
workflow to be performed in a cloud-computing environment including
a plurality of cloud-computing resources; identifying a computer
workload to perform the computing workflow, wherein the computer
workload includes a software unit of computing processing performed
via at least one of an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), a
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), or a Service-as-a-Service (SaaS);
associating a policy with the computer workload, wherein the policy
is applied to the computer workload when the computer workload is
deployed within a security zone assigned for the computer workload,
wherein one or more boundaries of the security zone are updatable,
wherein the policy is updatable for the computer workload when the
computer workload is deployed within the security zone, and wherein
the security zone is definable at differing levels of abstraction;
deploying the computer workload in a virtual private cloud within
the clouding-computing environment; applying the policy to the
computer workload when the computer workload performs the computing
workflow within the virtual private cloud; and tagging the computer
workload to perform communications across a plurality of security
zones, each security zone in the plurality of security zones having
a defined set of associated firewalls, wherein the tagging the
computer workload comprises applying firewall rules to the defined
set of associated firewalls for the plurality of security zones to
enable the computer workload to perform communications across the
plurality of security zones.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the
system to further perform: testing the computer workload in a
second virtual private cloud within the cloud-computing environment
prior to deploying the computer workload.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the virtual private cloud
corresponds to a production virtual private cloud, and wherein the
second virtual private cloud corresponds to a pre-production
virtual private cloud.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein the security zone is definable
by a developer, and wherein the policy is applicable, by the
developer, with respect to the security zone.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the
system to further perform: tagging the computer workload based on
the security zone to enable the computer workload to perform
operations in the security zone.
16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including
instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a
computing system, cause the computing system to perform: receiving
a computing workflow to be performed in a cloud-computing
environment including a plurality of cloud-computing resources;
identifying a computer workload to perform the computing workflow,
wherein the computer workload includes a software unit of computing
processing performed via at least one of an
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS),
or a Service-as-a-Service (SaaS); associating a policy with the
computer workload, wherein the policy is applied to the computer
workload when the computer workload is deployed within a security
zone assigned for the computer workload, wherein one or more
boundaries of the security zone are updatable, wherein the policy
is updatable for the computer workload when the computer workload
is deployed within the security zone, and wherein the security zone
is definable at differing levels of abstraction; deploying the
computer workload in a virtual private cloud within the
clouding-computing environment; applying the policy to the computer
workload when the computer workload performs the computing workflow
within the virtual private cloud; and tagging the computer workload
to perform communications across a plurality of security zones,
each security zone in the plurality of security zones having a
defined set of associated firewalls, wherein the tagging the
computer workload comprises applying firewall rules to the defined
set of associated firewalls for the plurality of security zones to
enable the computer workload to perform communications across the
plurality of security zones.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
16, wherein the instructions cause the computing system to further
perform: testing the computer workload in a second virtual private
cloud within the cloud-computing environment prior to deploying the
computer workload.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
17, wherein the virtual private cloud corresponds to a production
virtual private cloud, and wherein the second virtual private cloud
corresponds to a pre-production virtual private cloud.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
16, wherein the security zone is definable by a developer, and
wherein the policy is applicable, by the developer, with respect to
the security zone.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
16, wherein the instructions cause the system to further perform:
tagging the computer workload based on the security zone to enable
the computer workload to perform operations in the security zone.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 15/621,443 filed on Jun. 13, 2017, entitled
"SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A CLOUD COMPUTING ABSTRACTION LAYER WITH
SECURITY ZONE FACILITIES", which is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 14/720,681 filed May 22, 2015, entitled
"SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A CLOUD COMPUTING ABSTRACTION LAYER WITH
SECURITY ZONE FACILITIES", which is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/354,275 filed Jan. 19, 2012 and issued on
Jun. 30, 2015 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,069,599, entitled "SYSTEM AND
METHOD FOR A CLOUD COMPUTING ABSTRACTION LAYER WITH SECURITY ZONE
FACILITIES", which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent
Application No. 61/434,396 filed Jan. 19, 2011, entitled "SYSTEM
AND METHOD FOR CLOUD COMPUTING" each of which are hereby
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
[0002] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/354,275 filed Jan. 19,
2012, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A CLOUD COMPUTING ABSTRACTION
LAYER WITH SECURITY ZONE FACILITIES", is a continuation-in-part of
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/009,774 filed Jan. 19, 2011 and
issued on Jan. 6, 2015 as U.S. Pat. No. 8,931,038, entitled "SYSTEM
AND METHOD FOR A CLOUD COMPUTING ABSTRACTION LAYER" which claims
priority to U.S. Provisional Patent App. No. 61/296,405 filed on
Jan. 19, 2010, entitled "ENTERPRISE CLOUD SYSTEM AND METHOD", each
of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its
entirety. Related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/488,424
entitled "CLOUD COMPUTING GATEWAY, CLOUD COMPUTING HYPERVISOR, AND
METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING SAME" filed Jun. 19, 2009, and issued on
Aug. 20, 2013 as U.S. Pat. No. 8,514,868, claims priority to U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 61/074,027 filed Jun. 19, 2008
entitled "CLOUD COMPUTING GATEWAY AND CLOUD COMPUTING HYPERVISOR",
each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its
entirety.
BACKGROUND
Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to the field of cloud
computing, and more particularly, the invention relates to systems
and methods for securing, controlling and managing cloud services,
applications, platforms and infrastructure.
Description of the Related Art
[0004] Companies have begun offering businesses a new cloud
computing outsourcing option that promises reduced costs, improved
availability, improved scalability, and reduced time to deploy new
applications. These companies act as managed service providers that
rent virtual computer, storage, and Internet connectivity services
for variable periods on a pay-per-use basis from large pools of
re-purposable. multi-tenant computing resources. Such cloud
infrastructure providers include Amazon Web Services.RTM., Amazon
EC2.RTM., GoGrid.RTM., Joyent.RTM., and Mosso.RTM..
[0005] Many businesses, however, are currently unable to use cloud
infrastructure because of a lack of security, control, and
manageability of the computing capacity rented from the cloud
infrastructure providers. These problems prevent such businesses
from maximizing their use of cloud infrastructure, which includes
virtual server instances, storage, and Internet bandwidth.
Enterprises also have difficulty identifying what cloud resources
they should use, and how they should use them, such that usage is
consistent with the technical, operational, and business needs of
the enterprise.
SUMMARY
[0006] According to various embodiments of the invention, systems
and methods are provided for one or more cloud computing
abstraction layers. Through various embodiments of the present
invention, a user can plan cloud-computing services, build a
cloud-computing service, publish the cloud-computing service for
consumption by users, or run the cloud-computing service. Some
embodiments of the present invention provide access to disparate
public or private cloud-computing resources through a common
interface. Additionally, some embodiments can apply governance
uniformly over disparate public or private cloud-computing
resources.
[0007] Some systems may, for example, enable: self-service access
to cloud-computing resources by end-users, developers, and admins;
automated services with respect to cloud-computing services
comprising of one or more cloud-computing resources (e.g.,
management, building, configuration, publication, validation, and
development and deployment of cloud-computing services); rapid
provisioning (e.g., deployment, release, scheduling, control etc.)
of cloud-computing resources within a cloud-computing service;
governance control of cloud-computing resources within a
cloud-computing service (e.g., application of security and
non-security policies to cloud-computing resources), audit control
of cloud-computing services; or secure access to cloud-computing
services. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide
on-demand access by internal users, external users (e.g. customers,
service partners), and developers to cloud-computing services, such
as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service
(PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS), provided from a governed
federation of internal (private cloud) and external cloud
(commercial cloud) service providers. Some such embodiments allow
for rapid and dynamic deployment and scaling of cloud-computing
services. A private cloud may comprise, for example, Eucalyptus
Systems, VMWare vSphere.RTM., or Microsoft.RTM. HyperV; and a
public cloud may comprise, for example, Amazon EC2.RTM., Amazon Web
Services.RTM., Terremark.RTM., Savvis.RTM., or GoGrid.RTM..
[0008] According to one system of the invention, the system
provides a cloud-computing service from a cloud-computing
environment comprising a plurality of cloud-computing resources,
the system comprising: a management module configured to manage a
cloud-computing resource of the plurality of cloud-computing
resources as a cloud-computing service, wherein the cloud-computing
service performs a computer workload and the cloud-computing
service comprises the cloud-computing resource; an adapter
configured to connect to the cloud-computing resource to the system
and translate a management instruction received from the management
module (e.g., intermediate representation of a command from a
client) into a cloud application program interface call for the
cloud-computing resource (e.g. proprietary API call for Amazon
EC2.RTM.); a cloud service bus configured to route the management
instruction from the management module to the adapter; a
consumption module configured to allow a user to subscribe the
cloud-computing service; a planning module configured to plan the
cloud-computing service; and a build module configured to build the
cloud-computing service from the cloud-computing resource and
publish the cloud-computing service to the consumption module. In
some such embodiments, the system provides a user interface
configured to provide access to the system as a virtual private
cloud. The system may further comprise a cloud model utilized by
the adapter to translate the management instruction to the (target)
cloud API call.
[0009] In certain embodiments, the virtual private cloud is
utilized for operation of a cloud-computing service in accordance
with the present invention. In particular embodiments, a computer
workload (e.g., application, server software, software development
environment, software test environment) is a unit of computing
processing that is performed via an IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS. For
example, IaaS may comprise instances of Microsoft.RTM. Windows or
Linux running on a virtual computer, or a Desktop-as-a-service
(DaaS) provided by Citrix.RTM. or VMWare.RTM.; a PaaS may comprise
a database server (e.g., MySQL.RTM. server), Samba server,
Apache.RTM. server, Microsoft.RTM. IIS.NET server, Java.RTM.
runtime, or Microsoft.RTM. .NET.RTM. runtime,
Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) server, Microsoft.RTM. Azure, or
Google.RTM. AppsEngine; a SaaS may comprise SalesForce.RTM.,
Google.RTM. Apps, or other software application that can be
deployed as a cloud service, such as in a web services model. A
cloud-computing resource may be a physical or virtual computing
resource (e.g., virtual machine). In some embodiments, the
cloud-computing resource is a storage resource (e.g., Storage Area
Network (SAN), Network File System (NFS), or Amazon S3.RTM.), a
network resource (e.g., firewall, load-balancer, or proxy server),
an internal private resource, an external private resource, a
secure public resource, an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)
resource, a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) resource, or a
software-as-a-service (SaaS) resource. Hence, in some embodiments,
a cloud-computing service provided may comprise a IaaS, PaaS, or
SaaS provided by private or commercial (e.g., public) cloud service
provider, such as Amazon Web Services.RTM., Amazon EC2.RTM.,
GoGrid.RTM., Joyent.RTM., Mosso.RTM., or the like.
[0010] In various embodiments, the management module that manages
the cloud-computing service comprises provisioning the
cloud-computing service for a virtual private cloud, releasing the
cloud-computing service for the virtual private cloud, accounting
for usage of the cloud-computing service in the virtual private
cloud, or monitoring the cloud-computing service. For example, in
some embodiments, the management module manages cloud-computing
resources for a cloud-computing service being offered by the system
by provisioning a cloud-computing resource for the cloud-computing
service, deploying a cloud-computing resource for the
cloud-computing service, or releasing a cloud-computing resource
being used by the cloud-computing service. In some embodiments, the
provisioning involves starting, stopping, or generally controlling
an instance of a cloud-computing resource (e.g., IaaS providing an
instance of Linux) on behalf of a cloud-computing service. For
example, an embodiment may launch scripts to start an instance of a
cloud-computing resource, launch scripts to securely (e.g., via
encryption) attach a file system (e.g., a storage volume) to the
instantiation of the cloud-computing resource (e.g., so that the
cloud-computing resource can access local or remote client data
securely), and then connect a client to the instantiation through a
virtual private network (VPN) connection between the client's local
network and the cloud providers network.
[0011] In further embodiments, the management module is further
configured to perform collection and maintenance of cost and
consumption of various cloud-computing resources such as CPU-time,
storage volume consumption, network I/O and other configurable
cloud-computing cost and consumption factors. For example, in some
embodiments where the management module accounts for usage of one
more cloud-computing services by a client collecting, aggregating
and providing this information through a API to customer billing
systems while also presenting reporting through the consumption
module demonstrating cost and consumption comparisons, projections
and usage. Some embodiments may utilize Ariba.RTM., SAP.RTM., or
the like to facilitate accounting and billing of usage of
cloud-computing service.
[0012] In some embodiments, the build module allows a developer to
create a cloud-computing service (e.g., IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS)
comprising one or more cloud-computing resources. The build module
may utilize build scripts to build a cloud-computing service from
one or more cloud-computing resources, configure a cloud-computing
service, or publish a cloud-computing service for consumption.
[0013] In various embodiments, a cloud-computing service may be
published to a consumption module that allows an end-user to
subscribe to the cloud-computing service and utilize the service.
In some embodiment, the end-user may access and subscribe to the
cloud-computing service through a user interface that lists
published and available cloud-computing services. For example, the
user interface may be a storefront through which an end-user may
preview and select a cloud-computing service for use.
[0014] With some embodiments, an organization can determine the
most suitable deployment of a computer workload to a
cloud-computing environment, or determine the value/benefit of
deploying a computer workload to a cloud-computing environment. For
some embodiments, the planning module analyzes a computer workload
or workflow that may have previously been on a physical or virtual
computing resource and assists in migrating or importing the
computer workload or workflow to the clouding-computing
environment. In further embodiments, the planning module assesses
difficulty in migrating or importing the computer workload or
workflow, and the efficiency or value of using the cloud-computing
environment. In other embodiments, the planning module determines
the correct placement of a computer workload or workflow to an
appropriate cloud-computing service based on the profile or
characteristics of the computer workload (e.g., determine that the
computer workload or workflow needs to be performed within secure
cloud/public cloud/private cloud). For example, for a trading
platform, which needs a low latency-computing environment that is
secure, an embodiment may recommend placement of trading platform
in a cloud-computing service comprising a be used for long-term
storage of non-sensitive data, an embodiment may recommend
configuration of the platform to use cloud-computing services
comprising a public cloud resource, or a combination of cloud and
physical resources, such as archival tape storage resources.
