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Showing papers on "Service-level agreement published in 2006"


Patent
21 Jun 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a mechanism to enforce network service-level agreements in a network infrastructure element by copying an application-layer message without disrupting the forwarding of the application layer message.
Abstract: Enforcing network service level agreements in a network infrastructure element comprises receiving, at the network infrastructure element, an application-layer message comprising one or more of the packets; forwarding the application-layer message toward a destination endpoint and concurrently copying the application-layer message without disrupting the forwarding; using the copied application-layer message, discovering one or more applications or services that are using the network; using the copied application-layer message, identifying one or more network-layer condition metrics, and identifying one or more application-layer condition metrics; determining, based on the identified network-layer condition metrics and the application-layer condition metrics, whether one or more conditions of a service level agreement are violated; and in response to determining a violation, performing one or more responsive operations on one or more network elements.

432 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
21 Mar 2006
TL;DR: This paper presents an approach to LBAC aimed at integrating location-based conditions along with a generic access control model, so that a requestor can be granted or denied access by checking her location as well as her credentials.
Abstract: Location-based Access Control (LBAC) techniques allow taking users' physical location into account when determining their access privileges. In this paper, we present an approach to LBAC aimed at integrating location-based conditions along with a generic access control model, so that a requestor can be granted or denied access by checking her location as well as her credentials. Our LBAC model includes a novel way of taking into account the limitations of the technology used to ascertain the location of the requester. Namely, we describe how location verification can be encapsulated as a service, representing location technologies underlying it in terms of two semantically uniform service level agreement (SLA) parameters called confidence and timeout. Based on these parameters, we present the formal definition of a number of location-based predicates, their management, evaluation, and enforcement. The challenges that such an extension to traditional access control policies inevitably carries are discussed also with reference to detailed examples of LBAC policies.

183 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
14 Jun 2006
TL;DR: This paper builds on earlier work on dynamic CPU allocation to applications on shared servers, and presents a feedback control system consisting of two nested integral control loops for managing the QoS metric of the application along with the utilization of the allocated CPU resource.
Abstract: Virtualization and consolidation of IT resources have created a need for more effective workload management tools, one that dynamically controls resource allocation to a hosted application to achieve quality of service (QoS) goals. These goals can in turn be driven by the utility of the service, typically based on the application's service level agreement (SLA) as well as the cost of resources allocated. In this paper, we build on our earlier work on dynamic CPU allocation to applications on shared servers, and present a feedback control system consisting of two nested integral control loops for managing the QoS metric of the application along with the utilization of the allocated CPU resource. The control system was implemented on a lab testbed running an Apache Web server and using the 90th percentile of the response times as the QoS metric. Experiments using a synthetic workload based on an industry benchmark validated two important features of the nested control design. First, compared to a single loop for controlling response time only, the nested design is less sensitive to the bimodal behavior of the system resulting in more robust performance. Second, compared to a single loop for controlling CPU utilization only, the new design provides a framework for dealing with the tradeoff between better QoS and lower cost of resources, therefore resulting in better overall utility of the service.

162 citations


Patent
Kirk A. Beaty1, Norman Bobroff1, Gautam Kar1, Gunjan Khanna1, Andrzej Kochut1 
28 Feb 2006
Abstract: Techniques for dynamic management of virtual machine environments are disclosed. For example, a technique for automatically managing a first set of virtual machines being hosted by a second set of physical machines comprises the following steps/operations. An alert is obtained that a service level agreement (SLA) pertaining to at least one application being hosted by at least one of the virtual machines in the first set of virtual machines is being violated. Upon obtaining the SLA violation alert, the technique obtains at least one performance measurement for at least a portion of the machines in at least one of the first set of virtual machines and the second set of physical machines, and a cost of migration for at least a portion of the virtual machines in the first set of virtual machines. Based on the obtained performance measurements and the obtained migration costs, an optimal migration policy is determined for moving the virtual machine hosting the at least one application to another physical machine.

