Patents Assigned to Rackspace US, Inc.
  • Patent number: 9521004
    Abstract: A system and methods are provided for generating a billing feed for a distributed network system and reselling resources of the distributed network system. In one embodiment, a method includes observing a plurality of messages sent and received among components of the distributed network system, generating a call flow graph based on the plurality of messages of the distributed network system, and outputting a billing feed for the distributed network based on the call flow graph, to provide a billing feed including one or more billable events. billable events may be are based on one or more of received requests, underlying resource usage, time of usage, scope of usage. In this regard, the system may provide for one or more models of reselling resources of a distributed network system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul Voccio, Matthew Charles Dietz
  • Patent number: 9501329
    Abstract: Disclosed is a management service that enables a user to establish, monitor, and control cloud computing sessions offered via third-party service providers. In some instances, the management service establishes a market space that allows a user to establish a customized cloud computing session based on computing resources offered by third-party service providers. In some instances, the management service instantiates monitoring mechanisms within the virtual servers of the cloud computing sessions to be able to monitor, assess, and provide reports and alerts pertaining to performance metrics of the various virtual servers. In some instances, the management service also allows a user to remotely transfer services from a first cloud computing session to a second cloud computing session.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Dan Di Spaltro, Alex Polvi, Logan Welliver
  • Patent number: 9489395
    Abstract: A system for exposing data stored in a cloud computing system to a content delivery network provider includes a database configured to receive and store metadata about the data, the database being implemented in the cloud computing system to store configuration metadata for the data related to the content delivery network, and an origin server configured to receive requests for the data from the content delivery network provider, and configured to provide the data to the content delivery network provider based on the metadata.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: David Patrick Goetz, Gregory Lee Holt
  • Patent number: 9483334
    Abstract: Predictive monitoring of objects in a distributed network system providing cloud services is disclosed. In one embodiment, the methods and systems observing one or more update messages sent and received among components of the distributed network system, the update messages comprising information associated with a state of an object on the distributed network system, determine the state of the object in response to the one or more update messages, and reference a predictive object state model to predict occurrence of an artifact in response to the state of the object. Advantageously, the present embodiments provide advanced warning of potential failures in a distributed network systems, which may enable a system administrator or dynamic process to resolve the failure before it ever occurs. Additional benefits and advantages of the present embodiments will become evident in the following description.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: RACKSPACE US, INC.
    Inventor: Alexander Leonard Walsh
  • Patent number: 9471384
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventor: Antony Joel Messerli
  • Publication number: 20160294633
    Abstract: This disclosure has reference to verifying records of system change events in a distributed network system providing cloud services. In one embodiment, the methods and systems observe system update messages sent and received among components of the distributed network system, generate a record of the state of the object in response to the update messages, and compare the record of the state of the object with information from a periodic system status message to verify the accuracy of the periodic system status message. Advantageously, the present embodiments provide increased reliability for system status tracking, resource management, and billing for consumption of resources in distributed network systems. Additional benefits and advantages of the present embodiments will become evident in the following description.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2016
    Publication date: October 6, 2016
    Applicant: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Monsyne Michael Dragon, Alexander Leonard Walsh, Daniel Joseph Spraggins
  • Patent number: 9411648
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a method includes maintaining a pool of server resources, maintaining a pool of storage resources, maintaining a pool of network resources, and initializing, via a meta-cluster software manager, a multi-function cluster associated with a first customer of a datacenter including the pools. This multi-function cluster may include first servers of the pool of server resources, first storage devices of the pool of storage resources, and first network devices of the pool of network resources, and may be managed by the meta-cluster manager.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Sims
  • Publication number: 20160226931
    Abstract: An improved scalable object storage system includes methods and systems allowing multiple clusters to work together. Users working with a first cluster, or with a multi-cluster gateway, can ask for services and have the request or data transparently proxied to a second cluster. This gives transparent cross-cluster replication, as well as multi-cluster compute or storage farms based upon spot availability or various provisioning policies. Vendors providing a cloud storage “frontend” can provide multiple backends simultaneously. In one embodiment, a multi-cluster gateway can have a two, three, or higher-level ring that transparently matches an incoming request with the correct cluster. In the ring, a request is first mapped to an abstract “partition” based on a consistent hash function, and then one or more constrained mappings map the partition number to an actual resource. In another embodiment, the multi-cluster gateway is a dumb gateway, and the rings are located only at the cluster level.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2014
