Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for managing and deploying physical and virtual environments across multiple hardware platforms. A single unit, referred to herein as a cloud construction block, contains both the hardware and software components used to build a cloud computing environment. By having such a single unit contain both the hardware and software components needed to build a cloud computing environment, the user no longer needs to purchase and integrate different hardware and software components. Furthermore, the cloud construction block contains modular pieces of hardware, such as compute hardware, memory hardware, storage hardware and network hardware, that are integrated with management software configured to manage both the hardware and the cloud computing environment in a seamlessly integrated package. Since there is a single management system, the management software allows the user to manage the modular pieces of hardware via a single user interface.

Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for managing and deploying physical and virtual environments across multiple hardware platforms. A single unit, referred to herein as a cloud construction block, contains both the hardware and software components used to build a cloud computing environment. By having such a single unit contain both the hardware and software components needed to build a cloud computing environment, the user no longer needs to purchase and integrate different hardware and software components. Furthermore, the cloud construction block contains modular pieces of hardware, such as compute hardware, memory hardware, storage hardware and network hardware, that are integrated with management software configured to manage both the hardware and the cloud computing environment in a seamlessly integrated package. Since there is a single management system, the management software allows the user to manage the modular pieces of hardware via a single user interface.

Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for performing maintenance operations on a cloud computing node. An administrative server receives an indication that a maintenance operation is to be performed on a cloud computing node. The administrative server identifies which virtual machine(s) on the cloud computing node will be affected by the maintenance operation. The administrative server relocates the virtual machine(s) to be affected by the maintenance operation to other suitable cloud computing node(s) prior to the maintenance operation being performed. The administrative server then performs the maintenance operation on the cloud computing node. The virtual machine(s) may be relocated back to the cloud computing node after the maintenance operation is completed in response to a need to rebalance resources in such a manner. In this manner, maintenance operations may be performed on a cloud computing node without requiring to stop all the virtual machines in the node.

Abstract: According to one aspect of the present disclosure a method and technique for automatically configuring a set of resources for deployment as a computing environment is disclosed.

Abstract: A system and technique for allocating and balancing storage resources includes: a plurality of storage controllers each controlling one or more storage volumes, and a processor unit operable to execute a management application to: determine, for each controller, an input/output (I/O) latency value based on an I/O latency associated with each storage volume controlled by a respective controller; determine network bandwidth utilization and network latency values corresponding to each controller; responsive to a request to allocate a new storage volume, select a controller having a desired I/O latency value; determine whether the network bandwidth utilization and network latency values for the selected controller are below respective network bandwidth utilization and network latency value thresholds; and responsive to determining that the network bandwidth utilization and network latency values for the selected controller are below respective thresholds, allocate the new storage volume to the selected controller

Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for dynamically building a set of compute nodes to host a user's workload. An administrative server receives workload definitions that include the types of workloads that are to be run in a cloud group as well as a number of instances of each workload the cloud group should support. These workload definitions are used to determine the virtual machine demands that the cloud group will place on the cloud environment. The administrative server further receives the demand constraints, placement constraints and license enforcement policies. The administrative server identifies a set of compute nodes to host the user's workload based on the virtual machines demands, the demand constraints, the placement constraints and the license enforcement policies. In this manner, a set of compute nodes is dynamically built for consideration in forming a cloud group without the user requiring knowledge of the cloud's composition.

Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for managing hardware components in a cloud computing environment. A mobile device captures an image of a bar code placed on a rack that is associated with an identifier that references an Internet resource of the management software that manages the rack. The mobile device transmits a request to the management software for information regarding a component in the rack, where the request includes a unique identifier (e.g., serial number) associated with the component. The management software uses the unique identifier to identify the component of interest and transmits information regarding the component of interest to the mobile device. In this manner, the client device can conveniently access the management software as well as conveniently acquire information dynamically from the management software about specific hardware components in these racks while the user is on the floor of the data center.

Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for performing maintenance operations on a cloud computing node. An administrative server receives an indication that a maintenance operation is to be performed on a cloud computing node. The administrative server identifies which virtual machine(s) on the cloud computing node will be affected by the maintenance operation. The administrative server relocates the virtual machine(s) to be affected by the maintenance operation to other suitable cloud computing node(s) prior to the maintenance operation being performed. The administrative server then performs the maintenance operation on the cloud computing node. The virtual machine(s) may be relocated back to the cloud computing node after the maintenance operation is completed in response to a need to rebalance resources in such a manner. In this manner, maintenance operations may be performed on a cloud computing node without requiring to stop all the virtual machines in the node.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method, system and/or computer program product manage software maintenance software in a computer system. A first snapshot is taken of first system states of a computer system. The first snapshot is mapped to a first maintenance software, which is further mapped to a specific user. The computer system is instructed to install the first maintenance software in response to an installation request from the specific user. If the specific user subsequently requests that the first maintenance software be removed from the computer system, then the mappings of the first snapshot and the first maintenance software are used to revert the computer system back to the first system states.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method, system and/or computer program product manage software maintenance software in a computer system. A first snapshot is taken of first system states of a computer system. The first snapshot is mapped to a first maintenance software, which is further mapped to a specific user. The computer system is instructed to install the first maintenance software in response to an installation request from the specific user. If the specific user subsequently requests that the first maintenance software be removed from the computer system, then the mappings of the first snapshot and the first maintenance software are used to revert the computer system back to the first system states.

Abstract: A system and a method for automatically generating a proxy interface object to communicate through a gateway software server to a remote software server are provided. The method includes sending a proxy generation request message from the remote software server to the gateway software server to register a client interface object with the gateway software server and the generate a proxy interface object configured to send request messages from the gateway software server to the remote software server. The method further includes sending a proxy generation acknowledgement message from the gateway software server to the remote software server indicating the proxy interface object is functional. The method further includes sending a registration acknowledgment message from the remote software server to a customer application indicating a registration of the client interface object on the remote software server is completed.