143 citations


Patent
29 Nov 2006
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a method and an arrangement in a service assurance module (400) for controlling service level agreements for communication services in a mobile services access network (402).
Abstract: A method and an arrangement in a service assurance module (400) for controlling service level agreements for communication services in a mobile services access network (402). A network performance rule (400b) is created for a service level agreement, and is based on an associated performance indicator (406) indicating the current network performance with respect to the fulfilment of the service level agreement. The performance indicator is then monitored, and the network performance rule is evaluated on a regular basis based on the performance indicator. If the network performance rule is not satisfied, an agreement violation is registered and/or measures are' taken to improve the network performance.

125 citations


Patent
15 May 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided mechanisms and methods for controlling data flow based on a temporal policy, which can enable embodiments to provide a different service level agreement to control network traffic selected from a plurality of service level agreements based upon one or more temporal conditions.
Abstract: In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for controlling data flow based on a temporal policy. These mechanisms and methods for controlling data flow based on a temporal policy can enable embodiments to provide a different service level agreement to control network traffic selected from a plurality of service level agreements based upon one or more temporal conditions. The ability of embodiments to provide different service level agreement to control network traffic can enable embodiments to control one or more of access to network resources and traffic flow coordination to enhance efficient usage of the network resources.

112 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
18 Sep 2006
TL;DR: An evaluation of existing research in the field of QoS and service level agreement (SLA) ontologies is presented to identify the weaknesses and strengths of existing ontologies in order to decide which parts of each should form the basis of a unified ontology.
Abstract: This paper reports on work in progress to produce a unified Quality of Service (QoS) ontology This ontology must be applicable to the main scenarios currently identified such as QoS-based Web Services selection, QoS monitoring and QoS adaptation. An evaluation of existing research in the field of QoS and Service Level Agreement (SLA) ontologies is presented. Many of the authors of these works are involved in the initiative. The aim of this evaluation is to identify the weaknesses and strengths of existing ontologies in order to decide which parts of each should form the basis of a unified ontology. Current progress in the ontology engineering process is also presented.

100 citations


Patent
10 Apr 2006
TL;DR: A system for dynamically allocating resources in a computing grid is provided in this article, which comprises a resource management component, a service level agreement (SLA) management component and a job scheduling component.
Abstract: A system for dynamically allocating resources in a computing grid is provided The system comprises a resource management component, a service level agreement (SLA) management component and a job scheduling component The resource management component is configured to determine availability of a set of resources in a computing grid, for executing job requests submitted by users of the computing grid The SLA management component is configured to manage service level agreements (SLAs) corresponding to the users and perform a negotiation of resources for the users submitting the job requests, in real-time, based on a resource steerability attribute associated with the job requests The job-scheduling component is configured to schedule the job requests for the users, based on the resource steerability attribute associated with the job requests The job requests comprise at least one of a job having batch characteristics and a job having interactive characteristics The computing grid is configured to process the job based on the resource steerability attribute associated with the job request

85 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
18 Apr 2006
TL;DR: This paper proposes agent-based coordinated-negotiation architecture to ensure collective functionality, end-to-end QoS and the stateful coordination of complex services, and describes a prototype implementation to demonstrate how this architecture can be used in different application domains.
Abstract: Recent progress in the field of Web services has made it possible to integrate inter-organizational and heterogeneous services on the Web at runtime If a user request cannot be satisfied by a single Web service, it is (or should be) possible to combine existing services in order to fulfill the request However, there are several challenging issues that need to be addressed before this can be realized in the true sense One of them is the ability to ensure end-to-end QoS of a Web service composition There is a need for a SLA negotiation system which can ensure the autonomous QoS negotiation of Web service compositions irrespective of the application domain In this paper we propose agent-based coordinated-negotiation architecture to ensure collective functionality, end-to-end QoS and the stateful coordination of complex services We describe a prototype implementation to demonstrate how this architecture can be used in different application domains We have also demonstrated how the negotiation system on the service provider's side can be implemented both as an agent based negotiation system and as a Web service based negotiation system