Further, the placement decision is guided by policy that ensures
the cloud-computing resource is placed in the appropriate
cloud-computing service.
[0015] In particular embodiments, the system further comprises a
policy engine module configured to enforce a policy on the
cloud-computing service through the management module. For example,
in some embodiments, the management module monitors a
cloud-computing resource of the cloud-computing service through the
adapter and provisions the cloud-computing resource according to
the policy engine module. Additionally, for some embodiments, the
management module monitors a cloud-computing resource's performance
using Ganglia Monitoring System or collectd (an open source daemon
that collects system performance statistics periodically).
[0016] In some embodiments, the system further comprises an
identity management module configured to connect to an
authentication system and authenticate the user for the
cloud-computing service. For example, in some embodiments, the
identity management connects to disparate authentication systems
(e.g., Netegrity.RTM., Oracle OAM.RTM., Microsoft.RTM. Active
Directory, RSA.RTM. Cleartrust, or Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP), Kerberos) to create a federated authentication
system that allows unified authentication to a cloud-computing
service.
[0017] In various embodiments, the system further comprises an
encryption module configured to perform encryption services for the
cloud-computing service. For example, the encryption services can
include encryption of data on a storage device or data communicated
over a network connection. In other embodiments, the system further
comprises a connection module configure to securely connect the
cloud-computing service to a client network or a cloud provider
network. For example, a connection module may be deployed on a
client network or a cloud provider network to facilitate a secure
network connection between cloud-computing service and a client
network.
[0018] According to some embodiments, a method is provided for a
cloud-computing environment comprising a plurality of
cloud-computing resources, the method comprising: providing a
virtual private cloud configured to utilize a cloud-computing
resource from the plurality of cloud-computing resources to perform
a computer workload; receiving a request to perform the computer
workload within the virtual private cloud, provisioning the
cloud-computing resource from the plurality of cloud-computing
resources; deploying the cloud-computing resource within the
virtual private cloud; and using the cloud-computing resource to
perform the computer workload.
[0019] As noted before, the cloud-computing resource may be a
virtual (e.g., virtual machine) or physical cloud-computing
resource (e.g., dedicated server). For example, the cloud-computing
resource may be a virtual computing resource where the virtual
computing resource is deployed under control of a virtual machine
manager. The cloud-computing resource may be a storage resource, a
network resource, an internal private resource, an external private
resource, a secure public resource, a platform-as-a-service (PaaS),
a software-as-a-service (SaaS), or an infrastructure-as-a-service
(IaaS). The cloud-computing resource may be a hybrid
cloud-computing resource comprising at least two of a physical
resource, a virtualized resource, a private resource, a public
resource, an internal resource, or an external resource.
[0020] In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving
a constraint for the cloud-computing resource or for a computer
workload that may be deployed on the cloud-computing resource,
wherein the cloud-computing resource is a cloud-computing resource;
and applying the constraint on the cloud-computing resource such
that, when the cloud-computing resource is used to perform the
computer workload, the cloud-computing resource's operation is
limited according to the constraint. In other embodiments, the
method further comprises declaring a static network address for the
computer workload.
[0021] In some embodiments, the method further comprises: defining
a security zone such that the security zone comprises the virtual
private cloud; and applying a security policy to the security zone
such that, when the cloud-computing resource deployed in the
virtual private cloud that is used to perform the computer
workload, the cloud-computing resource's operation or the
performance or operation of the computer workload is subject to,
the security policy. The security zone may be defined according to
a physical location of the virtual private cloud's usage, a network
location of the virtual private cloud's usage, or an attribute of
an organization associated with the virtual private cloud. The
security policy may be an access policy, a read-permission policy,
a write-permission policy, an edit-permission policy, a
privacy-based policy, a policy regarding a required level or type
of encryption, a cloud-computing resource utilization policy, or
other policy. The security policy can be configured to only allow
software packages that comply with the security zone's policies to
be deployed with the security zone. For example, a security zone
may be defined as a specified virtual private network (VPN) or a
specified physical network of a business enterprise, such that
computer workloads being performed by a cloud-computing resource
operating in that zone may be modified only by users who have
specified authorization credentials issued by that enterprise.
Among some embodiments, a security zone may be defined as
cloud-computing resources (public or private) that are physically
located in a geographical area, such as the United States, allowing
a security policy to be applied that prohibits export of data that
is to be associated with computer workloads executed in that
security zone. In other embodiments, the policies are defined and
implemented on the firewalls through a central policy server.
[0022] In additional embodiments, the method further comprises:
receiving at a central policy server a definition for a security
policy, wherein the central policy server is configured to
associate the security policy to the computer workload or to the
cloud-computing computing resource performing the computer
workload; and pushing the security policy to the cloud-computing
resource.
[0023] For some embodiments, provisioning the cloud-computing
resource comprises: locating an unreserved cloud-computing resource
within the plurality of cloud-computing resources; and reserving
for the virtual private cloud the unreserved cloud-computing
resource.
[0024] In embodiments where the cloud-computing resource is an
infrastructure element, and the method further comprises: providing
a user interface that allows a user to deploy or configure the
infrastructure element; setting, through the user interface, a
policy to the infrastructure element or to a computer workload that
may be deployed on the infrastructure element; and applying the
policy to the infrastructure element when the infrastructure
element or computer workload is deployed within the virtual private
cloud. The method further comprises: determining a reference design
for the infrastructure element; and deploying the infrastructure
element in the virtual private cloud according to the reference
design.
[0025] In other embodiments, the method further comprises:
associating a policy with the computer workload to be performed
within the virtual private cloud; and applying the policy to the
cloud-computing resource performing the computer workload during
the computer workload's performance.
[0026] In additional embodiments, receiving the request to perform
the computer workload or the application of the policy to the
computer workload comprises: receiving an application to be
migrated to cloud-computing environment for execution; and
identifying the computer workload as necessary for executing the
application.
[0027] In further embodiments, the method further comprises: using
an adapter to connect the virtual private cloud to one or more
other cloud-computing resources, such as of the types described
herein; using a metamodel data structure to store an association
between a computer workload and a policy; and pushing the metamodel
data structure to the adapter such that, when the cloud-computing
resource is deployed to perform the computer workload, the adapter
applies the policy to the computer workload or to the
cloud-computing resource performing the computer workload. In some
such embodiments, when a computer workload is moved from using one
cloud-computing resource to a second cloud-computing resource, the
method may further comprise pushing the metamodel data structure to
a second adapter that connects the second cloud-computing resource
to the virtual private cloud such that when the second
cloud-computing resource is deployed, such as within the virtual
private cloud to perform the computer workload, the second adapter
applies the policy to the second cloud-computing resource
performing the cloud computer workload.
[0028] In other embodiments, the method comprises identifying the
cloud-computing resource for performing the computer workload.
Identifying the cloud-computing resource may be based on a computer
workload score determined by a scoring logic. The scoring logic may
be, for example, based on a business attribute of the computer
workload, a technical attribute of the computer workload, or an
operational attribute of the computer workload. In further
embodiments, the scoring logic uses a mix of at least two of a
business attribute, an operational attribute and a technical
attribute. In various embodiments, the scoring logic may be
editable or may be dynamically updated at or near real-time.
[0029] In some embodiments, the computer workload may be scalable.
For example, the computer workload may be scaled down to decrease
the computer workload's use of memory and processing time during
performance within a virtual private cloud or actually increase or
decrease the number of cloud-computing resources which execute the
computer workload. In further embodiments, the scaling is based on
a policy, which may be associated with the computer workload,
stored in a metamodel, and pushed via an adaptor to or among
various cloud computing resources.
[0030] In some embodiments, deploying the cloud-computing resource
comprises deploying a pre-determined set of cloud-computing
resources to optimize the computer workloads' performance.
[0031] In further embodiments, the method further comprises setting
a condition for the computer workload, wherein the condition
determines if or when the cloud-computing resource can be deployed
within the virtual private cloud to perform the computer
workload.
[0032] According to other embodiments, a method is provided for a
cloud-computing environment comprising a plurality of
cloud-computing resources, the method comprising: receiving a
computing workflow to be performed in the cloud-computing
environment; identifying a computer workload to perform the
computing workflow; associating a policy with the computer
workload; testing the computer workload in a pre-production virtual
private cloud (e.g., computing environment) within the
cloud-computing environment; deploying the computer workload in a
production virtual private cloud (e.g., computing environment)
within the clouding-computing environment; and applying the policy
to the computer workload during the computer workload's performance
within the production virtual private cloud for consumption. In
some such embodiments, identifying the computer workload to perform
the computing workflow involves identifying a plurality of computer
workloads to perform the computing workflow.
[0033] According to other embodiments, the present invention may
provide a method and system for a virtualization environment
adapted for development and deployment of at least one software
workload, the virtualization environment having a metamodel
framework that allows the association of a policy to the software
workload upon development of the workload that is applied upon
deployment of the software workload. The system and method may
allow a developer to define a security zone and to apply at least
one type of security policy with respect to the security zone
including the type of security zone policy in the metamodel
framework such that the type of security zone policy can be
associated with the software workload upon development of the
software workload, and if the type of security zone policy is
associated with the software workload, automatically applying the
security policy to the software workload when the software workload
is deployed within the security zone. In embodiments, the security
zone may be a geographic zone, a network zone, an enterprise zone,
an operational zone, an organizational zone, and the like. The
security policy may be an access policy, a write-permission policy,
a resource utilization policy, an editing permission policy, and
the like. The security policy may determine whether a software
workload is allowed to operate in a specified security zone. The
method and system may automatically establish firewall rules across
multiple firewalls in multiple security zones for newly deployed
applications by tagging application software workloads that are
deployed within the security zones. The firewalls may be of types
provided by different vendors and employ at least one of different
operating system, communication protocols, and programming
languages. The method and system may automatically remove firewall
rules across multiple firewalls in multiple security zones when the
firewall rules do not apply to software workloads within the
security zones. The firewalls may be of types provided by different
vendors and employ at least one of different operating system,
communication protocols, and programming languages. The method and
system may provide an alert when a software workload is planned to
be deployed in a security zone in a manner that is inconsistent
with at least one of a security zone policy applicable to the
security zone and a security policy associated with the
workload.
[0034] According to further embodiments, various operations
described above are implemented using a computer. For example, some
embodiments provide for a computer program product comprising a
computer useable medium having program instructions embodied
therein for performing operations similar to those performed by
methods according to the present invention.
[0035] Other features and aspects of the invention will become
apparent from the following detailed description, taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by
way of example, the features in accordance with embodiments of the
invention. The summary is not intended to limit the scope of the
invention, which is defined solely by the claims attached
hereto.
[0036] These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and
advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those
skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the
preferred embodiment and the drawings. All documents mentioned
herein are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0037] The present invention, in accordance with one or more
various embodiments, is described in detail with reference to the
following figures. The drawings are provided for purposes of
illustration only and merely depict typical or example embodiments
of the invention. These drawings are provided to facilitate the
reader's understanding of the invention and shall not be considered
limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability of the invention.
It should be noted that for clarity and ease of illustration these
drawings are not necessarily made to scale.
[0038] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example system in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0039] FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an example management
module in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0040] FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example management
module in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0041] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of provisioning
in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0042] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example use of a
connection module in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0043] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example use of an
identity module in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0044] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example use of a monitor
module in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0045] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example governor module
in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0046] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0047] FIGS. 9A-9D are screenshots of an example user interface in
accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
[0048] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example system in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0049] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an
enterprise cloud ecosystem in an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0050] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a
policy-driven governance and control scenario in an embodiment of
the present invention.
[0051] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment for a
self-service enterprise application store.
[0052] FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computing
module for implementing various embodiments of the invention.
[0053] The figures are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit
the invention to the precise form disclosed. It should be
understood that the invention can be practiced with modification
and alteration, and that the invention be limited only by the
claims and the equivalents thereof.
[0054] While the invention has been described in connection with
certain preferred embodiments, other embodiments would be
understood by one of ordinary skill in the art and are encompassed
herein.
[0055] All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by
reference.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0056] The present invention is directed toward a system and method
for a cloud computing abstraction layer. Through various
embodiments of the present invention, a user can plan
cloud-computing services, build a cloud-computing service, publish
the cloud-computing service for consumption by users, or run the
cloud-computing service. Some embodiments of the present invention
provide access to disparate public or private cloud-computing
resources through a standard interface. Additionally, some
embodiments can apply governance uniformly over disparate public or
private cloud computing resources.
[0057] Some systems may, for example, enable: self-service access
to cloud-computing resources by end-users, developers, and admins;
automated services with respect to cloud-computing services
comprising of one or more cloud-computing resources (e.g.,
management, building, configuration, publication, validation, and
building of cloud-computing services); rapid provisioning (e.g.,
deployment, release, scheduling, control etc.) of cloud-computing
resources within a cloud-computing service; governance control of
cloud-computing resources within a cloud-computing service (e.g.,
application of security and non-security policies to
cloud-computing resources), audit control of cloud-computing
services; or secure access to cloud-computing services.
[0058] Advantages to the present invention's model include enabling
a federated constituency of internal and external service providers
that can be selected (and switched as needed) to provide best fit
and value, such as between different internal and external cloud
providers. For example, development projects, which may be
subjected to waiting times or interruptions, but which contain
highly confidential information, may be deployed on a cloud that
has low cost, but that has very specific security requirements,
while commercial services, some of which are non-confidential in
nature, might preferably be deployed on very fast, highly scalable
cloud infrastructure to ensure high quality of service, but
security requirements might be different than for a development
project. A range of factors may be relevant to deployment of a
particular project or service (or to a particular workload element
related to it), including technical factors (the processing,
storage, bandwidth, and other capabilities required to execute a
workload), operational factors (such as when and where a workload
needs to be available to meet the operational requirements of a
business), and business factors (such as anticipated revenues,
costs, quality of service requirements, and the like). By enabling
federation of services, applications, platform elements,
infrastructure elements and the like across multiple types of
clouds (including internal and external clouds from varying
vendors), while providing a single, unified interface for
developing workloads and associating policies relating technical,
operational, business and other requirements, the embodiments
described herein allow an enterprise to satisfy such requirements
much more effectively and efficiently than was possible with prior
offerings.
