Method and system for utilizing spare cloud resources

Abstract

A cloud computing system including a computing device configured to run virtual machine instances is disclosed. The computing device includes a hypervisor program for managing the virtual machine instances. A customer virtual machine instance is run by the hypervisor program on the computing device, and a grid virtual machine instance is run by the hypervisor program on the computing device. The grid virtual machine instance is configured to run only when a resource of the computing device is not being utilized by the customer virtual machine instance.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A cloud computing system, the system comprising:
 a computing device configured to run one or more virtual machine instances;   a hypervisor that manages one or more virtual machine instances, wherein the hypervisor runs on the computing device; and   a grid service controller that communicates with the hypervisor to instantiate one or more grid virtual machine instances on the computing device and controls the one or more grid virtual machines, wherein a client communicates with the grid service controller to utilize a resource of the computing device that is not being utilized by a customer virtual machine instance.   
     
     
         3 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein the grid service controller communicates with the hypervisor via a first application programming interface (API). 
     
     
         4 . The cloud computing system of  claim 3 , wherein the client communicates with the grid service controller via a second API. 
     
     
         5 . The cloud computing system of  claim 4 , wherein a grid virtual machine instance and a customer virtual machine instance are part of a peer-to-peer network. 
     
     
         6 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein the grid service controller configures a grid virtual machine instance to run when the resource of the computing device is not being utilized by a customer virtual machine instance. 
     
     
         7 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein if a customer virtual machine instance is utilizing the resource below a threshold amount, the grid service controller controls an operation of a grid virtual machine instance to utilize the resource over the threshold amount. 
     
     
         8 . The cloud computing system of  claim 7 , wherein the resource is a processor. 
     
     
         9 . The cloud computing system of  claim 7 , wherein the threshold amount is five percent. 
     
     
         10 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein if a customer virtual machine instance is utilizing the resource below a threshold amount, the grid service controller allocates an additional grid virtual machine instance to process tasks. 
     
     
         11 . The cloud computing system of  claim 10 , wherein the grid service controller communicates with the hypervisor via an API, and the grid service controller assigns the additional grid virtual machine instance computational tasks via the API. 
     
     
         12 . The cloud computing system of  claim 10 , wherein the grid virtual machine instance and the customer virtual machine instance are part of a peer-to-peer network. 
     
     
         13 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein if a customer virtual machine instance is utilizing a threshold amount of the resource, the grid service controller suspends processing tasks being run by one or more grid virtual machine instances. 
     
     
         14 . The cloud computing system of  claim 13 , wherein a grid virtual machine instance and the customer virtual machine instance are part of a peer-to-peer network. 
     
     
         15 . The cloud computing system of  claim 13 , wherein the threshold amount is 100 percent. 
     
     
         16 . The cloud computing system of  claim 13 , wherein the resource is a processor. 
     
     
         17 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein if a load on the resource increases, the grid service controller is configured to deallocate grid virtual machine instances. 
     
     
         18 . The cloud computing system of  claim 17 , wherein if a load on the resource decreases, the grid service controller is configured to respawn the grid virtual machine instances. 
     
     
         19 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein the resource is a processor. 
     
     
         20 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein the resource is a storage device. 
     
     
         21 . The cloud computing system of  claim 2 , wherein the resource is a networking device.