81 citations


Patent
Paul Oommen1
10 Mar 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, a system for managing performance of a terminal includes a service level manager capable of identifying one or more QoS management parameters based upon a service-level agreement associated with a selected service.
Abstract: A system for managing performance of a terminal includes a service level manager capable of identifying one or more QoS management parameters based upon a service level agreement associated with a selected service. Because the QoS management parameters may differ from layer to layer in a multi-layer protocol stack, the service level manager is also capable of mapping the QoS management parameters to corresponding layer-specific QoS parameters for different protocol layers. Thereafter, the service level manager is capable of downloading, to the terminal, a service level specification (SLS) including the layer-specific QoS parameters, hi this regard, the SLS is downloaded to the terminal during provisioning of the selected service, where the service provisioning is performed via an over-the-air (OTA) framework. Thereafter, the QoS experienced by the terminal in effectuating the selected service can then be managed based upon the SLS.

76 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A survey of the protocols that have been proposed for facilitating dynamic service negotiation in the next-generation Internet and an enumerate of characteristics desired in an ideal service negotiation protocol and a comparison between the various protocols based on this list.
Abstract: This article presents a survey of the protocols that have been proposed for facilitating dynamic service negotiation in the next-generation Internet. We begin by illustrating the terms service level agreement and service level specification defined by the IETF. We then discuss the working of the existing service negotiation protocols with respect to generic network architecture. Following that, we enumerate a list of characteristics desired in an ideal service negotiation protocol and draw a comparison between the various protocols based on this list. We conclude the article by discussing possible future research directions in this area.

Patent
16 Jun 2006
TL;DR: In this article, a method for service level management comprises identifying connected enterprise application components and, under control of an automated system, relating historical performance for the connected enterprise AP components and electronically creating a service level agreement based on the historical performance relation.
Abstract: A method for service level management comprises identifying connected enterprise application components and, under control of an automated system, relating historical performance for the connected enterprise application components and electronically creating a service level agreement based on the historical performance relation.

Patent
10 Apr 2006
TL;DR: In this article, a Wholesaler dynamically identifies one of a plurality of AAA services at a remote domain to route an access request to and selects the AAA service based on a set of rules applied to information which has been received dynamically from the plurality.
Abstract: In a first aspect of the present invention, a Wholesaler dynamically identifies one of a plurality of AAA services at a remote domain to route an access request to. The AAA service is selected based upon a set of rules applied to information which has been received dynamically from the plurality of AAA services and is indicative of load and status of the plurality of AAA services. In a second aspect of the present invention, a Wholesaler, based upon a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the Wholesaler and a user, routes the user to one of a plurality of sub-service providers.

