System to provide computing as a product using dynamic computing environments
View Patent ↗A system enabling computing to be provided as a packaged product or as a remote resource to users. Computing is delivered as a product or a resource by providing dynamic computing environments to users based on users' choices of virtual components (hardware, software or network components). A customer can choose the components and configure a computing environment. The system packages this environment and makes it available for users to compute. A service provider can use the system to create computing environments, automatically, on demand and thus providing computing as a remote resource to customers. The system monitors the usage of the customers and they are billed accordingly. In either case users can carry out their computing activity remotely using a client device such as a web browser.
1. A system to provide computing as a product to a user, where the computing is supported through a dynamic computing environment, the system comprising:
an interface to present components of the dynamic computing environment to the user, wherein the interface to present components can present configurations as components to the user;
an interface to accept user inputs for selection of components of the dynamic computing environment;
an interface to accept user inputs specifying a configuration of the dynamic computing environment;
a framework for creating the dynamic computing environment from allocable resources;
an interface for the user to compute on the dynamic computing environment;
a configuration manager that can save user configurations as components in a database;
an interface to accept user inputs for scheduling computing sessions; and
a scheduler to keep track of scheduled computing sessions and to reserve resources for computing sessions and to release the resources once a computing session is completed.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the components include hardware components, the hardware components comprising:
computing devices or central processing units (CPUs); and
storage devices.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the components include software components, the software components comprising:
operating systems; and
application software.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the components include network components, the network components comprising:
network switches and ports in switches;
network routers or gateways; and
network security elements, wherein the security elements include firewalls.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the components include virtual components comprising:
software licenses;
network connections with specified bandwidth; and
IP addresses or subnets, wherein each of the subnets is a range of IP addresses.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the interfaces are web-based user interfaces accessible through a web client device.
7. A method comprising:
presenting components of a dynamic computing environment;
accepting user inputs for choices of components, wherein the components include user configurations;
accepting user inputs for configuration of the dynamic computing environment from the chosen components;
creating the dynamic computing environment from the configuration response to user inputs for configuration;
presenting the dynamic computing environment to the user;
accepting user inputs for scheduling computing sessions;
scheduling requested computing sessions and reserving resources for computing sessions; and
releasing the resources once a computing session is completed.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the components include hardware components, the hardware components comprising:
computing devices or central processing units (CPUs); and
storage devices.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the components include software components, the software components comprising:
operating systems; and
application software.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the components include network components, the network components comprising:
network switches and ports in switches;
network routers or gateways; and
network security elements, wherein the network security elements include firewalls.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the components include virtual components comprising:
software licenses;
network connections with specified bandwidth; and
IP addresses or subnets, wherein each of the subnets is a range of IP addresses.
12. A system to provide computing as a resource to a user, wherein the system comprises:
allocable resources; and
a framework for providing a dynamic computing environment using the allocable resources, wherein
the dynamic computing environment is used for computing by the user;
a first user computes on a first dynamic computing environment;
a second user computes on a second dynamic computing environment;
the first and the second dynamic computing environment exist concurrently and share the allocable resources;
the first user has secure access to the first dynamic computing environment;
the second user has secure access to the second dynamic computing environment;
the first user's computing has no impact on the second dynamic computing environment; and
the second user's computing has no impact on the first dynamic computing environment.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the system further comprises a resource monitor that monitors the allocable resources to guarantee the Quality of Service requirements of the user.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the system further comprises a usage meter that measures the usage of the components of the dynamic computing environment.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system further includes a billing subsystem to convert the usage measurements and the quality of service to a bill price for the user.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the billing subsystem is a pay-per-use billing system.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the billing subsystem is a periodic billing system.
18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the billing subsystem is an installment billing system.
19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the billing subsystem is a combination of one or more billing systems.
20. An apparatus for providing computing as a packaged product to a user, wherein the packaged product is a dynamic computing environment on which the user computes, and wherein the apparatus is configured to perform the following method:
accepting one or more user inputs for selecting components of the dynamic computing environment and configuration of the selected components;
configuring the dynamic computing environment;
presenting the dynanic computing environment as a product to the user;
billing the user for the product based on the price of the selected components;
accepting a schedule of one or more user computing sessions;
scheduling the computing sessions and reserving resources for the dynamic computing environments for those computing sessions; and
releasing the resources on computing session completion.