254 results about "Service level requirement" patented technology

A method of controlling packet traffic in an IP network of originating, receiving and intermediate nodes to meet performance objectives established by service level agreements. Traffic statistics and performance data such as delay and loss rates relating to traffic flows are collected at intermediate nodes. A control server processes the collected data to determines data flow rates for different priorities of traffic. A static directory node is used to look up inter-node connections and determine initial traffic classes corresponding to those connections. The rates are combined with the initial traffic classes to define codes for encoding the headers of packets to determine their network priority.

A system for managing allocation of resources based on service level agreements between application owners and cloud operators. Under some service level agreements, the cloud operator may have responsibility for managing allocation of resources to the software application and may manage the allocation such that the software application executes within an agreed performance level. Operating a cloud computing platform according to such a service level agreement may alleviate for the application owners the complexities of managing allocation of resources and may provide greater flexibility to cloud operators in managing their cloud computing platforms.

A Time-Based Service Monitoring mechanism for monitoring Service Level Agreements (SLAs) over specific time intervals is described. To provide for the time-based monitoring of service, data is received for defining one or more tests for monitoring the level of network service that is being provided to a particular customer. Based on the received data, information is created and stored that defines a specific time range for when the one or more tests are to be enforced. The one or more tests are distributed to one or more agents that are configured to communicate with devices that are associated with the network. The devices are then configured to perform the one or more tests within the specific time range. Based on the results, the customer is provided information indicating whether they are receiving the level of service that has been guaranteed by the service provider over the specific time intervals.

A system assures quality of service provided by a distributed network having at least one object. The system creates a contract that stores levels of quality of service offered by the network, determines a quality of service required by the object, and evaluates the contract to select a level of quality of service that corresponds to a current quality of service provided by the network. The system then compares the current quality of service to the required quality of service, and adjusts the current quality of service to obtain the required quality of service when the current quality of service fails to satisfy the required quality of service.

The present invention describes a system for automatically monitoring and managing Service Level Agreements on behalf of Service Providers (such as Application Service providers). The system is based on a specialized SLA language that can translate complex or simple Service Level Agreements into measurable and controllable criterion. The system enables Application Service providers to set up customized Service Level Agreements with customers, and monitor, modify and control all aspects of these agreements, including billing, sales, Customer Relation Management, customer support and Quality of Service. The technology on which the present invention is based is a formula driven language that translates Service Level Agreement details into commands. As such these details can be tracked and processed to produce detailed reports and summaries.

A new concept of soft quality-of-service (soft-QoS) is developed that bridges the gap between the efficient provision of network-level QoS and the requirements of multimedia applications. Soft-QoS is defined by a satisfaction index (a number that rates users' perceptual quality) and a softness profile (a function that captures the robustness of multimedia applications to network congestion). Another aspect of this invention is a bandwidth allocation scheme for multimedia applications with soft-QoS requirements is presented. The implementation of the bandwidth allocation scheme on a network element realizes a soft-QoS controller. The controller uses the connections' softness profiles to compute a bandwidth allocation that maximizes the minimum satisfaction index of active connections.

A radio link adapter for wireless transmission of multimedia data through a communication link between a radio access network (RAN) and a mobile station (MS), is provided. The information flow is constantly monitored to determine an information element (IE) type of service requirements and for allocating paired radio link adapters (RLAs) designed to fit the respective type of service requirements. A connection end may be initially established in the RAN or in the MS. An analyser monitors the link, detects the type of service (ToS) required, and dynamically allocates the appropriate type of RLA to the connection. There is no need to recreate the connection when selecting the adapter for transporting various types of services and therefore, the transport of the information flow of a specific ToS over the communication link is optimized, while maintaining the end-to-end quality of service (QoS).

