Third-party network computational resource utilization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10581689-B2
Application number	US-201815907065-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2018
Priority date	Feb 27, 2018
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

A computing system disposed within a computational instance of a remote network management platform remotely manages a managed network that uses computational resources of a third-party network to deploy operations. The computing system may obtain a utilization policy that identifies (i) particular computational resources of the third-party network used to deploy a particular operation and (ii) a time period during which the particular computational resources can be used. The computing system may be configured to: obtain a utilization report that identifies (i) the computational resources used to deploy the operations and (ii) times at which the computational resources were used; determine that the particular computational resources deployed the particular operation outside the time period identified by the utilization policy; generate a report indicating that the particular computational resources deployed the particular operation outside the time period; and provide the report to the managed network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing system comprising a computational instance of a remote network management platform that remotely manages a managed network, wherein the managed network uses a third-party network to deploy one or more operations using computational resources of the third-party network, the computing system being configured to:
obtain a utilization policy for the managed network, wherein the utilization policy identifies (i) particular computational resources of the third-party network used to deploy a particular operation of the one or more operations and (ii) a time period during which the third-party network can use the particular computational resources to deploy the particular operation;
obtain, from the third-party network, a utilization report that identifies (i) the computational resources used to deploy the one or more operations and (ii) times at which the computational resources deployed the one or more operations;
determine, based on the utilization report, that the particular computational resources identified by the utilization policy deployed the particular operation outside the time period identified by the utilization policy;
generate a report indicating that the particular computational resources identified by the utilization policy deployed the particular operation outside the time period identified by the utilization policy; and
provide the report to the managed network.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the computing system is configured to:
in response to determining that the particular computational resources identified by the utilization policy deployed the particular operation outside the time period identified by the utilization policy, cause the managed network to stop using the particular computational resources outside the time period identified by the utilization policy.

3. The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the computing system is configured to:
after causing the managed network to stop using the particular computational resources outside the time period identified by the utilization policy, cause the managed network to start using the particular computational resources during the time period identified by the utilization policy.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the utilization policy identifies a nominal quantity of the particular computing resources that can be used during the identified time period, and wherein the computing system is configured to:
determine, based on the utilization report, that the nominal quantity of the particular computing resources that can be used during the identified time period has been exceeded.

5. The computing system of claim 4 , wherein the generated report indicates that the nominal quantity of the particular computing resources that can be used during the identified time period has been exceeded.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the utilization policy for the managed network comprises receiving, from the managed network, data that identifies (i) the particular computational resources of the third-party network used to deploy the particular operation of the one or more operations and (ii) the time period during which the third-party network can use the particular computational resources to deploy the particular operation.

7. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the utilization report comprises:
receiving, from the managed network, access credentials for accessing an account of the managed network with the third-party network;
using the access credentials to query the third-party network for the utilization report; and
responsive to querying the third-party network for the utilization report, receiving the utilization report from the third-party network.

8. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the computing system is configured to:
based on a cost of the particular computational resources identified in the utilization report, determine an estimated cost savings that would result from causing the managed network to stop using the particular computational resources, wherein the generated report indicates the determined estimated cost savings.

9. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the time period depends on a physical location of a server of the third-party network on which the particular computational resources are used to deploy the particular operation.

10. A method for use in connection with a computing system comprising a computational instance of a remote network management platform that remotely manages a managed network, wherein the managed network uses a third-party network to deploy one or more operations using computational resources of the third-party network, the method comprising:
obtaining, by the computing system, a utilization policy for the managed network, wherein the utilization policy identifies (i) particular computational resources of the third-party network used to deploy a particular operation of the one or more operations and (ii) a time period during which the third-party network can use the particular computational resources to deploy the particular operation;
obtaining, by the computing system and from the third-party network, a utilization report that identifies (i) the computational resources used to deploy the one or more operations and (ii) times at which the computational resources deployed the one or more operations;
determining, by the computing system, based on the utilization report, that the particular computational resources identified by the utilization policy deployed the particular operation outside the time period identified by the utilization policy;
generating, by the computing system, a report indicating that the particular computational resources identified by the utilization policy deployed the particular operation outside the time period identified by the utilization policy; and
providing, by the computing system, the report to the managed network.

11. The method of claim 10 , comprising:
causing, by the computing system, the managed network to stop using the particular computational resources in response to determining that the particular computational resources identified by the utilization policy deployed the particular operation outside the time period identified by the utilization policy.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising:
after causing the managed network to stop using the particular computational resources outside the time period identified by the utilization policy, causing, by the computing system, the managed network to start using the particular computational resources during the time period identified by the utilization policy.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the utilization policy identifies a nominal quantity of the particular computing resources that can be used during the identified time period, and wherein the method comprises:
determining, based on the utilization report, that the nominal quantity of the particular computing resources that can be used during the identified time period has been exceeded.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the generated report indicates that the nominal quantity of the particular computing resources that can be used during the identified time period has been exceeded.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein obtaining the utilization policy for the managed network comprises receiving, from the managed network, data that identifies (i) the particular computational resources of the third-party network used to deploy the particular operation of the one or more operations and (ii) the time period during which the third-party network can us

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Moguel Adam Wesley
• Kim Chanwook
• Banaji Vani
• Liu Cheng
• Pai Shravan Kalsanka
• Nagaraju Chinmayee

Classifications

• H04L47/78

  Architectures of resource allocation · CPC title

• H04L47/808

  User-type aware · CPC title

• H04L43/0876 Primary

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L41/22

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• H04L41/0213

  Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP] · CPC title