[0059] On top of infrastructure elements provided for a cloud there
may be platforms, stacks, software applications, and the like.
There may be many different use cases and variations possible in an
`everything as-a-service` world, such as development and test
environments as-a-service, databases as-a-service, platforms as a
service, infrastructure as a service, software as a service, and
many flavors of each offering different types of services, and the
like. Benefits to the federated structure may include greater
agility, vendor contestability, and innovation by transitioning an
enterprise from a fixed to a variable cost infrastructure (thus
avoiding enormous waste currently associated with fixed cost
resources acquired by enterprises to meet peak needs but unused in
off-peak periods), increased transparency (including the capability
to compare the cost, functional benefits, and value of each
sub-element of a service, platform, application, or infrastructure
component), more direct revenue-to-cost operating models,
right-place right size workload placement, minimal vendor lock-in
and dependencies, improved standardization, lower risk operating
environments, metered cost savings through `pay-as-you-go`
economics and demand-driven consumption, faster time-to-market
through on-demand provisioning, a compressed systems development
life cycle (SDLC), lower costs by arbitrating market price between
providers, elastic-dynamic capacity to meet peak demand, and the
like.
[0060] The present disclosure also may provide security,
governance, and policy enforcement to harness the power and agility
of the operating model, a strategy and transition plan to move from
a traditional operating model to an everything-as-a-service model,
and the like.
[0061] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example system 10 in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1
illustrates a cloud-computing environment 35 comprising one or more
cloud-computing resources, a client network 31 comprising client
computing devices 14 (e.g., desktops, laptops, smart mobile
devices), and a cloud-computing platform 20 in accordance with one
embodiment of the invention. In illustrated system 10,
cloud-computing platform 20 provides a system through which
computing devices residing on client network 31 (e.g., enterprise
network) can access one or more cloud-computing services. A
cloud-computing service comprises a cloud-computing resource
residing within the cloud-computing environment 35 and managed by
the cloud-computing platform to provide the cloud-computing
service. Depending on the embodiment, cloud-computing environment
35 may comprise one or more cloud providing networks that include
cloud-computing resources (e.g., cloud services provided by public
or private clouds, which may be external or internal to the
enterprise that uses them) that can be utilized by users.
Additionally, depending on the embodiment, platform 20 may reside
on a client network 31 or separate from a client network 31.
[0062] Cloud-computing environment 35 may comprise an internal
cloud, an external cloud, a private cloud, or a public cloud (e.g.,
commercial cloud). In the embodiment of FIG. 1, cloud-computing
environment 35 comprises internal private cloud resource 38,
external private cloud resource 41, and secure public cloud
resource 44. A private cloud may be implemented using a variety of
cloud systems including, for example, Eucalyptus Systems, VMWare
vSphere.RTM., or Microsoft.RTM. HyperV. Providers of public clouds
may include, for example, Amazon EC2.RTM., Amazon Web
Services.RTM., Terremark.RTM., Savvis.RTM., or GoGrid.RTM.
Cloud-computing resources provided by these clouds may include, for
example, storage resources (e.g., Storage Area Network (SAN),
Network File System (NFS), and Amazon S3.RTM.), network resources
(e.g., firewall, load-balancer, and proxy server), internal private
resources, external private resources, secure public resources,
infrastructure-as-a-services (IaaSs), platform-as-a-services
(PaaSs), or software-as-a-services (SaaSs).
[0063] By using cloud-computing platform 20 to plan, build, manage,
or use cloud-computing resources within a cloud-computing
environment, users of platform 20 are provided with standardized
access to a variety of cloud-computing resources from disparate
cloud-computing systems and providers without concerning themselves
with the proprietary details of accessing or interfacing with such
cloud-computing systems and providers. The platform 20 is
configured to take the workloads that are developed with the
platform 20 (as more particularly described throughout this
disclosure) and automatically provide the interfaces and access
steps necessary to operate the workload on any particular platform
or infrastructure element within a federation of cloud computing
resources, such that the user is able to interact with the platform
to develop such workloads at a level of abstraction that allows the
user to configure the logic of the workload (including conditional
logic that allows interrelation of different workloads) and to
embody the technical, operational, and business requirements of the
workload in policies that are associated with the workload, without
the user being required to access or understand the details of (or
in some cases even know about the existence of) such particular
platform or infrastructure elements. Additionally, users of
platform 20 can access cloud-computing services through platform 20
on-demand and on a self-service basis through the standardized
access. Users of cloud computing services offered by platform 20
may include end-users, developers, partners, or administrators that
reside on the client network 31.
[0064] Platform 20 may comprise planner module 23, manager module
26, builder module 29, and consumption module 32. Planner module 23
is configured to plan cloud-computing service provided by platform
20 by inventorying, profiling, characterizing and prioritizing
computer workloads, such as programs, applets, calculations,
applications, servers, or services. For example, with respect to
software/application development, planner module 23 may model
current applications and associated software-development life cycle
(SDLC) phases to determine what infrastructure environments would
be required or preferred. This may include defining security,
privacy, management or other profiles for each SDLC phase of each
application. The profiles, in turn, will identify existing
infrastructure and systems that support the SDLC phases, and manage
relationships between the infrastructure, systems and the
applications. Profiles may also contain characteristics regarding
the SDLC phases or attributes relevant to development, deployment
or performance of infrastructure, systems, or workloads, such as
latency, geography, responsiveness, bandwidth, storage capacity,
processing speed, processing type, platforms involved (including
operating system, file types, communication protocols, and the
like), data involved, protocols used, and specific institutional
requirements. In terms of prioritizing the cloud-computing services
needed for the SDLC phases, planner 23 may first identify which
SDLC computing environments and systems would be suitable for cloud
computing or migration to cloud computing, and then prioritize the
enablement and operability of newly developed or migrated computer
workloads according to the SDLC phases. Subsequently, the
characterizations determined by planner module 23 can be used by
builder module 29 to build a cloud-computing service or to deploy a
computer workload to a cloud-computing resource. In the planner
module 23 or in other components of the platform 20 associated with
the planner module 23 the user may have access to, or may create or
modify, policy information relevant to the computer workloads with
which the user can interact in the planner module 23. The policy
information may be stored in or associated with a meta model, which
may enable the identification, characterization, and storage of a
wide range of information, including policy information, that can
be associated with a given workload. The metamodel data, including
policy information, can be associated with the workload such that
throughout the various components of the platform 20, from planning
through deployment to a cloud, the workflow can be handled in a
manner that is consistent with the metamodel data, and in
particular consistent with the policies that are applicable to that
workload. In the planner module 23 the planner/user may thus plan
the use of workloads in a manner that is consistent with technical,
operational, and business requirements that are appropriate with
such workload, as seen by association of the same with the
workload, and the planner/user may modify or populate the policies
associated with the workload, such that the metamodel data for that
workload embodies and is consistent with the plans of the
planner/user. Once associated with the workload, such policies and
other metamodel data are stored by the platform 20 and may be used
throughout the development and deployment cycle.
[0065] Builder module 29 may be configured to assemble, validate,
and publish a cloud-computing service or computer workload for
consumption (i.e., use) by a user. Builder module 29 may be
configured to receive characterization information from planner
module 23 and build a cloud-computing service or computer workload
based on the information. For example, builder module 29 may be
configured to assemble a cloud computing service based on the
prioritized list of computer workloads provided by planner module
23. Builder module 29 may be configured to create and edit scripts
for loading computer workloads during installation, startup,
runtime, and shutdown of cloud-computing services assembled by
builder 29. The scripts for the cloud-computing services may be
verified and validated before the cloud-computing services are
published for consumption (i.e., use). The script may have access
to metamodel and policy information which may alter how the script
uses the metamodel and policy information to make a decision.
Additionally, builder module 29 may be configured to associate the
computer workload with the appropriate cloud-computing service or
resource (e.g., associate an application with an appropriate
underlying virtual machine image or associate a computer workload
with a specific network). As with the planner module 23, in the
builder module 29 the user/builder may have access to, or may
create or modify, policy information relevant to the computer
workloads with which the user can interact in the builder module
29, such as the policy information stored in or associated with the
above-referenced meta model, which may enable the identification,
characterization, and storage of a wide range of information,
including policy information, that can be associated with a given
workload. In the builder module 29 the builder/user may thus build
of workloads in a manner that is consistent with technical,
operational, and business requirements that are appropriate with
such workload, as seen by association of the same with the
workload, and the builder/user may modify or populate the policies
associated with the workload, such that the metamodel data for that
workload embodies and is consistent with the plans of the
planner/user. In embodiments, the builder module 29 may present
options to the builder pre-filtered, such as in pre-populated
scripts, filtered drop-down menus, that are dictated by or
consistent with the policies and other metamodel data associated
with a workload, omitting, blocking or hiding options that are
inconsistent with such policies. For example, a workload that
stores customer data could omit the option to store a social
security number if a data privacy regulation prohibits storing such
data in the business process to which the workload relates. Such
automatic pre-filtering, pre-configuration, and blocking ensure
consistency with the policies associated with the workload at the
planning stage (or other stages) while also improving efficiency by
removing development paths that might be pursued despite being
prohibited. In embodiments, the metamodel provides a flexible
structure to organize metadata and apply the same policies using a
combination of system and user supplied metadata that may indicate
use of the same policy, however may define the same policy in
different ways. For example, in some embodiments, the system may
consider a Tier 5 datacenter to be the most fault tolerant type of
data center and a user may consider a Tier 1 data center to be the
most tolerant. The metamodel allows a policy that requires
provisioning in the most fault tolerant data center to be assigned
Tier 5 or Tier 1 metadata, depending on the definition of the most
fault tolerant data center in that specific operating
environment.
[0066] Eventually, builder module 29 can publish a cloud-computing
service for consumption by users. In some embodiments, the build
module 29 will publish the cloud-computing service to a consumption
module 32 (e.g., store or storefront such as an application store,
a service store, or a software stack store) where users can
preview, select, and subscribe to a cloud-computing service for
use. Further, in some embodiments, the builder module 29 will enter
the cloud-computing service in repository 30 when it is ready and
available for consumption by users. Embodiments may also be
configured the builder module 30 such that the development
community can approve or disapprove of the cloud-computing service
before publication.
[0067] Consumption module 32 is configured to allow a user to
subscribe to, collaborate on, and assess a cloud-computing service
published for consumption. For example, a user can preview
cloud-computing services available for deployment to the virtual
private cloud and consumption. Then, when a user wants to subscribe
and invoke a cloud-computing service for usage, the user can invoke
the cloud-computing service on a self-service, on-demand basis
through the consumption module 32. Consumption module 32 may list
published available cloud-computing service at or near real-time,
and allow a user to request updates and information on a listed
cloud-computing service. In some embodiments, the consumption
module 32 may allow users to collaborate on where, what, and how
many cloud-computing services are deployed for consumption. In
further embodiments, consumption module 32 may allow a user to
comment on and rate cloud-computing services, or assess the cost
associated with deploying and using a cloud-computing service. As
noted above, as with the planning module 23 and the builder module
29, the consumption module 32 has access to policy information and
other metamodel data that is associated with each workload, such
that the workload may be consumed only in a manner that is
consistent with such policy information. Thus consumption policies
related to permitted time, permitted sets of users, security,
pricing, resource consumption rules, and a wide variety of other
policies may be maintained by the consumption module based on the
policies associated with the workload in the platform 20.
[0068] Manager module 26 is configured to provision one or more
cloud-computing resources for a cloud-computing service or computer
workload, manage one or more cloud-computing resources for the
cloud-computing service or computer workload, and monitor one or
more cloud-computing resources for the cloud-computing service or
computer workload. For example, manager module 26 may provision one
or more cloud-computing resources (e.g., provision one or more
virtual machine instances) for a published cloud-computing service
that is invoked from the consumption module 32. Upon invoking the
cloud-computing service, the manager module 26 may deploy and start
the one or more cloud-computing resources to the virtual private
cloud for the cloud-computing service.
[0069] With respect to control, manager module 26 may control the
start, stop, or run-time of one or more cloud-computing resources
(e.g., control start, stop, or run-time of virtual machine
instance) for a cloud-computing service. Manager module 26 may
further schedule the start and stop time windows for the one or
more cloud-computing resources, or govern a service level, such as
per a service level agreement (SLA), or a threshold associated with
the one or more cloud-computing resources. Through its control,
manager module 26 can govern the cloud-computing resource according
to conditions, constraints, security policies, or non-security
policies. Manager module 26 may also monitor the one or more
cloud-computing resources, detect security intrusions, and monitor
the consumption of cloud-computing services their associated
cloud-computing resources in order to determine the costs accrued
by a user. Aspects of cloud-computing resources monitored by
manager module 26 include, for example, central processing unit
(CPU) usage, memory usage, data storage usage, data input/output
usage, application usage, workload usage, service usage, and other
attributes of usage of a service or a computer workload.
[0070] In some embodiments, manager module 26 is configured such
that a user can request a planner using the planner module 23 to
change the design of a cloud-computing service. For example, a user
may request that the cloud-computing service change or computer
workload with respect to the cloud-computing resources utilized
(e.g., change to a platform stack). As in the other components of
the platform 20, in the manager module 26 the user may have access
to, or may create or modify, policy information or metamodel data
relevant to the computer workloads with which the user can interact
in the manager module 26. The manager/user of the manager module 26
may thus manage the provisioning of infrastructure and platform
elements such that usage will be consistent with the policies of
the enterprise, including operational and business policies, as
well as technical requirements. For example, provisioning to
expensive infrastructure elements may be confined to workloads that
satisfy business rules that distinguish between mission critical
elements and other elements. The manager/user of the manager module
26 may be provided with access to the policies consistent with the
metamodel framework, and in embodiments may be provided with
pre-filtered options, such as in menu choices, decision trees, or
the like, that are consistent with such policies. For example, a
workload designated as non-critical in its metamodel data could
automatically appear in the manager module with deployment options
confined to relatively low cost clouds, while a mission-critical
workload might appear with all different cloud options (or ones
that are filtered to satisfy certain requirements as to low
latency, bandwidth, storage capacity, guaranteed quality of
service, or the like). As with other modules, the manager module 26
may thus enforce policy while streamlining workflow, improving both
effectiveness and efficiency.
