CONFIGURING CLOUD RESOURCES

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having tangibly embodied thereon and accessible therefrom instructions interpretable by at least one data processing device, the instructions are configured for causing the at least one data processing device to perform a method comprising:

creating a resource group for providing cloud services, wherein the resource group includes one or more virtual machines that all have virtual machine specifications of a particular configuration;

receiving a request to increase a quantity of the virtual machines of the resource group; and

instantiating one or more additional virtual machines within the resource group in response to receiving the request, wherein instantiating the one or more additional virtual machines includes providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration.

2 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein creating the resource group includes specifying system capacity requirements of the one or more virtual machines.

3 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2 wherein the system capacity requirements include information defining a compute capacity and information defining a memory capacity.

4 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration include one or more processor specifications, one or more memory specifications, one or more storage specifications, one or more network specifications and one or more operating system specifications.

5 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration is performed without human intervention and is performed automatically in response to receiving the request.

6 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein creating the resource group includes specifying system capacity requirements of the one or more virtual machines.

7 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein the system capacity requirements include information defining a compute capacity and information defining a memory capacity.

8 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein the virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration include one or more processor specifications, one or more memory specifications, one or more storage specifications, one or more network specifications and one or more operating system specifications.

9 . A computer implemented method, comprising:

creating a plurality of resource groups each configured for providing cloud services, wherein each one of the resource groups includes one or more virtual machines and wherein the one or more virtual machines of each one of the resource groups all have virtual machine specifications of a particular configuration;

creating a managed group comprising the virtual machines of each one of the resource groups; and

implementing a plurality of actions on the managed group, wherein a first one of the actions comprises instantiating one or more additional virtual machines within a particular one of the resource groups in response to receiving a request to increase a quantity of the virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups, wherein a second one of the actions includes affecting a change on all virtual machines of the managed group in response to receiving a management action for the managed group, and wherein instantiating the one or more additional virtual machines includes providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration include one or more processor specifications, one or more memory specifications, one or more storage specifications, one or more network specifications and one or more operating system specifications.

11 . The method of claim 9 wherein providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration is performed without human intervention and is performed automatically in response to receiving the request.

12 . The method of claim 9 wherein the affecting the change on all virtual machines of the managed group includes performing an action selected from the group consisting of powering up all of the virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups, powering down all of the virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups, rebooting all of the virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration include one or more processor specifications, one or more memory specifications, one or more storage specifications, one or more network specifications and one or more operating system specifications.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration is performed without human intervention and is performed automatically in response to receiving the request.

15 . The method of claim 12 wherein providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with virtual machine specifications of the particular configuration is performed without human intervention and is performed automatically in response to receiving the request.

16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having tangibly embodied thereon and accessible therefrom instructions interpretable by at least one data processing device, the instructions are configured for causing the at least one data processing device to perform a method comprising:

creating a managed group comprising a plurality of virtual machines, wherein each one of the virtual machines belongs to a respective one of a plurality of resource groups and wherein all of the virtual machines of a particular one of the resource groups have the same virtual machine specifications;

instantiating one or more additional virtual machines within a particular one of the resource groups in response to receiving a request to add one or more additional virtual machines to the particular one of the resource groups, wherein instantiating the one or more additional virtual machines includes providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with the same virtual machine specifications as all other virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups; and

affecting a change on all virtual machines of the managed group in response to receiving a management action for the managed group.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with the same virtual machine specifications as all other virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups is performed without human intervention and is performed automatically in response to receiving the request.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the affecting the change on all virtual machines of the managed group includes performing an action selected from the group consisting of powering up all of the virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups, powering down all of the virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups, rebooting all of the virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein the virtual machine specifications include one or more processor specifications, one or more memory specifications, one or more storage specifications, one or more network specifications and one or more operating system specifications.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein providing each one of the one or more additional virtual machines with the same virtual machine specifications as all other virtual machines of the particular one of the resource groups is performed without human intervention and is performed automatically in response to receiving the request.