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Applicant: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory Lee Holt, Clay Gerrard, David Patrick Goetz, Michael Barton
  • Patent number: 9405781
    Abstract: An improved scalable object storage system includes methods and systems allowing multiple clusters to work together. Users working with a first cluster, or with a multi-cluster gateway, can ask for services and have the request or data transparently proxied to a second cluster. This gives transparent cross-cluster replication, as well as multi-cluster compute or storage farms based upon spot availability or various provisioning policies. Vendors providing a cloud storage “frontend” can provide multiple backends simultaneously. In one embodiment, a multi-cluster gateway can have a two, three, or higher-level ring that transparently matches an incoming request with the correct cluster. In the ring, a request is first mapped to an abstract “partition” based on a consistent hash function, and then one or more constrained mappings map the partition number to an actual resource. In another embodiment, the multi-cluster gateway is a dumb gateway, and the rings are located only at the cluster level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory Lee Holt, Clay Gerrard, David Patrick Goetz, Michael Barton
  • Patent number: 9397902
    Abstract: This disclosure has reference to verifying records of system change events in a distributed network system providing cloud services. In one embodiment, the methods and systems observe system update messages sent and received among components of the distributed network system, generate a record of the state of the object in response to the update messages, and compare the record of the state of the object with information from a periodic system status message to verify the accuracy of the periodic system status message. Advantageously, the present embodiments provide increased reliability for system status tracking, resource management, and billing for consumption of resources in distributed network systems. Additional benefits and advantages of the present embodiments will become evident in the following description.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: RACKSPACE US, INC.
    Inventors: Monsyne Michael Dragon, Alexander Leonard Walsh, Daniel Joseph Spraggins
  • Publication number: 20160197996
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a massively scalable object storage system are described. The object storage system is particularly useful for storage in a cloud computing installation whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. In several embodiments, the object storage system includes a ring implementation used to associate object storage commands with particular physical servers such that certain guarantees of consistency, availability, and performance can be met. In other embodiments, the object storage system includes a synchronization protocol used to order operations across a distributed system. In a third set of embodiments, the object storage system includes a metadata management system. In a fourth set of embodiments, the object storage system uses a structured information synchronization system. Features from each set of embodiments can be used to improve the performance and scalability of a cloud computing object storage system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Publication date: July 7, 2016
    Applicant: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt
  • Patent number: 9374395
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a segmented object storage system are described. The object storage system divides files into a number of object segments, each segment corresponding to a portion of the object, and stores each segment individually in the cloud storage system. The system also generates and stores a manifest file describing the relationship of the various segments to the original data file. Requests to retrieve the segmented file are fulfilled by consulting the manifest file and using the information from the manifest to reconstitute the original data file from the constituent segments. Modifying, appending to, or truncating the object is accomplished by manipulating individual segments and the manifest file. In further embodiments, manipulation of the individual object segments and/or the manifest is used to implement copy-on-write, snapshotting, software transactional memory, and peer-to-peer transmission of the large file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt
  • Patent number: 9338922
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a rack adapter apparatus. The rack adapter apparatus includes a shelf configured to be mounted in a rack frame having a front opening of a first width and a rear opening of the first width, the shelf being further configured to support a computing device thereon, the computing device having a second width less than then first width and having a back-side port disposed thereon, the back-side port facing the rear opening when the computing device is supported by the shelf and the shelf is mounted in the rack frame. The rack adapter apparatus also includes a pass-through jack having a front port facing the front opening and a rear port facing the rear opening, the front and rear ports being electrically coupled, and the rear port being configured to be communicatively coupled to the back-side port of the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventor: Jason Mick
  • Patent number: 9306988