[0071] FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating example management module
26 in further detail. As illustrated, management module 26
comprises governor module 103 configured to govern operation of a
cloud-computing services and its associated cloud-computing
resources, provisioning module 106 configured to provision
cloud-computing resources for a cloud-computing service, and
monitoring module 112 configured to facilitate the various
monitoring functions of management module 26.
[0072] In embodiments, the present invention may provide for a
policy-driven infrastructure as a service (IaaS) event bus, which
is comprised of a policy engine, metamodel, reporting system, and
workflow engine; and allows for the creation of business policies,
such that said business policies can be reflected into a dynamic
information technology environment and expressed across internal
and external information technology infrastructure, regardless of
operating system, programming language, middleware solution,
application platform, or cloud provider, by making use of
abstraction layers. The workflow engine provides an integration
point between the IaaS event bus and workflow management, as
described elsewhere in this specification. The abstraction layers
allow for integration with application programming interfaces made
available by different vendors, business models, technical models,
eventing and altering channels and monitoring systems in a vendor
agnostic manner. In embodiments the abstraction layer could be a
cloud-computing provider. A cloud computing provider may be VMWare,
Baremetal, Amazon Ec2, Savis, TerraMark, Microsoft HyperV, and the
like. In other embodiments, there may be multiple layers of
abstraction in an abstraction layer.
[0073] The policy engine allows policies to be created through an
easy to use visual interface that allows users that do not
necessarily have information technology skills or other programming
skills to author and assign policies to workloads. The policies can
be expressed via languages such as XML, and the like. In some
embodiments of the present invention a policy could be an event
policy. An event policy supports matching one or more events that
are temporally related and generate a notification action when
matches occur. An event can be defined as either a threshold
condition or matching constraints specified as rules. A rule is
comprised of one or more match constraints and each match
constraint must be satisfied, by a logical "and" operation, within
a specified sliding time window in order for the notification
actions to be invoked. A match specifies the set of conditions that
must be satisfied to match an event. Each condition specifies a
property of an event or object contained by the event, which is
matched against a set of one or more values using the supplied
comparison operation If multiple values are supplied for a
condition then the result is a logical "or" operation of the
property being compared and against each value individually. Any of
the event properties or properties of objects contained within the
event structure may be used to refine the match criteria. For
example, an auto-scaling policy may be be created to add more web
and database servers according to a ration if a business
application becomes heavily loaded, in order to reduce the load on
that application. In another example, an auto-scaling policy with
business awareness may be created that deploys additional business
topologies according to an algorithm if revenue per hour exceeds a
threshold.
[0074] The metamodel allows the system to abstract business user
definition from technical definition and allows an enterprise to
track information about information technology resources that were
unknown when the system was created. By abstracting the business
user definition from the technical definition, the metamodel allows
business users to define data classes consistent with their
enterprise nomenclature, while still being able to map them
consistently to the internal system. For example a Tier 4 data
center is common technical classification of a data center that
generally has the highest uptime, however some enterprises refer to
Tier 4 data centers as Tier 1 and the metamodel would allow Tier 1
and Tier 4 to be used interchangeably, depending on the definition
used by a specific enterprise. This provides a benefit to the
enterprise by eliminating the need to write specific policies for
each instance or the need to customized each abstraction layer for
individual instances. By tracking information about IT resources
that were unknown when the system was created, the metamodel allows
business users to arbitrarily define elements of data to track and
create policy after the system was built, also allowing the users
to track a specific piece of information that is defined for any
resources that are managed by the system. Resources could be
networks, storage, servers, workloads, topologies, applications,
business units, and the like.
[0075] In other further embodiments, the policy-driven
infrastructure as a service may also include additional components.
Additional components may be reporting, auditing, and federated
identify management systems.
[0076] In embodiments, the present invention may provide for a
visual policy editor, which provides an easy-to-use graphical user
interface to a feature-rich and extensible policy engine, using a
visual programming language and policies, eliminating the need for
the user to write complex code to define, assign, and enforce
policies. The graphical user interface allows the user to author
policies using a visual drag-and-drop interface or an XML editor.
The visual programming language functions could be loops,
variables, branching, switching, pulling of attributes, code
execution within a policy, and the like. For example the visual
programming language could access an external pricing engine that
contains live pricing information, then make a decision on the next
step of the execution process, based on the information it receives
from the pricing engine. In some embodiments, policies can be
enforced at an object level. Objects could be organizational
groups, individual projects, different deployment environments, and
the like. Policies could be access control policies, firewall
policies, event-based policies and the like. Access control
policies could include packages, scripts, and the like. Access
control policies could be defined by cloud or other service
providers, network attributes, network geographic location,
security policies, and the like. Firewall policies may include port
and network ACL lists that are applied as policies and applied at
container level to ensure conformance to corporate standards for
port opening/closing. Event based policies relate to service level
management and could include compound threshold rules that trigger
an action, lifecycle event management, compound event sequences,
signature detection, and policy stacking, and the like. For
example, a policy could be defined to restrict deployment of a
computing workload to private internal clouds in a specific
country.
[0077] In embodiments, the present invention may provide for
automated processes to support a continuous integration cycle to
migrate a computing workload from a development environment to an
operational environment. The continuous integration cycle may
include maintaining a code repository, automating the build
process, self-testing the build process, automatically deploying
the build, and the like. The policies and metamodels defined and
assigned to the computing workload environment follow the build
from its creation using the Builder Module through to its
publication into the Consumption module. This capability allows the
enterprise to greatly reduce the time required to develop, test,
deploy and update a computing workload. Continuous integration may
also include ensuring the modernization, patch management,
conforming configuration of deployed cloud-computing services. The
embodiments may provide this service as DevToOps policy allowing
centrally defined service definition that deployed cloud-compute
services can compare against and either update themselves when
their configuration no longer matches, warn administrators of
non-conformance, rewrite themselves back to conformance when
configurations of the cloud-compute services are made arbitrarily,
and the like.
[0078] As noted before, various embodiments of the present
invention provide standardized access, management, or control to
different types of cloud-computing resources on a self-service,
on-demand basis without the user needing to know the specific
instructions or details for accessing, managing, or controlling
those different target cloud-computing resources.
[0079] In order to translate a standard management action for a
cloud-computing service to instructions for its cloud-computing
resource and/or instructions for a computer workload to be executed
on a cloud-computing resource, some management modules may comprise
a cloud model data store 109 that maps the management action to the
appropriate cloud-computing resources. Subsequently, the management
action is translated to one or more instructions for a target
cloud-computing resource and/or a computer workload operating
thereon. For example, a topology is an example of a cloud service,
where a topology is comprised of a number of individual virtual
machines orchestrated together. A common management action to
perform on a topology is to start it. This simple topology start
action within the management layer gets turned into a number of
individual instructions that get passed down into the cloud service
bus, such as (1) calculate the Start Up order for topology, (2)
initiate ordered startup one VM at a time, (3) as VM's come up,
attach volumes that are associated with the VM, (4) install any
packages and software onto the VM's, and (5) once all machines are
up and running the topology status changes to running
[0080] Cloud service bus 115 may be utilized to parse management
instructions received from the manager module 26, transform the
management instructions to instructions compatible with the target
cloud-computing resource, and route the management instruction to
the targeted cloud-computing resource. In some embodiments, the
cloud service bus 115 then routes the instructions to the
application program interface (API) for a target cloud-computing
resource from external commercial cloud resource 127, or to the
virtual machine manager (VMM) (e.g., hypervisor) for a target
cloud-computing resource from internal private cloud resources
130.
[0081] FIG. 2B illustrates an example flow of management
instructions from manager module 26 to a commercial cloud API. As
illustrated in FIG. 2B, provisioning module 106 of management
module 26 transmits a management action for a cloud-computing
service currently deployed within a virtual private cloud (VPC) or
a cloud-computing resource to be deployed in the virtual private
cloud. Cloud service bus 115 receives the management action, parses
(215) the action, and utilizes cloud model data store 109 to
resolve (218) the action to the appropriate one or more
cloud-computing resources associated with the cloud-computing
service.
[0082] These management actions are then translated to
target-specific instructions (e.g., commercial hypervisor API
calls) by a target-specific adapter that connects one or more
cloud-computing resources to one or more other cloud-computing
resources or to the cloud-computing platform. Given the disparate
types of cloud providers and systems that exist, each having a
proprietary interface for access, management, and control, some
embodiments utilize a target-specific adapter 209, 212 in order to
connect to and interface with cloud-computing resources provided by
those different cloud providers and systems.
[0083] In the illustrated embodiment, once target-specific
instructions have been determined, cloud service bus 115 routes the
instructions to Amazon EC2.RTM. adapter 209, which transforms (221)
(or translates) the management action to one or more
target-specific instructions that are routed to the Amazon EC2.RTM.
API 203 for execution on the Amazon EC2.RTM. cloud-computing
environment 206. Other adapters 212 illustrated include
Microsoft.RTM. System Center Virtual Machine Manager, a VMWare.RTM.
adapter, a Rackspace.RTM. Adapter, and a Sun.RTM. VMOpsCenter
Adapter. Other APIs illustrated include the Citrix.RTM.
XenCenter.RTM. API 122 used to interface with a XenCenter
cloud-computing environment 128, or a Sun.RTM. xVMOpsCenter API 123
used to interface with the xVMOpsCenter cloud-computing environment
129.
[0084] In some embodiments, the instruction is transmitted to the
Amazon EC2.RTM. API 203 through connection module 118, which
implements a secure (i.e., encrypted) connection between the
platform and the cloud-computing environment, the platform and
client network, or the cloud-computing environment and the client
network to ensure secure communication between the platform and
environment. Connection module 118 may be utilized, for example,
when a cloud-computing environment does not provide a secure
connection between a client and its cloud-provider network (e.g., a
commercial cloud provider does not provide a secure connection as
feature of their cloud services). Additionally, connection module
118 may be deployed and utilized on the client-side network when
the client lacks a secure connection with the platform.
[0085] FIG. 3 provides a diagram illustrating an example of
provisioning in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention. As illustrated in FIG. 3, upon receipt of a provisioning
request from virtual private cloud (VPC) user interface 256,
(asset) repository 262 is queried to extract all relevant metamodel
information for the deployable assets (e.g., cloud-computing
resource), such as a cloud-computing service have a specific
topology. A simple topology may comprise a single cloud-computing
resource (e.g., operating system running on a virtual machine) or a
single tier of cloud-computing resource instances (e.g., LAMP
server), combined to provide a cloud-computing service such as a
web front-end. A more complex topology may comprise more than one
tier of related cloud-computing resource instances such as a
back-end database service tier, middleware tier, and web front-end
tier, each tier performing a related service as part of delivery of
an application to a set of users. The cloud model 109 is queried
280 to match the type(s) of cloud-computing resource instance with
an appropriate provisioning request.
[0086] Upon a successful match, a policy management engine within
governor module 103 is queried to ensure current policies allow for
provisioning the cloud-computing resource from a cloud-computing
environment, thereby providing "valid" or "right" placement 283,
consistent with the handling of policy and the metamodel framework
described above and throughout this disclosure. Topology
interpreter 271 examines the request for the relationships of the
cloud-computing resource instance(s) being requested and the access
list (network port) assignments for the instance(s), and then
passes the information to provisioning agent 274. Provisioning
agent 274, in turn, queues the startup requests for the
cloud-computing resource instances based on the defined startup
order of the topology and provisions the instances and access list
requests 289 through the virtual machine manager (VMM) API.
[0087] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example use of a
connection module in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention. Specifically, illustrated are two cloud-computing
environments 306 and 309 each running instances of either
Microsoft.RTM. Windows (333) or a distribution of Linux (339). Each
cloud-computing environment is configured with a cloud firewall
(315, 318) that blocks specified network traffic and defends the
environments against malicious network traffic.
[0088] Illustrated opposite the cloud-computing environments is
client network 303 (e.g., enterprise network) that has an instance
of Linux 342 and Solaris (.times.86) operating and is equipped with
it is an enterprise firewall 312. In order for the cloud-computing
environments (306, 309) to communicate with client network 303 over
external network 321 (e.g., the Internet), connection modules (324,
327, 330) are deployed on the three entities in order to establish
and maintain encrypted communication tunnels (348, 351) between the
cloud-computing environments (306, 309) and the client network 303.
In addition, connection modules (324, 327, 330) establishes these
encrypted communication tunnels (348, 351) through allowed ports on
the firewalls (312, 315, 318). In FIG. 4, the connection modules
(324, 327, 330) establish one encrypted tunnel for management (351)
and another encrypted tunnel for data (348). The Platform 20 may
support this concept in a plurality of ways. For instance, the
platform 20 may have the capability to deploy what is commonly
referred to as a VPN Overlay network. This network creates secure
communication channels between two endpoints. In this instance, the
network is setup by deploying `connection modules` into each of the
different environments. The connection modules create secure
connections between each other. Now when guest machines are
created, they are configured to VPN into their appropriate
connection module. From that point on all traffic is tunneled
through these secure endpoints and traffic can be routed across
network segments (i.e. in and between cloud providers and on
premise). In another instance, a connection broker may rely on
creating IPSec tunnels between individual cloud providers and an
on-premise environment. This allows for traffic to traverse from
one cloud environment to another via your own internal
networks.
[0089] Further, the solution may be configured to combine a set of
firewall configurations to enable a security zone model.
Specifically as a new virtual machine is brought online the system
can reach out to all the relevant firewalls and set up the
appropriate communication. This can mean that the system will
configure a host based firewall on the VM, a hypervisor firewall
the VM is running in, physical firewall devices, and other
firewalls such as the host or hypervisor firewalls running on any
of the machines in the communication channel. This could mean that
starting a VM will result in hundreds of firewall changes across
the spectrum of all firewall devices and services that might be in
the communication path.
[0090] In embodiments, the platform 20 may provide for end-to-end
security across internal and external clouds, such as including
secure data in transit from the platform to external clouds, secure
access for users, secure encryption keys, secure logs for auditing,
secure instances from breaches, secure data in storage, and the
like. The platform may provide for comprehensive security
capabilities designed for agile IT operating models, such as for
network security, instance security, data security, access
security, and the like. For instance, network security may include
an encrypted overlay network across multiple clouds and enterprise
data centers, firewall integration with support for multicast,
static IP management, point-to-point routing, and the like.
