Policy-driven capacity management in resource provisioning environments

Abstract

Systems and methods for policy-driven capacity management in a resource provisioning environment, the method comprising storing, in an operational database one or more virtual resource sets (VRSs) and elasticity ranges for components to be deployed in a resource provisioning environment, and probabilistic guarantees on the elasticity ranges defined in a service manifest provided by a service subscriber; collecting historical data about capacity usage in the resource provisioning environment and failure statistics from the operational database, in addition to prior service commitments due to previously contracted service level agreements (SLAs) stored in a SLA repository; calculating equivalent capacity for the resource provisioning environment based on a defined residual benefit goal, and other business goals instrumented by way of a policy engine; and placing requested virtual resources on physical resources, in response to determining that sufficient physical capacity is available to host the calculated equivalent capacity.

1 . A computer-implemented system for policy-driven capacity management in a resource provisioning environment, the system comprising:
 a logic unit for storing, in an operational database:
 one or more virtual resource sets (VRSs) and elasticity ranges for components to be deployed in a resource provisioning environment, and 
 probabilistic guarantees on the elasticity ranges defined in a service manifest provided by a service subscriber; 
   a logic unit for collecting historical data about capacity usage in the resource provisioning environment and failure statistics from the operational database, in addition to prior service commitments due to previously contracted service level agreements (SLAs) stored in a SLA repository;   a logic unit for calculating equivalent capacity for the resource provisioning environment based on a defined residual benefit goal, and other business goals instrumented by way of a policy engine; and   a logic unit for placing requested virtual resources on physical resources, in response to determining that sufficient physical capacity is available to host the calculated equivalent capacity.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a logic unit for enforcing a rejection handling policy, in response to determining that the available physical capacity is insufficient to host the calculated equivalent capacity. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a logic unit for admitting a requested service by the service subscriber, in response to determining that sufficient physical capacity is available to host the calculated equivalent capacity. 
     
     
         4 . The system of claim  11  further comprising a capacity planning calculator periodically invoked to calculate expected equivalent capacity for different time frames based on data that suggests use trends and other relevant information collected and stored in the operational database and the SLA repository. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4  further comprising a logic unit for notifying a capacity planner that additional physical capacity is needed to cover the calculated equivalent capacity, in response to determining that the physical capacity is insufficient to host the calculated equivalent capacity. 
     
     
         6 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:
 store, in an operational database:
 one or more virtual resource sets (VRSs) and elasticity ranges for components to be deployed in a resource provisioning environment, and 
 probabilistic guarantees on the elasticity ranges defined in a service manifest provided by a service subscriber; 
   collect historical data about capacity usage in the resource provisioning environment and failure statistics from the operational database, in addition to prior service commitments due to previously contracted service level agreements (SLAs) stored in a SLA repository;   calculate equivalent capacity for the resource provisioning environment based on a defined residual benefit goal, and other business goals instrumented by way of a policy engine; and   place requested virtual resources on physical resources, in response to determining that sufficient physical capacity is available to host the calculated equivalent capacity.   
     
     
         7 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to enforce a rejection handling policy, in response to determining that the available physical capacity is insufficient to host the calculated equivalent capacity. 
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to admit a requested service by the service subscriber, in response to determining that sufficient physical capacity is available to host the calculated equivalent capacity. 
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein an equivalent capacity calculator is periodically invoked to calculate expected equivalent capacity for different time frames based on data that suggests use trends and other relevant information collected and stored in the operational database and the SLA repository. 
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein an acceptable risk level (ARL) with respect to SLA non-compliance due to congestion for a service provider is defined by a policy engine such that if the available physical capacity is greater than the equivalent capacity and feasible placement of virtual resources belonging to the VRSs exists for an equivalent capacity for resource ranges defined for a usage windows, then availability SLAs of VRSs are protected at with probability=1−ARL, where ARL is the acceptable risk level probability.