Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for integration, provisioning and management of entities and processes in a computing system such as, by way of example only, business entities and business processes. In particular, techniques are disclosed for ontology based resource provisioning and management for services. For example, such an ontology based approach can be utilized in conjunction with a business support system which may be employed in conjunction with a cloud computing environment.

Abstract: Workloads that are and are not appropriate for transformation and processing on a cloud computing environment are identified. A user entity is provided with a measurement of at least one of the value which will be realized, and the effort which will be required. A plurality of attributes is specified. Input data represents the extent to which the user entity processing system possesses the given attribute. The input data for each attribute is employed to derive a corresponding numerical parameter value, which are to compute a final score.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for integration, provisioning and management of entities and processes in a computing system such as, by way of example only, business entities and business processes. In particular, techniques are disclosed for ontology based resource provisioning and management for services. For example, such an ontology based approach can be utilized in conjunction with a business support system which may be employed in conjunction with a cloud computing environment.

Abstract: A method, system, computer program product, and computer program storage device for transforming a high-level policy associated with a high layer to a low-level policy associated with a low layer. Mapping between high-level objects in a high layer and low-level objects in a low layer is derived by an automated discovery tool. The high-level policy is mapped to the low-level policy according to the mapping (e.g., by substituting the high-level objects with the low-level objects and by performing a syntax transformation). In one embodiment, a low-level policy is transformed to a high-level policy according to the mapping. As exemplary embodiments, policy transformations in traffic shaping and data retention are disclosed.

Abstract: There is provided, in a computer processing system, an apparatus for managing object data. The apparatus includes a changed objects manager for creating and managing a changed objects list that at least identifies the objects that have changed based on time of change. The changed objects list is associated with a plurality of time buckets. Each of the plurality of time buckets is associated with a respective date and time period and with object change records for objects having a timestamp falling within the respective date and time period. Each of the object change records is associated with a unique object identifier and the timestamp for a corresponding one of the objects. The timestamp specifies a date and a time corresponding to a latest one of a creation time or a most recent update time for the corresponding one of the objects.

Abstract: There is provided, in a computer processing system, an apparatus for managing object data. The apparatus includes a changed objects manager for creating and managing a changed objects list that at least identifies the objects that have changed based on time of change. The changed objects list is associated with a plurality of time buckets. Each of the plurality of time buckets is associated with a respective date and time period and with object change records for objects having a timestamp falling within the respective date and time period. Each of the object change records is associated with a unique object identifier and the timestamp for a corresponding one of the objects. The timestamp specifies a date and a time corresponding to a latest one of a creation time or a most recent update time for the corresponding one of the objects.

Abstract: Risk associated with over-committing shared resources is determined. In response to receiving a request to provision a new workload, a candidate mix of virtual machines is selected from plurality of virtual machines already running on a cloud infrastructure. A utilization profile is then created for an aggregate behavior of the candidate mix of virtual machines and a new virtual machine running the new workload. A risk inherent in over-commitment if the new workload is grouped with the candidate mix of virtual machines is determined, and whether that risk is acceptable. If the risk is acceptable, the new workload is provisioned by over-committing the candidate mix of virtual machines with the new virtual machine running on the cloud infrastructure.

Abstract: Infrastructures of a plurality of existing applications of an entity are analyzed to identify at least one of the infrastructures of the plurality of existing applications which includes existing substructures enabling replication of individual parts via an existing replication mechanism. The at least one of the infrastructures is selected for migration to a cloud. The cloud includes at least one of an infrastructure as a service cloud and a platform as a service cloud. The existing substructures of the at least one of the infrastructures are migrated to the cloud, without application-level change. A business agility component is assembled and is configured to control extending and shrinking resources of the cloud that are devoted to the at least one of the infrastructures. The resources of the cloud that are devoted to the at least one of the infrastructures are extended and shrunk, using the business agility component.

Abstract: An application resource manager obtains a projection of upcoming demand for an application that runs on a cloud. The cloud includes at least one of an infrastructure as a service cloud and a platform as a service cloud. The application resource manager determines, based on the projection, that resources of the cloud that are devoted to the application need to be one of extended and shrunken. One of extending and shrinking the resources of the cloud that are devoted to the application is carried out in response to the determining.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for integration, provisioning and management of entities and processes in a computing system such as, by way of example only, business entities and business processes. In particular, techniques are disclosed for implementing an extensible support system for multiple service offerings. For example, such a support system can be a business support system which may be employed in conjunction with a cloud computing environment.