Instance security may include images with pluggable host-based
intrusion detection systems and virus scanning, and the like. Data
security may include images that utilize configurable encrypted
block storage as well as SDKs for non-block storage requirements,
and the like. In embodiments, access security may include federated
identity management and granular role-based access control to
instances and stores. For example, there may be need to store
credentials in a third-party encrypted key-store. The platform 20
may allow for storing of all credentials in its own encrypted
key-store or the ability to store in third-party FIPS compliant
key-store for added security and compliance.
[0091] In embodiments, the present invention may provide for a
secure federation of internal and external cloud providers to
operate as a trusted extension of an enterprise, establishing
security policy and governance earlier in the lifecycle, combined
with automated policy enforcement, to provide a more secure
computing environment than previously available. Comprehensive
security may include host intrusion detection systems and
anti-virus protection, virtual firewalls, encryption of persistent
data, secure connectivity, federated identity management, and the
like. Network isolation may be provided to include a redundant
customer-controlled encrypted overlay network service that provides
security in a cloud across multiple clouds and between enterprise
data centers and commercial clouds; support multicast, static IP
management, point-to-point routing, firewall integration; and the
like. Instance isolation may be proved through stacks including
active host based intrusion detection and prevention packages;
pluggable virus scanning integrated into each stack, and the like.
Data isolation may be provided, such as including a configurable
encrypted block storage system as well as SDKs for non-block
storage requirements; backups of block storage devices inheriting
encryption; configurations for encryption of data to be transferred
or stored in non-block storage, a cloud manager providing granular
role-based access control to instances and stores; certificate and
key-pair access control of instance log-in, such as connections
only over strong-encryption SSL; and the like. In an embodiment, an
overlay network may extend the client's network into the cloud
provider, such as through bridges to corporate network (e.g. like
VPN); enhanced failover, load balancing, and peering; support
extension of corporate IP assignments (e.g. both DHCP and static);
support for point-to-point connections (e.g. servers that can talk
directly to each other without having to go back to corporate data
highway; ability to bridge multiple clouds; support for multicast;
deployment of nodes in both the external cloud provider and the
corporate data high; and the like.
[0092] Each of the security capabilities described herein may be
provided for a particular platform or infrastructure network, as
applicable, or may be applied across a security zone, as noted
above, such that the security zone, which may reside across
multiple clouds or networks, is maintained as a defined layer of
security for all elements with the zone. Thus, security policies
applicable to the zone may, by being associated with all workloads
in zone in accordance with the metamodel and policy framework
described throughout this disclosure, be enforced to ensure that
all such workloads are deployed, executed and consumed in a manner
consistent with the current security policies for the zone. The
boundaries of each security zone and policies can be rapidly and
conveniently updated, such as in the manager module 26, with
assurance that all workloads within the zone will be provided with
updated policies, as applicable, and that they will be handled
consistent with such policies. As noted above, multiple security
zones may be defined at differing levels of abstraction, such as
geographic, business unit, user type, physical network, cloud,
cloud type, or the like. Workloads in each zone will be required to
satisfy the security policies of the zone, such that if a workload
is deployed within overlapping zones, it will be subject to all
policies for all such zones. For example, a transactional workload
might have a security policy defining anti-virus requirements based
on its presence in a security zone defined by the business unit
that handles that transaction, but it might also be subject to data
encryption requirements defined for a security zone defined by the
legal department for all business units of an enterprise. The
platform 20 may include the capability to view, manage, and edit
security policies for security zones, including to highlight and
resolve any potential conflicts among policies in the case of
overlapping zones that apply to a workload. The ability in the
platform 20 to plan, design, rapidly deploy, and manage workloads
and related policies that comply with varying and overlapping
security zones allows efficient satisfaction of constantly changing
technical requirements (e.g., based on the latest anti-virus,
firewall, and similar capabilities for a particular type of cloud
or other infrastructure resource), shifting regulatory requirements
(such as satisfying legal requirements for security of private user
data), and shifting business requirements (such as providing
security features that satisfy customer preferences as to security
and convenience of use). Among other capabilities, the definition
of security policies in the platform 20 at a level of abstraction
that is independent of the infrastructure and platform elements on
which a workload is deployed allows an enterprise to establish
security zones that are vendor independent. A single security zone
can have a defined policy, such as to satisfy a legal requirement,
that is associated with a workload, and that is applied within a
security zone that contains firewalls, routers, storage systems,
and other elements that come from disparate vendors. The platform
20 automatically parses the policy and metamodel data associated
with the workload and ensures that the infrastructure elements,
regardless of type, are provisioned, updated and operated in
accordance with the policy. This capability allows the enterprise
to avoid a great deal of effort, often unsuccessful due to the time
required and the rapidly shifting requirements, that has previously
been spent analyzing, discussing, and updating security policies,
then configuring a host of disparate devices in an effort to comply
with the changing policies.
[0093] In some embodiments, the method further comprises: deploying
an application, where the application is associated with one or
more computer workloads; and where each application and/or computer
workload is assigned a security zone; and tagging each application
or computer workload based on its security zone such that firewall
rules to permit the application to perform the computer workload
are automatically and simultaneously applied to multiple firewalls
within and outside the security zone assigned to the application.
In some embodiments, the application may have complex security
policies integrated within it during the development process of the
application. Each application or computer workload may be tagged to
operate in a specific security zone and communicate across security
zones and each security zone may have a defined set of firewalls
associated with it. In some embodiments the firewalls may be
virtual firewalls or physical firewalls. In some embodiments the
firewalls may be provided by multiple vendors such as Cisco,
Juniper, and the like. In some embodiments the firewalls may be
cloud-based firewalls provided by vendors such as Amazon, VMWare,
and the like. For example, a database application that is tagged to
operate in a highly secured security zone may require connectivity
through a built-in firewall on the database server, a firewall
upstream of the server between the highly secured security zone and
a less secure corporate network security zone, and a firewall
between the less secure corporate network security zone and a
security zone that connects to the public Internet. An adaptor
automatically determines the IP addresses assigned to each of the
firewalls required to permit the application to perform the
computer workload; and simultaneously on each firewall establishes
rules required by the application, without restarting the system in
which the firewall(s) operate. In other embodiments, the method
further comprises removing the firewall rules when the application
or computer workload is removed or stopped.
[0094] As noted before, connection modules such as those
illustrated may be utilized when a secure connection is not readily
available between a cloud-computing platform of an embodiment and a
cloud-computing environment, between the cloud-computing platform
of the embodiment and the client network, or between the
cloud-computing environment and client the client network.
[0095] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example use of an
identity module in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention. In FIG. 5, enterprise network 406 is illustrated
comprising identity module 29 in accordance with an embodiment, and
identity store 415. Illustrated opposite the enterprise network is
a cloud provider network 403 that is providing commercial cloud 409
(e.g., cloud-computing resource for a cloud-computing service) to
enterprise network 406.
[0096] Identity module 29 facilitates identity provisioning and
de-provisioning 418 (e.g., sign-on and sign-off) of a user to a
service provided on a public (e.g., commercial) or private cloud.
In some embodiments, identity module 29 performs this service by
authenticating the user using the client's authentication system
(i.e., identity store 415). For example, identity module 29 may
authenticate a user using a locally deployed service, such as
Netegrity.RTM., Oracle OAM.RTM., Microsoft.RTM. Active Directory,
RSA.RTM. Cleartrust, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP),
and Kerberos. For instance, in one use case the platform 20 could
be configured to use Active Directory (AD) as its user store. When
a user wishes to console or desktop into a Virtual Machine that
exists within a cloud environment, they may be prompted for
credentials. The user supplies their credentials and the platform
authenticates against AD. If there is a match, the platform 20 may
log into the VM as Admin and create a new local account for the
user based on the AD credentials. The user can now login to the VM.
Another use case may deal with Software as a Service Integration,
where a store, as described herein, may include the concept of
purchasing user seats with cloud-based services, such as the
commercially available service Salesforce. When a user, backed by
the user's AD identity, orders a Salesforce user seat, the platform
may provision an account for the user within Salesforce. When the
employee is terminated via AD, or removes the user seat from the
portfolio of an enterprise, the platform may de-provision the
useraccount within Salesforce. Users may also have the option to
`consume` Salesforce, which redirects the user to Salesforce and
performs SSO. In another example, a user logs into the platform to
access a Salesforce service, where first the user is authenticated
(e.g. via AD, Netegirty), then based on his identity the platform
20 checks to see if the user has an account in Salesforce. If not,
the system may create one in Salesforce by calling the Salesforce
account management APIS. The system may also look up addition
information about this user by doing database queries or other
types of lookups against internal systems. If a user tries to
access the service and the system detects the user should no longer
have access (e.g. because the user has been terminated for
example), then the platform 20 will initiate a process to delete
the account and clean up all relevant data. This detection and
cleanup process could also be initiated by a periodic job that gets
run automatically by the platform 20 according to a schedule, by
detection of events (such as changes made to AD), and the like.
[0097] In some embodiments, once a user is successfully
authenticated using identity store 415, identity module 29
redirects that user's credentials to the cloud-computing service
for authentication. Once the cloud-computing service successfully
authenticates the user based on the forwarded user credentials, the
user is redirected to the logged in cloud-computing service. It
should be noted that identity capabilities may be applied to a
cloud-computing resource as well as to a user, such that a specific
cloud-computing resource may be authorized (based on its identity)
to be used in connection with execution of a computer workload.
[0098] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example use of a monitor
module in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated, governor module 103, monitor module 112 and private
internal clouds 530 reside on enterprise network 503. Commercial
clouds 512 and 515 are providing cloud-computing resources to the
enterprise network 503. Monitor module 112 is responsible for
monitoring the status and utilization of commercial clouds 512 and
515, and deploy a monitor collector 506 and 509 to the commercial
clouds 512 and 515 to collect and transmit such information to
monitor module 112. The collectors may provide a plurality of
functions. For instance, the first thing a collector may do is
collect information coming from the guests. The collectors may also
persist this data and respond to queries about the data from the
main Monitor Module. Being able to deploy these remote monitors
provides many benefits, such as lowering bandwidth costs due to all
of this data not having to be sent across WAN links (e.g., the data
stays on the collectors, and is only retrieved when a specific
query needs it), increasing scalability where each collector node
can handle a large number of guests and as the number of guests
increases additional collectors may be deployed to handle the load,
and the like. In another instance, a deployed VM (e.g. to a VM of
an Amazon cloud) may periodically report back its status as well as
a set of performance metrics it was seeing. Based on this, the
platform could detect if there was an outage at that VM. It could
detect this as soon as a machine reported, or if a machine fails to
make a schedule report. The monitoring system may be able to
monitor events above and at the hypervisor. That is, the monitoring
system may receive data not only from VMs, but that it may also be
extended to call the low level APIs and metric systems of the
hypervisors and cloud computing services and aggregate data from
both locations to provide a holistic picture of the performance and
status of the system.
[0099] Aggregator 518 receives the information from individual
monitor collectors (506, 509) and monitor collectors (not shown)
deployed to private internal cloud 530, and records the (received)
monitor information for governance purpose, provisioning purposes,
or administrative purposes (e.g., event reporting). Monitor module
112 uses translator 521 to interpret the monitor information from
the commercial clouds (512, 515) and relays (524) the interpreted
monitor information to event console 527. Aggregator 518 also
forwards monitor information to governor module 103 to enable the
module to govern the operations of cloud-computing resources and
cloud-computing services being managed by a cloud-computing
platform in accordance with an embodiment. The monitor and
collector modules may all reside inside the Enterprise Network 503
as virtual appliances running within the internal virtualized
Enterprise Network 503 compute environment.
[0100] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating example governor module 103
in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Governor
module 103 applies constraints, conditions, non-security policies,
and security policies on cloud-computing resources and
cloud-computing services being managed by a cloud-computing
platform in accordance with an embodiment. In the illustrated
embodiment, governor module 103 governs the cloud-computing
resources and services by using monitoring information (from
cloud-computing resources) provided by monitor module 112, and then
issuing management actions (e.g. VPC actions) to cloud-computing
resources based on monitoring information and the constraints,
conditions, and policies the governor is applying to the
cloud-computing resources.
[0101] In order to apply the constraints, conditions, and policies,
governor module 103 uses analytics engine 609 to analyze monitoring
information from monitor module 112 and, then, uses the analysis
information to apply the constraints, conditions, and policies
through policy engine 603. Based on the application of the
constraints, conditions, and policies, policy engine 603 instructs
action engine 606 to issue management actions to provisioning
module 106 (e.g., issue management actions to increase or decrease
the number of cloud-computing resources based on CPU utilization of
the existing resources). For instance, when a new threshold policy
gets created the threshold may be pushed down into the analytics
engine. The analytics may be continuously evaluating the flow
coming in from the monitor modules and evaluating the flow against
its threshold definitions. When a threshold is violated an event
may be created and sent to the policy engine. The policy engine may
then determine which action to take and pass the instruction off to
the action engine. In the case of auto-scaling the action engine
may pass a provisioning or de-provisioning request to the
provisioning module.
[0102] In embodiments, the flow amongst the monitor and
provisioning modules and the analytics and policy engines may be as
follows. In a step 1, the Monitor Agent may collect data in a
variety of ways including polling the system for status, or
alternatively it may receive information sent to it by some even or
periodic sending of data by the application or service being
monitoring. Step 2, the Monitor Agent rolls up the data, where the
roll up may include aggregating and summing data, and it may also
include filtering data out that is not required or within
thresholds that don't need to be reported on. The data may be
collected so it may be sent in bulk efficiently rather than
parceled out and causing many interrupts. Step 3, the Monitor Agent
may transmit data to the Analytics Engine. The analytics engine may
then parse the data and again may perform aggregations, summation,
filtering, or other correlation. Step 4, the analytics engine may
then evaluate data against a set of configured thresholds that are
configured by the policy engine. If a threshold is found to have
been exceeded, then the event system may kick in and take action
based on the configured policy. Step 5 is executing the configured
policy action, which could include notification of some set of
individuals or other system by phone, email, pager, txt message,
event bus, programmed call out, shell script, or other configured
mechanism.