Patent
13 Dec 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, a network monitoring system monitors the network service during runtime to determine SLA and OLA violations, and the data collected during runtime can be correlated using a hierarchy based on business transactions or in some other manner.
Abstract: Data collected during runtime and associated with a service level agreement and operating level agreement for a network service are automatically correlated together. A network monitoring system monitors the network service during runtime to determine SLA and OLA violations. An SLA is tested against traffic monitoring data derived from monitoring traffic between a network service system and one or more users of the system. An OLA is tested against application runtime data generated from monitoring a transaction occurring between an application server and a backend or other internal entity of the network service system. The data collected during runtime can be correlated using a hierarchy based on business transactions or in some other manner. Because the traffic monitoring data and application runtime data are organized using a similar data hierarchy, the traffic monitoring data corresponding to an SLA may be correlated to the application runtime data corresponding to the same business transaction and one or more OLAs.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
25 Sep 2006
TL;DR: A market-based SLA coordination mechanism, based on a well known contract net protocol, that allows resource owners to have finer degree of control over the resource allocation and superschedulers to bid for SLA contracts in the contract net with focus on completing a job within a user specified deadline is presented.
Abstract: The Service Level Agreement (SLA) based grid superscheduling approach promotes coordinated resource sharing. Superscheduling is facilitated between administratively and topologically distributed grid sites via grid schedulers such as Resource brokers and workflow engines. In this work, we present a market-based SLA coordination mechanism, based on a well known contract net protocol. The key advantages of our approach are that it allows: (i) resource owners to have finer degree of control over the resource allocation which is something that is not possible with traditional mechanisms; and (ii) superschedulers to bid for SLA contracts in the contract net, with focus on completing a job within a user specified deadline. In this work, we use simulation to show the effectiveness of our proposed approach.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: This paper introduces a methodology which helps in security SLA automatic evaluation and comparison and illustrates the applicability of the proposed methodology in different contexts of great interest for e-government projects.
Abstract: Cooperative services in Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) inter act and delegate jobs to each other; when they have to respect a Service Level Agreement (SLA) they need to explicitly manage it amongst each other. SLAs and, above all, security-SLAs, are usually expressed in ambiguous ways and this implies that they need to be manually evaluated both in a mutual agreement to ”qualify a service” and in the monitoring process. Due to this approach, usually, service composition cannot be dynamically performed. In this paper we introduce a methodology which helps in security SLA automatic evaluation and comparison. The methodology founds on the adoption of policies both for service behav ior and SLA description and on the definition of a metric function for evaluation and comparison of policies. We will illustrate the applicability of the proposed methodology in different contexts of great interest for e-government projects.

Patent
31 Jul 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, an outsourced service level agreement (SLA) deliverable management method includes configuring SLA client and secondary SLA provider master data, procuring a secondary SLAs provider provision services network, administering a SLAs human resource network, processing an SLAs client provisioning requirement, processing SLAs provisioning service voucher, and processing payment of an SLA provisioning work order.
Abstract: 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. This Abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an Abstract that allows a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain subject matter of the technical disclosure. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Autonomic Service Architecture is presented, a uniform framework for automated management of both Internet services and their underlying network resources that ensures the delivery of services according to specific service level agreements (SLAs) between customers and service providers.

Patent
Q. James Hu1
19 Sep 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, a centralized policy management framework, including a centralized repository, is provided that can support both services and network management within a wireless network, and supports both Internet Protocol (IP)-based and non IP-based service traffic.
Abstract: A centralized policy management framework, including a centralized policy repository, is provided that can support both services and network management within a wireless network, and supports both Internet Protocol (IP)-based and non IP-based service traffic. Service level agreement (SLA) management and policy exchange is enabled for converged services across network domains. In one non-limiting embodiment, a 3GPP standards-based architecture is integrated into the overall policy management framework.

Book ChapterDOI
13 Sep 2006
TL;DR: The use of WS-Agreement for Service Level Agreements is described paving the way for using multiple distributed resources to satisfy a single service request.
Abstract: Co-ordinated usage of resources in a Grid environment is a challenging task impeded by the nature of resource usage and provision: Resources reside in different geographic locations, are managed by different organisations, and the provision of reliable access to these resource usually has to be negotiated and agreed upon in advance. These prerequisites have to be taken into account providing solutions for the orchestration of Grid resources. In this document we describe the use of WS-Agreement for Service Level Agreements paving the way for using multiple distributed resources to satisfy a single service request. WS-Agreement is about to be released as a draft recommendation of the Global Grid Forum and has already been implemented in a number of projects, two of which we will presented in this paper.