Abstract: The present invention describes a method and system for discovering of server devices. The system and method receive a list of known server devices. The system and method obtain middleware configuration data and/or log files for each of the known server devices in the list. The system and method derives dependencies on at least one other server device from the middleware configuration data and/or log files. The system and method determines whether the at least one other server device is a new server device not included in the list. Thus, the system and method discovers the new server device upon determining that the at least one other server device is not included in the list.

Abstract: A method for lifecycle management for file systems has several steps. At least one storage container adapted to support a file system is allocated. The at least one storage container and the file system are associated with a service class. The file system is created in the storage container. The service class is used during lifecycle actions performed on the file system. Lifecycle actions may comprise, e.g., creating, extending, replicating, moving, or migrating a file system. The service class for the file system may also be maintained for a lifecycle of the file system.

Abstract: Techniques are described for controlling the climate in a data center. Using the input of an administrator, multiple desired attributes of a data center (e.g., temperature, energy consumption, costs, or system performance) may be balanced using a utility function that maximizes the utility of the computing systems in the data center according to the administrator's preferences. Additionally, a cooling model is generated that represents the affect of a control parameter (e.g., the fan speed of a CRAC) on the desire attributes of the data center. The cooling model may then be substituted into the utility function to replace the desired attributes. Using this new utility function, the control parameters may be varied such that the maximum utility is achieved.

Abstract: A method, system, computer program product, and computer program storage device for transforming a high-level policy associated with a high layer to a low-level policy associated with a low layer. Mapping between high-level objects in a high layer and low-level objects in a low layer is derived by an automated discovery tool. The high-level policy is mapped to the low-level policy according to the mapping (e.g., by substituting the high-level objects with the low-level objects and by performing a syntax transformation). In one embodiment, a low-level policy is transformed to a high-level policy according to the mapping. As exemplary embodiments, policy transformations in traffic shaping and data retention are disclosed.

Abstract: A method, system, computer program product, and computer program storage device for transforming a high-level policy associated with a high layer to a low-level policy associated with a low layer. Mapping between high-level objects in a high layer and low-level objects in a low layer is derived by an automated discovery tool. The high-level policy is mapped to the low-level policy according to the mapping (e.g., by substituting the high-level objects with the low-level objects and by performing a syntax transformation). In one embodiment, a low-level policy is transformed to a high-level policy according to the mapping. As exemplary embodiments, policy transformations in traffic shaping and data retention are disclosed.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present method and apparatus for performance and policy analysis in distributed computing systems includes representing a distributed computing system as a state transition model. A queuing network is then superimposed upon the state transition model, and the effects of one or more policies on the distributed computing system performance are identified in accordance with a solution to the queuing network.

Abstract: Workloads that are and are not appropriate for transformation and processing on a cloud computing environment are identified. A user entity is provided with a measurement of at least one of the value which will be realized, and the effort which will be required. A plurality of attributes is specified. Input data represents the extent to which the user entity processing system possesses the given attribute. The input data for each attribute is employed to derive a corresponding numerical parameter value, which are to compute a final score.

Abstract: Method and system are disclosed for automatically discovering associations between applications and data in multi-tiered distributed systems. The method in one aspect uses a machine-readable specification of a model or template that describes use and transformation of data by software components. The method additionally utilizes a model of system configuration and appropriate runtime support to mine information available from systems management software present in enterprise systems. The application-data association discovery process performs a traversal of the distributed system configuration graph with actions taken during this traversal driven by the contents of the templates for the software components present in the system. The results of the application-data association discovery process are stored in a database and may be used to specify application-specific information lifecycle management (ILM) policy or as input to impact analysis tools in access control and antivirus systems.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product are disclosed for merging search results. In one embodiment, the method comprises identifying a query, splitting the query into sub-queries, and calculating information content for each of the sub-queries. This method also comprises executing each of the sub-queries to obtain a plurality of search results, and combining the search results based on the information content calculated for the sub-queries. In an embodiment, the execution of each of the sub-queries includes identifying a multitude of search results for at least one of the sub-queries; and the combining includes grouping said multitude of search results into a plurality of clusters, and computing a relevance score for each of said clusters. In the embodiment the combining further includes merging the clusters based on the relevance scores computed for the clusters as well as the information content calculated for the sub-queries.

Abstract: A method, system, computer program product, and computer program storage device for transforming a high-level policy associated with a high layer to a low-level policy associated with a low layer. Mapping between high-level objects in a high layer and low-level objects in a low layer is derived by an automated discovery tool. The high-level policy is mapped to the low-level policy according to the mapping (e.g., by substituting the high-level objects with the low-level objects and by performing a syntax transformation). In one embodiment, a low-level policy is transformed to a high-level policy according to the mapping. As exemplary embodiments, policy transformations in traffic shaping and data retention are disclosed.