[0103] In the illustrated embodiment, governor module 103 utilizes
instance placement 627 to make decisions on where to place an
instance of a cloud-computing resource. For example, when an image
is built for a cloud-computing service using a builder module, it
can be tagged (e.g., using a metamodel) to prevent deployment to
certain zones (e.g., security zone) as part of a security policy,
cost control policy, performance or availability management policy.
Instance placement 627 may cause the governor module 103 to place
an instance of a cloud-computing resource based on availability of
client-computing resources, or (real-time) performance of
particular clouds. Virtual Machine (VM) lifecycle management 624
may be utilized by governor module 103 to determine and enforce
expiration of virtual machines Auto-scale 621 may be utilized by
governor module 103 to scale computer workloads being performed on
one or more a cloud-computing resources. Auto-scale 621 can add or
remove instances of cloud-computing resources to increase or
decrease the performance of computer workloads based on monitored
resource consumption, a schedule, or a set of rules. Availability
& disaster recovery 618 may be utilized when operation of a
cloud-computing resource has failed and the failed cloud-computing
resource must be recovered according to the constraints,
conditions, or policies governed by governor module 103.
[0104] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 700 in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Method 700
begins at operation 703 by providing a user a virtual private cloud
(VPC) configured to utilize a cloud-computing resource from the
plurality of cloud-computing resources to perform a computer
workload. At operation 706, method 700 then receives a request to
perform the computer workload within the virtual private cloud. For
example, in some embodiments, the computer workload may be an
application, a server, a platform (e.g., LAMP server), or an
infrastructure element (e.g., load-balancing unit). In another
example, receiving the request to perform the computer workload
comprises: receiving an application to be migrated to
cloud-computing environment for execution; and identifying the
computer workload as necessary for executing the application. In
yet another example, method 700 receives a computing workflow to be
performed in the cloud-computing environment; and then identifies a
computer workload to perform the computing workflow.
[0105] Then, at operation 709, method 700 identifies a
cloud-computing resource to perform the computer workload. For
example, identifying the cloud-computing resource may be based on a
workload score determined by a scoring logic. For instance, the
scoring logic may be based on a business attribute of the computer
workload (e.g., whether it is mission-critical, required to satisfy
a legal obligation, required for an SLA, or the like), a technical
attribute of the computer workload (e.g., storage required,
bandwidth required, processing speed required, or the like), an
operational attribute of the computer workload (time of day for
availability, seasonality, or the like), or any combination thereof
In some embodiments, the scoring logic may further be editable or
grouped into collections of logic to provide scoring plans for
examining multiple types of computer workloads different ways
(e.g., a grid computing scoring plan scoring workloads for an
application destined to a cloud-computing service hosting grid
workloads). In other embodiments, the scoring logic may be editable
to allow enterprises to store business, technical, and operational
attributes of a computing workload, using enterprise-specific
nomenclature or to allow for an enterprise to adjust attributes to
a preferred score, consistent with business, technical, or
operational metrics. In other embodiments, the scoring algorithm
could be configurable, to weight the different attributes of the
scoring algorithm based on business, technical, and operational
metrics. The scoring algorithms are configurable in multiple ways
and the scores are created by a set of rules. The rules may be
cloud readiness rules, cloud value rules, or the like. The rule
logic may be expressed as javascript, java, or the like. The rules
make it possible to call any programming language system,
configuration management data system, or the like. In embodiments,
the information retrieved by the rules can be added to the
metamodel for the specified information technology resource. Rules
are evaluated according to a plan. A plan is a set of rules the
weighting value assigned to each rule. For example, when a rule is
a business criticality rule based on a set of metrics, and a plan
is a "business contingency" plan, where the goal is to move
infrastructure into a cloud that has disaster recovery and high
availability built into it, the a system with the highest business
criticality weight, may be moved first. When an item has been
evaluated, the weighting values assigned to that item will be added
to the metamodel associated with that item. Items could be systems,
servers, databases, applications, workloads, and the like. Filters
are used to decide where items should be placed. The filter first
identifies the places where an item can be placed and then places
the item in the place that is determined to be the best fit for the
item. If data assigned to score an item is complete, it will be
marked as scored and appear in relevant reports. If data assigned
to score an item is incomplete, the items will be identified as
requiring remediation. Different data attributes can be tagged as
requiring different classes of individuals to complete the required
information and preventing other classes of individuals from doing
the same. Classes of individuals could be business users, technical
users, and the like.
[0106] In embodiments, the present invention may provide for the
categorization of workflows into workloads. Each computing workflow
can be separated into a set of distinct workloads, each workload
having requirements such as input, storage, processing, output, and
the like. Each computing workload may have policy and metadata
information stored by the system that includes what computing
workload it is, how the computing workload is used, how quickly the
computing workload needs to be performed, and the like. Each
computing workload is instantiated through a customizable workflow.
For example, a computing workload may require approval by a
business unit, development team, quality assurance team, and an
operations team. The workflow in this example would then be
instantiated to solicit approval of requirements defined by each
workload from each team.
[0107] At operation 712, method 700 provisions the cloud-computing
resource from the plurality of cloud-computing resources for the
virtual private cloud (VPC). For example, method 700 may provision
by locating an unreserved cloud-computing resource within the
plurality of cloud-computing resources; and reserving for the
virtual private cloud the unreserved cloud-computing resource.
[0108] Method 700 deploys the cloud-computing resource within the
virtual private cloud at operation 715. Where the cloud-computing
resource is a virtual computing resource, the virtual computing
resource may be deployed under control of a virtual machine
manager. In other embodiments, method 700 may deploy the
cloud-computing resource according to a condition for the computer
workload, where the condition determines if or when the
cloud-computing resource can be deployed within the virtual private
cloud to perform the computer workload. For example, the condition
may require that the computer workload for backup servers only
operate during evening periods. To optimize performance of a
computer workload, some embodiments may deploy a pre-determined set
of cloud-computing resources to optimize the computer workloads'
performance.
[0109] Once the cloud-computing resource is deployed to the virtual
private cloud, method 700 uses the cloud-computing resource to
perform the computer workload at operation 718. Then, at operation
721, method 700 applies a policy or constraint on the
cloud-computing resource. For example, where a policy is associated
with a computer workload, method 700 may govern operation of the
cloud-computing resource performing the computer workload in
accordance with the policy.
[0110] FIGS. 9A-9D are screenshots of an example user interface in
accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 9A
depicts a screenshot of a user interface to a planner module, which
can plan a cloud-computing service comprising one or more
cloud-computing resources. In the screenshot shown, a corporate
blog application and a logistics application are shown being
planned for creation. FIG. 9B depicts a screenshot of a user
interface to a builder module, which can build a cloud-computing
service comprising one or more cloud-computing resources. The
illustrated screenshot shows a stack being built on a Linux base
stack. FIG. 9C depicts a screenshot of a user interface to a
consumption module, which can be utilized by a user to subscribe to
and use a cloud-computing service comprising one or more
cloud-computing resources. The screenshot for the consumption
module user interface allows a user to subscribe to and use such
instances as Linux, Windows.RTM. 2003 IIS server, and Flatpress
Blog Engine, and more FIG. 9D depicts a screenshot of a user
interface to a manager module, which can be utilized by a user to
manage cloud-computing service and its one or more cloud-computing
resources. The screenshot shows the user interface of the manager
module allowing a user to issue commands to cloud-computing
services, such as stopping, running scripts, creating storage
volumes, and attaching storage volumes to the cloud-computing
services. The interface may be a web page, command line,
development tool, and the like, such as eclipse or visual studio,
and apps such as iphone/ipad applications. In embodiments, an API
may be called that will allow a user to make changes and consume
services in a way that is consistent with the company policy. For
instance, an API may be implemented as a REST and SOAP interface,
which are standard formats for services that may be exposed over
different protocols in a standard way.
[0111] Project team members may have substantially different
functional roles, and as-such, each user interface module may be
designed to support one or more of the functional roles encountered
in the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The user interface
Modules represented in FIGS. 9A-9D may be accessed and used by
project team members and presented for the functions those team
members may have in the systems development life cycle of the
project for which the cloud-computing services are being designed,
built, provisioned, and consumed. As well, the interface to each
module may be designed to best service the type of function that
will be performed as part of the SDLC phase being addressed. The
user interface components of each module may access the Policy
Engine in order to represent the controls, access, and assets
available to the functionally specific users in order to preserve
the integrity, security and compliance of the cloud-computing
services each aspect of the SDLC phase.
[0112] The present invention may provide a comprehensive
enterprise-grade facility based on federation of IaaS, PaaS, SaaS,
and the like, delivered by a plurality of internal and external
cloud providers enabling advantages including the ability to
intelligently govern, secure, and manage a user's critical
applications for cloud environments; automate planning, building,
sharing, and running lifecycle for optimal speed and efficiency,
providing policy driven, end-to-end identity management across the
plurality of cloud environments; deliver comprehensive cost,
performance, and consumption visibility; integrate with a client's
existing IT infrastructure including asset management,
authentication and authorization, audit and governance, performance
monitoring, and chargeback billing systems; and the like. In other
embodiments, the present invention may provide for a layer that
allows the input of chargeback billing data to be imported from
reporting tools or integrated monitoring systems and the ability to
"over recover" or "under recover" charges from the service
provider's specified rates, providing a comprehensive audit trail.
For example, if an enterprise is providing its internal users
value-added services based on the Amazon EC2 service, the
enterprise can add its own costs to the rate charged by Amazon, to
recover the costs the enterprise incurs when providing the service
to the internal users.
[0113] Referring to FIG. 10, an alternate module structure is
depicted for the platform 20 for providing capabilities to specific
roles across the lifecycle, including a planner module 1002 (which
may have any of the capabilities described for the planner module
23), a designer module 1004 (which may have any of the capabilities
of the design module 29), a centerpoint module 1008, a manager
module 1010 (which may have any of the capabilities of the manager
module 26), and an access module 1012, which may collectively
provide the platform with management, security, policy, governance,
and the like functionality as described herein. The platform 20, as
in the example depicted in FIG. 1 and detailed herein, is able to
provide virtual private cloud facilities to users through the cloud
provider environment, including external private clouds 1014 (e.g.
external companies, such as Savvis, with dedicated connectivity and
instances), internal private clouds 1018 (e.g. current data centers
that support virtualization and cloud), secure public clouds 1020
(e.g. multi-tenant architectures, such as Amazon), PaaS providers
1022, SaaS providers 1024, and the like. The functions depicted in
FIG. 1 of the Cloud-Computing Platform 20 map directly to the
modules depicted in FIG. 10, Platform 20 as follows; Planner Module
23 maps directly to the Planner Module 1002, the Builder Module 29
maps directly to the Designer Module 1004, the Consumption Module
32 maps directly to the CenterPoint Module 1008, and the Manager
Module 26 maps directly to the Manager Module 1010. The Repository
Module 30 of FIG. 1 is encompassed in the platform database and
functions provided and depicted as Governance, Policy, Security and
Management for the Platform 20. The Access Module 1012 provides a
single sign-on function for the platform 20 allowing connectivity
to enterprise identity systems such as LDAP/AD, which is shown in
FIG. 5 and maps to the Identity Module 29. The planner module 1002
may help analysts and architects streamline application migration
activities by analyzing and scoring application workloads to
evaluate their suitability, generate recommendations right-sizing
and right-placement across multiple internal as well as external
service provider options. The planner module 1002 may also allow
analysts and architects the ability to construct new rules and
rule-sets for evaluating new and different types of application
workloads in evaluating cloud readiness, cloud value, and right
placement recommendations. The designer module 1004 may provide
technical users with a graphical workbench to rapidly assemble
policy-compliant stacks, workloads, and applications for any number
of deployment environments. It may include a library of pre-built,
reusable assets with the ability to create and publish new ones.
The centerpoint module may facilitate the sharing and collaboration
of cloud assets with fine-grain access controls, search
capabilities, automated notifications, rating and commenting of
assets, and access to detailed consumption reports. The manager
module 1010 may provide a unified interface to streamline
deployment and runtime management for any number of cloud
providers, including monitoring of running instances and detailed
performance and costing information. The access manager 1012 may
deliver federated identity management to the full range of highly
dynamic services managed (e.g. including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS
providers) along with the platform 20. It may also integrate with
and support a plurality of protocols, such as LDAP, Active
Directory, X.500, and the like. In each case the modules
represented may reside on a common Policy Engine that ensures the
integrity and security of the system by enforcing policy and access
rights for the users accessing each module are only accessing those
assets and functions that are allowed for their functional
role.
[0114] The platform 20 may exist in an IT ecosystem and utilize a
plurality of both cloud-based and dedicated resources to integrate
with the platform, where these integration points may take place
both within an enterprise's existing IT infrastructure, and also
extend out to a plurality of external providers and services, such
as in applying to both pre-production and production cloud
environments. FIG. 11 provides an example illustration of the IT
ecosystem as a plurality of these both dedicated and cloud-based
resources, including security 1102 (e.g. proxy integration, host
firewalls, hypervisor-based firewalls, host intrusion detection,
external key store, VLAN management, VPN, file system encryption),
IaaS 1104, external clouds 1108 (e.g. GoGrid, Amazon, Terremark,
Fujitsu, Savvis, vCloud Director based Cloud offerings (Dell and
others), Joyant, vCloud Express offerings), storage 1110 (e.g. NFS,
VMFS, SAN, Amazon S3, EMC, Oracle, Netapp), internal clouds 1112
(e.g. vSphere, Cloud.com, Eucalyptus, OpenStack, HyperV, Xen, KVM),
PaaS 1114 (e.g. Hadoop, Azure, EnterPaaS, Vmware CloudFoundry, IBM
WebSpheree, Oracle WebLogic), orchestration 1118 (e.g. Autoscaling,
Scripting framework, File management), SaaS 1120 (e.g.
Salesforce.com, Intuit, Google Apps), desktop as-a-service 1122
(e.g. Citrix, VMware, Cicero, Framehawk), accounting and chargeback
1124 (e.g. Ariba, SAP), continuous integration 1128 (e.g.