Patent
07 Apr 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, a technique for efficiently processing resource allocation requests in an on-demand environment is proposed, where a user logs into a resource allocation request manager, resource requirements entered are immediately sent to a remote resource manager to permit real-time feedback to the user who is entering the resource requirements.
Abstract: A technique for efficiently processing resource allocation requests in an on-demand environment. When a user logs into a resource allocation request manager, resource requirements entered are immediately sent to a remote resource manager to permit real-time feedback to the user who is entering the resource requirements. The user can thus reconfigure or otherwise modify the resource requests based on this feedback to optimize the overall resource allocation request. This also allows an organization providing services such as computer hosting services to re-allocate resources in advance if a new resource request would exceed a service level agreement outlined in advance with a customer, thereby improving resource planning in a data center environment. In addition, the dynamic feedback on the new resource request that exceeds a service level agreement can be used to develop a new service level agreement or temporary service offer that addresses the unique resource condition.

Patent
12 May 2006
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provided mechanisms and methods for shaping traffic, which can enable them to control traffic flow at a network gatekeeper based upon policies implementing service level agreements dictating traffic characteristics permitted to applications and/or by network node.
Abstract: In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for shaping traffic. These mechanisms and methods for shaping traffic can enable embodiments to control traffic flow at a network gatekeeper based upon policies implementing service level agreements dictating traffic characteristics permitted to applications and/or by network node. The ability of embodiments to provide service level agreement based control of network traffic can enable control of traffic flow by application and/or by network node.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
18 Apr 2006
TL;DR: This work proposes the adaptation of event correlation techniques which have already proven to be useful in the area of network and systems management for service provisioning and proposes a hybrid architecture which consists of a rule-based reasoning module, whose rules are derived from a modeling of services and underlying infrastructure, and a case- based reasoning module.
Abstract: In today's service market the provisioning of high quality services has become a critical issue for providers as the business success of their customers is often based on the well functioning of these subscribed services. Besides a proper service configuration an efficient fault management needs to be in place. Requirements for such a fault management are the timely resolution of problems affecting the service quality and a reasonable balance between the fault management effort and the costs saved by preventing service level agreement violations. In order to fulfill these requirements we propose the adaptation of event correlation techniques which have already proven to be useful in the area of network and systems management. Our hybrid architecture consists of a rule-based reasoning module, whose rules are derived from a modeling of services and underlying infrastructure, and a case-based reasoning module. Due to the complexity of today's service provisioning we use the latter one to collect cases that cannot be covered by the rules so far. The experience gained from the cases is used to improve the modeling and therefore to improve the rules. We use a service provisioning scenario at a large IT service provider to show the applicability of our approach.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
14 Aug 2006
TL;DR: Simulation results show that an enhancement called LibraRisk can manage the risk of inaccurate runtime estimates for deadline constrained job admission control in clusters better than EDF and Libra by considering therisk of deadline delay.
Abstract: The advent of service-oriented Grid computing has resulted in the need for Grid resources such as clusters to enforce user-specific service needs and expectations. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) define conditions which a cluster needs to fulfill for various jobs. An example of SLA requirement is the deadline by which a job has to be completed. In addition, these clusters implement job admission control so that overall service performance does not deteriorate due to accepting exceeding amount of jobs. However, their effectiveness is highly dependent on accurate runtime estimates of jobs. This paper thus examines the adverse impact of inaccurate runtime estimates for deadline constrained job admission control in clusters using the Earliest Deadline First (EDF) strategy and a deadline-based proportional processor share strategy called Libra. Simulation results show that an enhancement called LibraRisk can manage the risk of inaccurate runtime estimates better than EDF and Libra by considering the risk of deadline delay.