Generally speaking, systems, methods and media for management of grid computing resources based on service level requirements are disclosed. Embodiments of a method for scheduling a task on a grid computing system may include updating a job model by determining currently requested tasks and projecting future task submissions and updating a resource model by determining currently available resources and projecting future resource availability. The method may also include updating a financial model based on the job model, resource model, and one or more service level requirements of an SLA associated with the task, where the financial model includes an indication of costs of a task based on the service level requirements. The method may also include scheduling performance of the task based on the updated financial model and determining whether the scheduled performance satisfies the service level requirements of the task and, if not, performing a remedial action.

A system and method for determining service requirements of elements in a network. A collection program is used to gather performance data from an element for which a service requirement is desirable by an entity. The performance data is stored in a database. The performance data is then retrieved by a microprocessor. The microprocessor processes the performance data to calculate a network health indicator associated with the performance data. Using the network health indicator, a service requirement of the associated element can be determined. When at least two network health indicators or service requirements of different elements are compared, service priorities among the elements can be established.

A system for managing allocation of resources based on service level agreements between application owners and cloud operators. Under some service level agreements, the cloud operator may have responsibility for managing allocation of resources to the software application and may manage the allocation such that the software application executes within an agreed performance level. Operating a cloud computing platform according to such a service level agreement may alleviate for the application owners the complexities of managing allocation of resources and may provide greater flexibility to cloud operators in managing their cloud computing platforms.

An objective, service-level specific voice call listening quality test scheme for a Voice Over IP (VOIP) network is presented. Test probes are deployed along the border of the VOIP network. Each test probe is capable of placing calls over the VOIP network to the other test probes at different levels of service and measuring call quality using an objective measurement algorithm such as PAMS or PSQM. The measurement results are collected on an ongoing basis to obtain information on the VOIP network's voice call quality. The information is compared to thresholds to measure performance against Service Level Agreement guarantees.

Compliance with subscriber job delivery requirements is managed and tracked. Job requirements set forth in service level agreements are stored electronically as delivery parameters. A queue manager creates a prioritized list of delivery jobs. A delivery manager delivers the jobs in accordance with the prioritized list. A routing manager determines optimal routes, e.g., least cost route for delivery of each job. Retries of jobs that are not successfully delivered can be performed. delivery job sources include broadcast subscribers, high- and low-priority single address subscribers, free subscribers and off-peak subscribers.

A router has at least one outbound interface configured for establishing multiple IP-based secure connections (i.e., tunnels) with respective destinations based on transmission of encrypted data packets via the IP-based secure connections. The encrypted data packets are generated by a cryptographic module, where each encrypted packet successively output from the cryptographic module includes a corresponding successively-unique sequence number. The supply of data packets to the cryptographic module is controlled by a queue controller: the queue controller assigns, for each secure connection, a corresponding queuing module configured for outputting a group of data packets associated with the corresponding secure connection according to a corresponding assigned maximum output bandwidth. Each queuing module also is configured for reordering the corresponding group of data packets according to a determined quality of service policy and the corresponding assigned maximum output bandwidth.

A traffic and radio resource control in a wireless device with multiple operation modes is disclosed. For accomplishing an efficient use of physical and radio resources in terms of the required service level, a first set of radio transmission resources is selected for an assembled output data stream. A path is then searched for with respect to each destination node of the stream, each path leading from the wireless communication device to the destination node in question and fulfilling the service level requirement corresponding to that destination node. The transmission of the output data stream is then scheduled according to the current state of the wireless communication device, when a path is found for each of the destination nodes. The operation modes of the wireless communication device are controlled to maintain the required service level during the transmission.

A system and method are disclosed for using directory services to manage resources in a virtual execution environment. A directory repository is populated with resource, administration, roles, policy, and service level agreement (SLA) objects. A service request is received by a virtual machine manager (VMM) administrator, which determines its requirements. The directory repository is queried with a directory service to identify available resources to fulfill the service request. The service request is routed to the VMM of the virtual machine (VM) host comprising the available resources. If an active VM comprises the available resources, then its roles, policy, and SLA objects are retrieved from the directory repository. The objects are then used to respectively determine if the service request has sufficient authentication and authorizations, if the VM's configuration meets the service request's resource requirements, and if service levels requirements can be maintained. If so, then the service request is fulfilled by the target VM. If the resources are available, but not on a currently executing VM, then an administration object is created to execute a new VM and roles, policy, and SLA objects are created that match the requirements of the service request. The newly created objects are then stored in the directory repository and the service request is fulfilled by the new VM.