Collabnet, Apache Maven, Subversion, Jenkins CI), disaster recovery
1130 (e.g. Double Take), network services 1132 (e.g. DNS, DHCP,
Load Balancer, NTP), governance 1134 (e.g. Axway, SOA Software),
performance monitoring 1138 (e.g. Ganglia, Collectd), identity
management 1140 (e.g. Oracle OAM, Netegrity, LDAP Kerberos SAML,
RSA ClearTrust, Active Directory), and the like.
[0115] Referring to FIG. 12, the platform 20 may deliver unified
governance for IaaS, PaaS, and DaaS workloads across a federation
of internal and external cloud providers 1202, 1204, 1208, to
leverage scheduling and placement policies to optimize the
placement and type of workloads that are being run on a temporal or
scheduled basis. As an example, during the day, scheduling policies
may devote much of the cloud compute capacity to running
virtualized desktops, however, as the evening approaches and
workers go home, the demand for DaaS drops, and the cloud compute
capacity can be utilized for compute intensive applications such as
financial trade simulation models running on grid-compute nodes.
This policy approach also allows cloud-compute services to be
shifted to lower cost Cloud Provider environments. As such, the
inherent policies provided by the platform 20 lower costs by
maximizing the utility of the cloud infrastructure while also
having the same effect of lowering costs by aligning workload
placement to provider environments best fit to run those types of
workloads.
[0116] In embodiments, policy-driven governance may be integral to
the platform 20 and to the end-to-end lifecycle to create and
enforce policies in a closed-loop governance lifecycle, such as
extensible policy framework to support unique needs, customizable
approval workflow, integration with corporate audit and governance
systems, establishing a foundation for audits and policy reviews,
and the like. Referring again to FIG. 10, the planner module 1002
may contribute to the creation of design-time policies, such as
access rights, right-placement parameters, regulatory restrictions,
and the like. The designer module 1004 may contribute to the
creation of run-time policies, such as auto-scaling parameters,
maximum instances allowed, and the like. The centerpoint module
1008 may enforce access policies, ensuring that the right users are
accessing the right assets and deploying those assets in the right
places, and the like. The manager module 1010 may enforce run and
design-time policies, such as allowing cloud-compute services to
scale up or down in response to load or other conditions in the
environment as well as prevent users from consuming arbitrary
amounts of compute resources, and the like. The access module 1012
may enforce access policies across internal and external service
providers, and the like. In this way, policy creation is an
integrated process across the platform.
[0117] In embodiments, the present invention may provide many
advantages, including a unified interface to deploy and monitor
workloads across internal and external service providers; rapid
creation of new workloads and re-architect existing ones for cloud
portability and on-demand provisioning; automated right-sizing,
right-placement, and user access decisions via enforceable
policies; deployable and dynamically configurable complex
application topologies in real-time; meter usage with integrated
chargeback and billing; real-time monitoring and support for
auto-scaling and bursting across multiple clouds; federated
identity management across internal and external providers;
pre-built library of re-usable stacks to accelerate assembly and
deployment; incorporated end-to-end security that spans network,
access rights, instances, and data; complete visibility and
transparency via role-based reports, policy reviews, and audit
trails; creation and enforcement of policies in a closed loop
governance and management lifecycle; score and prioritization of
workloads for migration; consolidated monitoring, reporting and
metering including integrated chargeback/billing; platform
deployment flexibility to locate securely on premises or as a SaaS
offering; and the like.
[0118] Automated governance through the present invention may
enable new capacity optimization strategies to maximize the
utilization of hardware and server resources through the dynamic
placement of different sized workloads, where the platform may
manage placement of workloads from large (e.g. production
applications, load test environments) to small (e.g. virtual
desktops), perform monitoring and manage application auto-scaling,
roll-overs seamlessly to external cloud providers when internal
capacity limits are reached, and the like. Use of the platform
across a plurality of cloud workloads, may allow the user to create
new capacity optimization strategies to make the most from a user's
internal resources, such as though dynamic placement of different
sized workloads, and combining these workloads to achieve high
capacity and/or utilization of a given computing facility. To
enable this, the platform may perform application monitoring,
workload placement, workload scheduling as well as workload and
application auto-scaling, and the like, as appropriate.
[0119] In embodiments, the present invention may provide for a
self-service enterprise application store, which provides access to
a global, cross-platform, software distribution network for
multiple service offerings, accessible through any web browser such
as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and
the like. In embodiments such an enterprise application store can
be used to drive virtual desktop installations, provision
enterprise server systems, connect to SaaS solutions, and integrate
with custom, third-party software and services and the like. In
embodiments such an enterprise application store can provide a full
range of services to manage and monitor the provisioning of
services. The services could be a wide range of service required by
enterprises, such as software publishing and ordering, order
approval, license management, chargeback and invoicing, integration
with a global marketplace, and the like. The service offerings
could be infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service
(PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS) offerings, and the like.
In further embodiments, the service offerings could be internal
services, open source services, third party services, and the like.
In other further embodiments, the present invention may provide for
a single sign-on capability for each of the service offerings.
[0120] The application store software publishing capability can
include tools to package and publish software and services to the
application store, such as to allow a customer of services from the
application store to develop its own software and publish its own
service, which in turn can be made available through the
application store. For example, a service builder could obtain from
the enterprise application store a set of services that provide
storage capability and that retrieve a given set of input data,
such as from various sources. The service builder can then build
its own service by adding a processing service that processes the
inputs into outputs that are stored in the data storage and made
available for other users who wish to have those outputs, such as
for their own services. The new service can be stored in the
enterprise application store for further use by others. A user of
the enterprise application store may organize software services
into manageable "catalogs" to control user access and experience,
apply rich security, usage, and billing policies to entire
catalogs, catalogs of catalogs, individual offerings, configure
workflows for publishing approvals, and the like.
[0121] The application store software ordering capability can
include an intuitive interface for browsing and purchasing
published software and services, allow a user to purchase software
and services for itself or on behalf of an entire group of users,
schedule deployments upon purchase or for a date in the future, and
the like. In other embodiments, the software ordering capability
can include a customizable user interface, which allows a user to
build browsing and ordering interface widgets customized to the
needs of the user and then make those widgets available to the
user's users through the application store.
[0122] The software application store order approval capability can
include an integrated purchase approval system that follows a
flexible workflow that is consistent with industry standards and
best practices, a pluggable service model to allow for transparent
integration with third-party approval systems, and the like. In
other embodiments the order approval capability includes a highly
customizable workflow that can be built from individual approval
systems that can be chained-together in various and selectable
sequences. These various and selectable sequences can be varied by
catalog, catalog item, user, user group, and the like.
[0123] In embodiments, the ordering and approval capabilities may
be filtered or otherwise limited by the user who is placing the
order and/or the application on whose behalf the order is being
placed. Results made available to a user and/or an application may
be pre-filtered to only show those services that are available to
that user and/or application. The user can be categorized by its
role in the organization, or the like. The application can be
categorized by its role, function, assigned policies, and the
like.
[0124] The license management capability can include the creation
of detailed licensing polices for individual software modules and
services, a component model to allow for integration with a wide
range of vendor licensing servers, runtime license checking when
used with virtual machine instances managed by the present
invention, and the like.
[0125] The chargeback and invoicing capability can include an
integrated change management service with a configurable workflow,
an adapter model allowing for integration with existing financial
and asset management systems, flexible pricing policies to allow
for the establishment of one-time charges or variable, usage based
models, detailed organization modeling to allow for the
distribution of cost across multiple cost centers, a flexible API
that allows for the customization of the billing workflow, and the
like. For example, invoices could be posted directly to the
enterprise's enterprise resource planning (ERP) or payables system.
In other embodiments, the present invention provides for the
ability to report chargeback and invoicing information to both the
user of the service and the provider of the service from the
software application store.
[0126] The capability to be integrated with a global marketplace
can include publish and subscribe access to an open market of
verified software, an integrated and stringent approval process of
all submissions, access to a free catalog of packaged and
open-source solutions, the ability of a user to package and upload
its custom solutions for exposure to a global market, the ability
of a user to offer its software free or through a licensing/pricing
model with automated chargeback, defined by the user, and the
like.
[0127] In embodiments of the present invention, the software
application store supports the recursive publishing of
applications. The recursive publishing could include multiple
iterations of an application published by multiple users, groups of
users, enterprises, departments within enterprises, and the like.
For example, a first department of a first enterprise could publish
a first IaaS application back into the software application store,
a second department of the first enterprise could then publish a
PaaS application on top of the IaaS application published by the
first department, and a third department of the first enterprise
could purchase the PaaS built on top of the IaaS application and
the license fees paid by the third department would be split
between the first and second departments.
[0128] In embodiments of the present invention, the data may be
associated with the content available in the software application
store is and SKU, policy, SKU-Policy, catalog, and the like. An SKU
is the primary entity describing content available through the
software application store and is a pure virtual entity describing
a potentially addressable software component or interaction. An
interaction can be a module, service, or the like. An SKU can be
defined as a software module or a service binding. A software model
represents and offering comprised of one or more physical software
components, which can include source code, binaries, and the like,
and the software module encapsulates the information needed to
resolve binaries to locations on the shared filesystem, resolve
binary dependencies, locate and provision associated software
packages, and the like. A service binding models a
software-as-a-service (SaaS) type offering and encapsulates the
information needed to configure user-access to services,
authenticate, bind to services, and the like. A policy will be
applied as defined by standard policy types, resolved, and applied
by modules as described elsewhere in this disclosure. In other
embodiments, additional policy types and definitions, with possible
extensions to existing models, may be added to support the software
application store. An SKU-Policy is the collection of policies
associated with a given SKU and is an extensible set of required or
optional policies, which may be conditionally applied. A catalog is
a collection of SKU's, filtered through access control, which can
be applied at any level and made available to a group of users. In
further embodiments access control can be used to introduce further
groupings below the root level. A given catalog instance is a
rule-based expression of the root catalog. The root catalog is
defined as the base set of SKU data available to all subscribers.
All SKU's published in the root catalog are `inherited` by all
derived catalogs. For example, the basic catalog hierarchy can be
root catalog->customer catalog->user catalog.
[0129] FIG. 13 depicts an embodiment of a software application
store and marketplace interaction structure, such as with software
application store services, including policy management, object
models, process handlers, repository providers, filesystem services
and workflow services, interfacing with marketplace services, such
as with software application store workflow connectors, a shared
filesystem, a software application store repository, and the like.
The components could be a marketplace, shared filesystem,
filesystem client, server components, repository, user interface,
and the like. The marketplace is the central `public` repository
that hosts the components listed in the root catalog, consists of a
cluster of servers hosting a portion of the shared filesystem and a
subset of the software application workflow components to manage
publishing, approvals, and browsing. The marketplace may have its
own basic user interface consisting of a few simple web pages,
which provide access to the functionality of the software
application interface. The shared filesystem may be a clustered,
parallel filesystem housing all the physical components needed by
the software application store and its offerings. The filesystem
may be self-contained and may be used outside of the software
application store or the system of the present invention. For
example, marketplace catalog items can be hosted on the shared
filesystem. The software application store may offer service
components that simplify filesystem administration tasks and serve
to isolate other components from the physical filesystem
implementation. The filesystem client may be a client that accesses
the software application store shared filesystem namespace using
local filesystem semantics. For example, the namespace root may
appear to the user as a local mount point or network mapped drive.
In other embodiments, a number of client-side components may be
installed to provide access to the software application store
shared filesystem through the filesystem client. The present
invention requires at least one client package for each target
operating system and/or distribution. The filesystem client
components are distributed through standard packages of the present
invention that contain the scripts and attachment necessary to
establish connectivity to the software application store shared
filesystem through the filesystem client. The server components may
be the core applications of the software application store and
include the base object model, workflow processing components,
catalog and metamodel access providers, unique policy definitions,
and the like. The repository may be the collection of data
structures housing the software application store metamodel,
configuration, and catalog data, and the like; and are internal to
the software application store. The user interface may be the
collection of interface elements used to access software
application store functionality and is implemented as a completely
separate application that integrates with the main user interface
of the present invention, describe elsewhere in this disclosure. In
further embodiments, the software application store may make
available shareable widgets that are an extension of the software
application store user interface.
[0130] In other further embodiments, the software application store
includes the capabilities to display lists of applications,
application ratings, application reviews, other social features,
and the like.
[0131] The term tool can be used to refer to any apparatus
configured to perform a recited function. For example, tools can
include a collection of one or more modules and can also be
comprised of hardware, software or a combination thereof. Thus, for
example, a tool can be a collection of one or more software
modules, hardware modules, software/hardware modules or any
combination or permutation thereof. As another example, a tool can
be a computing device or other appliance on which software runs or
in which hardware is implemented.
[0132] As used herein, the term module might describe a given unit
of functionality that can be performed in accordance with one or
more embodiments of the present invention. As used herein, a module
might be implemented utilizing any form of hardware, software, or a
combination thereof. For example, one or more processors,
controllers, ASICs, PLAs, PALs, CPLDs, FPGAs, logical components,
software routines or other mechanisms might be implemented to make
up a module. In implementation, the various modules described
herein might be implemented as discrete modules or the functions
and features described can be shared in part or in total among one
or more modules. In other words, as would be apparent to one of
ordinary skill in the art after reading this description, the
various features and functionality described herein may be
implemented in any given application and can be implemented in one
or more separate or shared modules in various combinations and
permutations. Even though various features or elements of
functionality may be individually described or claimed as separate
modules, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that
these features and functionality can be shared among one or more
common software and hardware elements, and such description shall
not require or imply that separate hardware or software components
are used to implement such features or functionality.
[0133] Where components or modules of the invention are implemented
in whole or in part using software, in one embodiment, these
software elements can be implemented to operate with a computing or
processing module capable of carrying out the functionality
described with respect thereto. One such example computing module
is shown in FIG. 10. Various embodiments are described in terms of
this example-computing module 900. After reading this description,
it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art how
to implement the invention using other computing modules or
architectures.
[0134] Referring now to FIG. 10, computing module 900 may
represent, for example, computing or processing capabilities found
within desktop, laptop and notebook computers; hand-held computing
devices (PDA's, smart phones, cell phones, palmtops, etc.);
mainframes, supercomputers, workstations or servers; or any other
type of special-purpose or general-purpose computing devices as may
be desirable or appropriate for a given application or environment.