Book ChapterDOI
13 Sep 2006
TL;DR: The authors present a component that is able to combine the Service Level Agreement, the system status, and all business objectives of the provider in order to address the business needs of service providers in the Grid.
Abstract: Achievements and experiences in projects with focus on resource management have shown that the goals and needs of High Performance Computing service providers have not or only inadequately been taken into account in Grid research and development. Mapping real-life business behaviour and workflows within the service provider domain to the electronic level implies focusing on the business rules of the provider as well as on the complexity of the jobs and the current state of the HPC system. This paper describes an architectural approach towards a business-oriented and Service Level Agreement-supported resource management, valuable for High Performance Computing providers to offer and sell their services. With the introduction of a Conversion Factory the authors present a component that is able to combine the Service Level Agreement, the system status, and all business objectives of the provider in order to address the business needs of service providers in the Grid.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Six architectures that perform SLA auditing both quantitatively and qualitatively are evaluated, concluding that no single architecture seems to be the best solution for all cases and indicate where each one is best suited.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a formal definition of an agreement and analyze the possible evolutions of agreements and their terms over an execution, identifying a number of extensions which involve the initial negotiation, the monitoring of running agreements, and the possibility of renegotiating agreements in executions.
Abstract: When having repeated interactions with a service provider, a service consumer might desire guarantees on the delivery of the service. These guarantees involve both functional and non-functional properties of the offered service over a number of invocations. When the guarantee terms are explicitly defined in a document, we talk about a service level agreement.WS-Agreement is an industry driven emerging protocol for the specification of agreements in the context of Web Services. If, on the one hand, WS-Agreement defines the XML syntax for the language and protocol, on the other hand, it gives only a vague textual overview of the intended meaning. We fill this gap by providing a formal definition of an agreement and analyzing the possible evolutions of agreements and their terms over an execution. As a result we identify a number of extensions which involve the initial negotiation, the monitoring of running agreements, and the possibility of renegotiating agreements in executions. We evaluate the proposed approach through experimentation.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
16 Jul 2006
TL;DR: This paper presents an approach to adaptive coordination between customers requesting service via an SLA, and the provider who owns and provisions network resources, by deploying a set of software agents capable of automating negotiation between these parties.
Abstract: Service Level Agreement Management in the telecommunications domain consists of a set of mechanisms for establishing, provisioning and monitoring services according to specified requirements given by either a customer or provider. This paper presents an approach to adaptive coordination between customers requesting service via an SLA, and the provider who owns and provisions network resources. We deploy a set of software agents capable of automating negotiation between these parties, while simultaneously applying provider policy and controlling admission of service requests onto the underlying network infrastructure. An architecture supporting this approach is described, as is a prototype of the full system deployed on a network simulator.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: This paper introduces the concept of Service-Oriented Assurance (SOAS), in which services articulate their offered security assurances as well as assess the security of their sub-services, and enables discovery of sub- services with the “right” level of security.
Abstract: Flexibility to adapt to changing business needs is a core requirement of today’s enterprises. This is addressed by decomposing business processes into services that can be provided by scalable service-oriented architectures. Service-oriented architectures enable requesters to dynamically discover and use subservices. Today, service selection does not consider security. In this paper, we introduce the concept of Service-Oriented Assurance (SOAS), in which services articulate their offered security assurances as well as assess the security of their sub-services. Products and services with well-specified and verifiable assurances provide guarantees about their security properties. Consequently, SOAS enables discovery of sub-services with the “right” level of security. Applied to business installations, it enables enterprises to perform a well-founded security/price tradeoff for the services used in their business processes.

Book ChapterDOI
21 Jun 2006
TL;DR: In this article, a dependability analysis of MPSs is presented, which constitutes a very useful support to the service provider in choosing the most appropriate service alternatives to build up its own composite service.
Abstract: As Web service-based system integration recently became the mainstream approach to create composite services, the dependability of such systems becomes more and more crucial. Therefore, extensions of the common service composition techniques are urgently needed in order to cover dependability aspects and a core concept for the dependability estimation of the target composite service. Since Web services-based workflows fit into the class of systems composed of multiple phases, this paper attempts to apply methodologies and tools for dependability analysis of Multiple Phased Systems (MPS) to this emerging category of dependability critical systems. The paper shows how this dependability analysis constitutes a very useful support to the service provider in choosing the most appropriate service alternatives to build up its own composite service