An arrangement where a policy manager automatically generates configuration file updates for the routers in the network, as necessary, sends those updates to the appropriate routers, and causes the routers to install the configuration file updates in real-time. The automatic generation of configuration file updates is carried out in response to information that is delivered to the policy manager from a traffic measurement and flow analysis system that replaces the prior art analyzer system. The information that is generated by the traffic measurement and flow analysis system is sensitive to thresholds that the policy manager installs in the traffic measurement and flow analysis system.

A method and apparatus for allocating and using a resource to transmit wireless information signals to a plurality of subscriber units wherein application flows are selected based on associated Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. Compensation factors are evaluated for a plurality of QoS requirements. For a violation of a given QoS requirement, the corresponding compensation factor is calculated and applied to an adaptive weight, else the compensation factor is set to a default value.

A network device is arranged for coupling to a first network segment (18) to a second network segment (17), and has a transfer unit (23) for transferring data packets between the first and second network segments. The device has a determining unit (24) for determining a service requirement for a received data packet for accommodating the service requirement in the second network segment. A source of the received data packet in the first network segment is detected. Based on priority criteria and content type criteria a type of service is tagged to the data packet in dependence of the source. The transfer unit is arranged for accommodating the type of service in the second network segment. Advantageously a bridge is formed for transferring data packets that are unaware of quality of service to a network segment that operates according to quality of service requirements.

A service monitoring mechanism for providing on-line standardized contract configurations for monitoring Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Service Level Contracts (SLCs) is described. The service monitoring mechanism provides a method for monitoring a service level agreement that defines for a particular network, a level of service that has been offered to a customer by a service provider. In one aspect, to provide for the monitoring of a service level agreement, a Service Level Manger (SLM) is configured to manage, monitor, and verify the SLAs that have been established between a customer and a Service Provider. The SLM provides a standardized open interface that allows users, including third parties, to define SLCs and SLAs for monitoring and verifying the level of service that is being provided by a service provider. In one aspect, the standardized open interface is provided through the use of one or more schemas that include a set of rules that define the tags that can be included within a document and how the tags may be nested within the document. The one or more schemas specify the set of required and optional elements (and their attributes) and the ways in which they may be combined within a document. In response to receiving information that defines one or more tests for a particular service level agreement, the SLM verifies that the information conforms to the set of rules defined within the schema and distributes the one or more tests to one or more agents that are configured to perform the one or more tests.

A highly scalable system and method for supporting (mim,max) based Service Level Agreements (SLA) on outbound bandwidth usage for a plurality of customers whose applications (e.g.,Web sites) are hosted by a server farm that consists of a very large number of servers. The system employs a feedback system that enforces the outbound link bandwidth SLAs by regulating the inbound traffic to a server or server farm. Inbound traffic is admitted to servers using a rate denoted as Rt(i,j), which is the amount of the ith customer's jth type of traffic that can be admitted within a service cycle time to servers which support the ith customer. A centralized device computes Rt(i,j) based on the history of admitted inbound traffic to servers, the history of generated outbound traffic from servers, and the SLAs of various customers. The Rt(i,j) value is then relayed to one or more inbound traffic limiters that regulate the inbound traffic using the rates Rt(i,j) in a given service cycle time. The process of computing and deploying Rt(i,j) values is repeated periodically. In this manner, the system provides a method by which differentiated services can be provided to various types of traffic, the generation of output from a server or a server farm is avoided if that output cannot be delivered to end users, and revenue can be maximized when allocating bandwidth beyond the minimums.