Computing module 900 might also represent computing capabilities
embedded within or otherwise available to a given device. For
example, a computing module might be found in other electronic
devices such as, for example, digital cameras, navigation systems,
cellular telephones, portable computing devices, modems, routers,
WAPs, terminals and other electronic devices that might include
some form of processing capability.
[0135] Computing module 900 might include, for example, one or more
processors, controllers, control modules, or other processing
devices, such as a processor 904. Processor 904 might be
implemented using a general-purpose or special-purpose processing
engine such as, for example, a microprocessor, controller, or other
control logic. In the illustrated example, processor 904 is
connected to a bus 902, although any communication medium can be
used to facilitate interaction with other components of computing
module 900 or to communicate externally.
[0136] Computing module 900 might also include one or more memory
modules, simply referred to herein as main memory 908. For example,
preferably random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic memory,
might be used for storing information and instructions to be
executed by processor 904. Main memory 908 might also be used for
storing temporary variables or other intermediate information
during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 904.
Computing module 900 might likewise include a read only memory
("ROM") or other static storage device coupled to bus 902 for
storing static information and instructions for processor 904.
[0137] The computing module 900 might also include one or more
various forms of information storage mechanism 910, which might
include, for example, a media drive 912 and a storage unit
interface 920. The media drive 912 might include a drive or other
mechanism to support fixed or removable storage media 914. For
example, a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape
drive, an optical disk drive, a CD or DVD drive (R or RW), or other
removable or fixed media drive might be provided. Accordingly,
storage media 914 might include, for example, a hard disk, a floppy
disk, magnetic tape, cartridge, optical disk, a CD or DVD, or other
fixed or removable medium that is read by, written to or accessed
by media drive 912. As these examples illustrate, the storage media
914 can include a computer usable storage medium having stored
therein computer software or data.
[0138] In alternative embodiments, information storage mechanism
910 might include other similar instrumentalities for allowing
computer programs or other instructions or data to be loaded into
computing module 900. Such instrumentalities might include, for
example, a fixed or removable storage unit 922 and an interface
920. Examples of such storage units 922 and interfaces 920 can
include a program cartridge and cartridge interface, a removable
memory (for example, a flash memory or other removable memory
module) and memory slot, a PCMCIA slot and card, and other fixed or
removable storage units 922 and interfaces 920 that allow software
and data to be transferred from the storage unit 922 to computing
module 900.
[0139] Computing module 900 might also include a communications
interface 924. Communications interface 924 might be used to allow
software and data to be transferred between computing module 900
and external devices. Examples of communications interface 924
might include a modem or softmodem, a network interface (such as an
Ethernet, network interface card, WiMedia, IEEE 802.XX or other
interface), a communications port (such as for example, a USB port,
IR port, RS232 port Bluetooth.RTM. interface, or other port), or
other communications interface. Software and data transferred via
communications interface 924 might typically be carried on signals,
which can be electronic, electromagnetic (which includes optical)
or other signals capable of being exchanged by a given
communications interface 924. These signals might be provided to
communications interface 924 via a channel 928. This channel 928
might carry signals and might be implemented using a wired or
wireless communication medium. Some examples of a channel might
include a phone line, a cellular link, an RF link, an optical link,
a network interface, a local or wide area network, and other wired
or wireless communications channels.
[0140] In this document, the terms "computer program medium" and
"computer usable medium" are used to generally refer to media such
as, for example, memory 908, storage unit 920, media 914, and
channel 928. These and other various forms of computer program
media or computer usable media may be involved in carrying one or
more sequences of one or more instructions to a processing device
for execution. Such instructions embodied on the medium, are
generally referred to as "computer program code" or a "computer
program product" (which may be grouped in the form of computer
programs or other groupings). When executed, such instructions
might enable the computing module 900 to perform features or
functions of the present invention as discussed herein.
[0141] While various embodiments of the present invention have been
described above, it should be understood that they have been
presented by way of example only, and not of limitation. Likewise,
the various diagrams may depict an example architectural or other
configuration for the invention, which is done to aid in
understanding the features and functionality that can be included
in the invention. The invention is not restricted to the
illustrated example architectures or configurations, but the
desired features can be implemented using a variety of alternative
architectures and configurations. Indeed, it will be apparent to
one of skill in the art how alternative functional, logical or
physical partitioning and configurations can be implemented to
implement the desired features of the present invention. Also, a
multitude of different constituent module names other than those
depicted herein can be applied to the various partitions.
Additionally, with regard to flow diagrams, operational
descriptions and method claims, the order in which the steps are
presented herein shall not mandate that various embodiments be
implemented to perform the recited functionality in the same order
unless the context dictates otherwise.
[0142] Although the invention is described above in terms of
various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be
understood that the various features, aspects and functionality
described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not
limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with
which they are described, but instead can be applied, alone or in
various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of
the invention, whether or not such embodiments are described and
whether or not such features are presented as being a part of a
described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present
invention should not be limited by any of the above-described
exemplary embodiments.
[0143] Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations
thereof, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as
open ended as opposed to limiting. As examples of the foregoing:
the term "including" should be read as meaning "including, without
limitation" or the like; the term "example" is used to provide
exemplary instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or
limiting list thereof; the terms "a" or "an" should be read as
meaning at least one, one or more or the like; and adjectives such
as "conventional," "traditional," "normal," "standard," "known" and
terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the
item described to a given time period or to an item available as of
a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional,
traditional, normal, or standard technologies that may be available
or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, where this
document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to
one of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those
apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the
future.
[0144] The presence of broadening words and phrases such as "one or
more," "at least," "but not limited to" or other like phrases in
some instances shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is
intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases may
be absent. The use of the term "module" does not imply that the
components or functionality described or claimed as part of the
module are all configured in a common package. Indeed, any or all
of the various components of a module, whether control logic or
other components, can be combined in a single package or separately
maintained and can further be distributed in multiple groupings or
packages or across multiple locations.
[0145] Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are
described in terms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and
other illustrations. As will become apparent to one of ordinary
skill in the art after reading this document, the illustrated
embodiments and their various alternatives can be implemented
without confinement to the illustrated examples. For example, block
diagrams and their accompanying description should not be construed
as mandating a particular architecture or configuration.
[0146] While the invention has been described in connection with
certain preferred embodiments, other embodiments would be
understood by one of ordinary skill in the art and are encompassed
herein.
[0147] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software,
program codes, and/or instructions on a processor. The present
invention may be implemented as a method on the machine, as a
system or apparatus as part of or in relation to the machine, or as
a computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium
executing on one or more of the machines. The processor may be part
of a server, client, network infrastructure, mobile computing
platform, stationary computing platform, or other computing
platform. A processor may be any kind of computational or
processing device capable of executing program instructions, codes,
binary instructions and the like. The processor may be or include a
signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor,
microprocessor or any variant such as a co-processor (math
co-processor, graphic co-processor, communication co-processor and
the like) and the like that may directly or indirectly facilitate
execution of program code or program instructions stored thereon.
In addition, the processor may enable execution of multiple
programs, threads, and codes. The threads may be executed
simultaneously to enhance the performance of the processor and to
facilitate simultaneous operations of the application. By way of
implementation, methods, program codes, program instructions and
the like described herein may be implemented in one or more thread.
The thread may spawn other threads that may have assigned
priorities associated with them; the processor may execute these
threads based on priority or any other order based on instructions
provided in the program code. The processor may include memory that
stores methods, codes, instructions and programs as described
herein and elsewhere. The processor may access a storage medium
through an interface that may store methods, codes, and
instructions as described herein and elsewhere. The storage medium
associated with the processor for storing methods, programs, codes,
program instructions or other type of instructions capable of being
executed by the computing or processing device may include but may
not be limited to one or more of a CD-ROM, DVD, memory, hard disk,
flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache and the like.
[0148] A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance
speed and performance of a multiprocessor. In embodiments, the
process may be a dual core processor, quad core processors, other
chip-level multiprocessor and the like that combine two or more
independent cores (called a die).
[0149] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software
on a server, client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such
computer and/or networking hardware. The software program may be
associated with a server that may include a file server, print
server, domain server, internet server, intranet server and other
variants such as secondary server, host server, distributed server
and the like. The server may include one or more of memories,
processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical
and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of
accessing other servers, clients, machines, and devices through a
wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or
codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the
server. In addition, other devices required for execution of
methods as described in this application may be considered as a
part of the infrastructure associated with the server.
[0150] The server may provide an interface to other devices
including, without limitation, clients, other servers, printers,
database servers, print servers, file servers, communication
servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this
coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of
program across the network. The networking of some or all of these
devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method
at one or more location without deviating from the scope of the
invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the server
through an interface may include at least one storage medium
capable of storing methods, programs, code and/or instructions. A
central repository may provide program instructions to be executed
on different devices. In this implementation, the remote repository
may act as a storage medium for program code, instructions, and
programs.
[0151] The software program may be associated with a client that
may include a file client, print client, domain client, interne
client, intranet client and other variants such as secondary
client, host client, distributed client and the like. The client
may include one or more of memories, processors, computer readable
media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication
devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other clients,
servers, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless
medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described
herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. In addition,
other devices required for execution of methods as described in
this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructure
associated with the client.
[0152] The client may provide an interface to other devices
including, without limitation, servers, other clients, printers,
database servers, print servers, file servers, communication
servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this
coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of
program across the network. The networking of some or all of these
devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method
at one or more location without deviating from the scope of the
invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the client
through an interface may include at least one storage medium
capable of storing methods, programs, applications, code and/or
instructions. A central repository may provide program instructions
to be executed on different devices. In this implementation, the
remote repository may act as a storage medium for program code,
instructions, and programs.
[0153] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network
infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices,
servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers,
communication devices, routing devices and other active and passive
devices, modules and/or components as known in the art. The
computing and/or non-computing device(s) associated with the
network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a
storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM and
the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions
described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of
the network infrastructural elements.
[0154] The methods, program codes, and instructions described
herein and elsewhere may be implemented on a cellular network
having multiple cells. The cellular network may either be frequency
division multiple access (FDMA) network or code division multiple
access (CDMA) network. The cellular network may include mobile
devices, cell sites, base stations, repeaters, antennas, towers,
and the like. The cell network may be a GSM, GPRS, 3G, EVDO, mesh,
or other networks types.
[0155] The methods, programs codes, and instructions described
herein and elsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile
devices. The mobile devices may include navigation devices, cell
phones, mobile phones, mobile personal digital assistants, laptops,
palmtops, netbooks, pagers, electronic books readers, music players
and the like. These devices may include, apart from other
components, a storage medium such as a flash memory, buffer, RAM,
ROM and one or more computing devices. The computing devices
associated with mobile devices may be enabled to execute program
codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon. Alternatively, the
mobile devices may be configured to execute instructions in
collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices may
communicate with base stations interfaced with servers and
configured to execute program codes. The mobile devices may
communicate on a peer to peer network, mesh network, or other
communications network. The program code may be stored on the
storage medium associated with the server and executed by a
computing device embedded within the server. The base station may
include a computing device and a storage medium. The storage device
may store program codes and instructions executed by the computing
devices associated with the base station.
[0156] The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions
may be stored and/or accessed on machine readable media that may
include: computer components, devices, and recording media that
retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time;
semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM); mass
storage typically for more permanent storage, such as optical
discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, tapes, drums,
cards and other types; processor registers, cache memory, volatile
memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such as CD, DVD;
removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys),
floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone
RAM disks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the
like; other computer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory,
read/write storage, mutable storage, read only, random access,
sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, content
addressable, network attached storage, storage area network, bar
codes, magnetic ink, and the like.
[0157] The methods and systems described herein may transform
physical and/or or intangible items from one state to another. The
methods and systems described herein may also transform data
representing physical and/or intangible items from one state to
another.
[0158] The elements described and depicted herein, including in
flow charts and block diagrams throughout the figures, imply
logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to
software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements
and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through
computer executable media having a processor capable of executing
program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software
structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that
employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any
combination of these, and all such implementations may be within
the scope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may
include, but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants,
laptops, personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld
computing devices, medical equipment, wired or wireless
communication devices, transducers, chips, calculators, satellites,
tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets, electronic devices, devices
having artificial intelligence, computing devices, networking
equipments, servers, routers and the like. Furthermore, the
elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagrams or any other
logical component may be implemented on a machine capable of
executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings
and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed
systems, no particular arrangement of software for implementing
these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions
unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.
Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified
and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may
be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed
herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall
within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or
description of an order for various steps should not be understood
to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless
required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or
otherwise clear from the context.
[0159] The methods and/or processes described above, and steps
thereof, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination
of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The
hardware may include a general-purpose computer and/or dedicated
computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect
or component of a specific computing device. The processes may be
realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded
microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other
programmable device, along with internal and/or external memory.
The processes may also, or instead, be embodied in an application
specific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array,
programmable array logic, or any other device or combination of
devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It
will further be appreciated that one or more of the processes may
be realized as a computer executable code capable of being executed
on a machine-readable medium.
[0160] The computer executable code may be created using a
structured programming language such as C, an object oriented
programming language such as C++, or any other high-level or
low-level programming language (including assembly languages,
hardware description languages, and database programming languages
and technologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to
run on one of the above devices, as well as heterogeneous
combinations of processors, processor architectures, or
combinations of different hardware and software, or any other
machine capable of executing program instructions.
[0161] Thus, in one aspect, each method described above and
combinations thereof may be embodied in computer executable code
that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the
steps thereof. In another aspect, the methods may be embodied in
systems that perform the steps thereof, and may be distributed
across devices in a number of ways, or all of the functionality may
be integrated into a dedicated, standalone device or other
hardware. In another aspect, the means for performing the steps
associated with the processes described above may include any of
the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutations
and combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the
present disclosure.
[0162] While the invention has been disclosed in connection with
the preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, various
modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent
to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of
the present invention is not to be limited by the foregoing
examples, but is to be understood in the broadest sense allowable
by law.
[0163] All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by
reference.
* * * * *