    Abstract: A segmented object storage system is an object storage system that divides files into a number of object segments, each segment corresponding to a portion of an object, and stores each segment individually in the storage system. The system also generates and stores a manifest file describing the relationship of the various segments to the original data file. Requests to retrieve the segmented file are fulfilled by consulting the manifest file and using the information from the manifest to reconstitute the original data file from the constituent segments. Modifying, appending to, or truncating the object is accomplished by manipulating individual segments and the manifest file. Manipulation of the individual object segments and/or the manifest can be used to implement copy-on-write, snapshotting, software transactional memory, and peer-to-peer transmission of the large file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt
  • Patent number: 9268586
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a flexible virtual machine management system are described. The virtual machine management system is used to instantiate, wake, move, sleep, and destroy individual operating environments in a cloud or cluster. In various embodiments, the virtual machine management system uses single messages to perform complex operations, allowing for flexible and scalable use of virtual resources in a cluster while still reducing energy consumption to the minimum possible level. In one preferred embodiment, Wake-on-LAN packets are used as the messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul Voccio, Antony Joel Messerli, Jason L. Mick, Alexander Walsh
  • Patent number: 9251451
    Abstract: In an embodiment, an apparatus includes a rack having a plurality of rack-mounted devices and a strip coupled to a portion of the rack and including a plurality of segments, each with a light source. The rack-mounted devices may each include or be associated with a photosensor to be in communication with the light source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventor: James Hesketh
  • Patent number: 9237193
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a massively scalable object storage system are described. The object storage system is particularly useful for storage in a cloud computing installation whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. In several embodiments, the object storage system includes a ring implementation used to associate object storage commands with particular physical servers such that certain guarantees of consistency, availability, and performance can be met. In other embodiments, the object storage system includes a synchronization protocol used to order operations across a distributed system. In a third set of embodiments, the object storage system includes a metadata management system. In a fourth set of embodiments, the object storage system uses a structured information synchronization system. Features from each set of embodiments can be used to improve the performance and scalability of a cloud computing object storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt
  • Patent number: 9231988
    Abstract: An intercluster repository synchronizer and method for synchronizing objects are disclosed. An example intercluster repository synchronizer includes an information processing system, including a processor, computer-readable medium, and network device. The intercluster repository synchronizer includes a structured information repository on the computer-readable medium. The structured information repository contains a plurality of records corresponding to a selected group of stored information objects. The intercluster repository synchronizer further includes a synchronization indicator that stores an address associated with a remote replication target. The intercluster repository synchronizer also includes a replicator, operable to send a message using the network device to the replication target responsive to changes in the structured information repository, and further operable to receive a message that a plurality of stored information objects have been duplicated at the remote replication target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory Lee Holt, Clay Gerrard, David Patrick Goetz, Michael Barton, Charles B. Thier
  • Patent number: 9207961
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a method includes identifying, in a defragmentation scheduling logic of a first system of a data center, a first virtual machine (VM) of a first server of the data center to select for migration based on a cost determined according to a source algorithm, identifying a second server of the data center to select for receipt of the first VM based on a cost determined according to a destination algorithm, where the second server has available free space to receive the first VM and the available free space has been scrubbed prior to the identification, and migrating a substantial plurality of VMs between servers of the data center based on cost according to the source and destination algorithms, to defragment the data center.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Keating Conrad, Gregory Scott Kirkland
  • Patent number: 9197483
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a massively scalable object storage system are described. The object storage system is particularly useful for storage in a cloud computing installation whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. In several embodiments, the object storage system includes a ring implementation used to associate object storage commands with particular physical servers such that certain guarantees of consistency, availability, and performance can be met. In other embodiments, the object storage system includes a synchronization protocol used to order operations across a distributed system. In a third set of embodiments, the object storage system includes a metadata management system. In a fourth set of embodiments, the object storage system uses a structured information synchronization system. Features from each set of embodiments can be used to improve the performance and scalability of a cloud computing object storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt