Methods and apparatus for coordinating and selecting protocols for resources acquisition from multiple resource managers

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for allocation of resources under the control of resource managers and the choice and coordination of resource acquisition protocols to communicate with these resource managers. The resource managers may be distributed and heterogeneous. For example, a technique for use by a service provider for allocating one or more resources from multiple resources associated with multiple resource managers based on at least one service agreement offer from a service client comprises the following steps/operations. At least one service agreement offer is obtained. A resource allocation is automatically determined based on the obtained service agreement offer. The automated step/operation of determining the resource allocation comprises: (i) coordinating selection of a resource acquisition protocol from among multiple resource acquisition protocols for use in communicating with the multiple resource managers to acquire one or more resources associated therewith; and (ii) evaluating a performance associated with one or more of the multiple resource acquisition protocols.

1 . A method for use by a service provider for allocating one or more resources from multiple resources associated with multiple resource managers, comprising the steps of: 
 obtaining at least one service agreement offer from a service client; and    automatically determining a resource allocation based on the obtained service agreement offer, wherein the automated step of determining the resource allocation comprises: (i) coordinating selection of a resource acquisition protocol from among multiple resource acquisition protocols for use in communicating with the multiple resource managers to acquire one or more resources associated therewith; and (ii) evaluating a performance associated with one or more of the multiple resource acquisition protocols.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selection coordination step further comprises traversing a provisioning description.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein traversal of the provisioning description comprises identifying types and quantities of resources to be acquired.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selection coordination step further comprises selecting resource acquisition protocols based on performance criteria.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selection coordination step further comprises carrying out at least one resource acquisition protocol and acquiring one or more resources.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selection coordination step further comprises updating the protocol performance evaluation step based on an observed performance of at least one resource acquisition protocol.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the observed performance is determined based on at least one of a protocol execution time, a resource cost, a number of messages exchanged, and a total size of exchanged data.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selection coordination step carries out a protocol and, upon completion of the protocol, determines whether another protocol will be executed to either find an allocation or to improve an allocation that was already found.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the selection coordination step terminates either when it is not possible to find any allocation, or when an allocation is found which cannot be expected to be improved.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the protocol performance evaluation step further comprises capturing a realized performance of at least one resource acquisition protocol with respect to different criteria and resource types.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the protocol performance evaluation step further comprises evaluating an expected performance of at least one resource acquisition protocol with respect to different criteria and resource types.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the protocol performance evaluation step further comprises deriving results based on input from at least one of the selection coordination step and a database containing historic information.  
     
     
         13 . Apparatus for use by a service provider for allocating one or more resources from multiple resources associated with multiple resource managers, comprising: 
 a memory; and    at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative to: (i) obtain at least one service agreement offer from a service client; and (ii) automatically determine a resource allocation based on the obtained service agreement offer, wherein the automated operation of determining the resource allocation comprises coordinating selection of a resource acquisition protocol from among multiple resource acquisition protocols for use in communicating with the multiple resource managers to acquire one or more resources associated therewith, and evaluating a performance associated with one or more of the multiple resource acquisition protocols.    
     
     
         14 . An article of manufacture for use by a service provider for allocating one or more resources from multiple resources associated with multiple resource managers, comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of: 
 obtaining at least one service agreement offer from a service client; and    automatically determining a resource allocation based on the obtained service agreement offer, wherein the automated step of determining the resource allocation comprises: (i) coordinating selection of a resource acquisition protocol from among multiple resource acquisition protocols for use in communicating with the multiple resource managers to acquire one or more resources associated therewith; and (ii) evaluating a performance associated with one or more of the multiple resource acquisition protocols.    
     
     
         15 . A method for use in automatically managing an allocation of one or more resources, comprising the steps of: 
 obtaining a service request; and    acquiring resources from distributed resource managers by dynamically choosing at least one acquisition protocol, from multiple acquisition protocols, suitable for substantially satisfying the service request.    
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein suitability of a protocol is based on a trade-off associated with multiple objectives.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the multiple objectives comprise a time requirement associated with the request, a direct cost associated with the request, and an indirect cost associated with the request.  
     
     
         18 . A method for use by a service provider for allocating one or more resources from multiple resources associated with multiple resource managers, comprising the steps of: 
 obtaining at least one service agreement offer from a service client;    identifying, based on the service agreement offer, a set of resource managers offering a given resource type;    selecting one or more resource allocation protocols based on respective performances of the one or more resource allocation protocols for the given resource type; and    coordinating execution of the one or more resource allocation protocols to yield an optimal allocation.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising the steps of: 
 identifying an alternative set of resource types to fulfill the service agreement offer;    selecting one or more resource allocation protocols based on respective performances of the one or more resource allocation protocols for a given alternative resource type; and    coordinating execution of the one or more resource allocation protocols to yield an optimal alternative allocation.