Systems and methods simplify the provision of complex services over a distributed network by breaking a complex service into a collection of simpler services. Systems and methods provide the tools to deconstruct a complex, provision service elements that are needed to make up the complex service, and monitor the service elements to ensure that the complex service is supported. Quality of service is provided by matching service requirements to compute resource capabilities.

The invention relates to a service basic software platform, which comprises a modeling tool, a service analysis engine and a plug-in unit system, wherein the modeling tool is used for processing service universal requirements, defines a service model through property configuration and graph configuration, and catties out high-speed buffer for the service model; the service analysis engine analyzes the buffered service model and instantiates a final service system; and the plug-in unit system writes a plug-in unit in native languages, and transfers a corresponding plug-in unit to process service personalized requirements in the process of analyzing the service model by the service analysis engine. On the basis of a point of view that the service basic software platform needs to serve for developers but not non-service personnel, the service basic software platform uses model drive to reach the service universal requirements, and uses a native code plug-in unit to achieve the service personalized requirements so as to ensure that the model drive logic and the plug-in unit code achievement logic are tightly integrated, and the software developers are released from complicated software works so as to pay close attention to development works which need personalized processing, and improve the software productivity.

An ant-based method for discovering a network path that satisfies a quality of service (QoS) requirement is disclosed. A “forward QoS ant,” which indicates a destination and a QoS requirement, is received at a particular router. The forward QoS ant is updated to indicate the particular router's identity. Given a metric “X,” such as delay, jitter, etc., it is determined whether a least-“X” path from the particular router to the destination satisfies the QoS requirement, and whether the forward QoS ant has visited any other routers in the least-“X” path. If the least-“X” path satisfies the QoS requirement and the forward QoS ant has not visited any other router in the least-“X” path, then the forward QoS ant is sent to the next router in the least-“X” path. Later, a “backward QoS ant,” which indicates the path taken by the forward QoS ant, is received at the particular router.

A storage controller is provided. The storage controller includes a host interface, a drive interface, and a quality of service control module coupled with the host interface and the drive interface. The QoS module includes read and write queues for each data stream, each queue associated with corresponding token buckets, and an arbiter, configured to receive requests from the read and write queues, and to service the read and write queues in an order at least partially determined by a quantity of tokens in each token bucket. The QoS module also includes a quality of service measurement module, configured to measure quality of service levels for each of the read and write queues, and a bandwidth allocation manager, configured to allocate tokens to each token bucket at a rate corresponding to the service level agreements and the measured quality of service level for each of the read and write queues.

A system, device, and method for managing service level agreements in an optical communication system uses an optical service agent to manage a service level agreement (SLA) for a user. The optical service agent can perform both real-time and off-line analysis for the user, and can interact with various network elements (including the core optical communication network) to handle billing, penalty, and other issues associated with a SLA breach. Among other things, the optical service agent may monitor and analyze a connection in real-time for determining SLA compliance, gather and maintain statistical information relating to a connection, analyze the statistical information off-line for determining SLA compliance, patterns, and trends, interact with a service provider to enforce penalty provisions in the SLA, interact with a service provider to negotiate a credit for services not provided by the service provider in accordance with the SLA, interact with a service provider to negotiate “replacement” services for a breach of the SLA, interact with various network elements to rectify a breach of the SLA, interact with the service provider to dynamically modify the SLA based upon changing user requirements, and interface with a billing / accounting system to provide SLA-related information.

Method and apparatus for service level agreement formation and management is described. More particularly, a service level agreement (SLA) manager is described. This SLA manager comprises an admission controller, a specification module and a performance measurement module. Such SLA manager is interposed between one or more client computer systems and a service provider computer system.

An outsourced service level agreement (SLA) deliverable management method includes configuring SLA client and secondary SLA provider master data, procuring a secondary SLA provider provision services network, administering a secondary SLA provider human resource network, processing an SLA client provisioning requirement, processing an SLA provisioning service voucher, and processing payment of an SLA provisioning work order.