Patent ID: 7269652
Filing Date: 2007-09-11
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A process for allocating a resource by a service provider having a plurality of service level agreements with a plurality of customers in a shared web application environment in which a web application server retrieves data from a database and transmits data in a displayed web page to a plurality of consumer computers, the process comprising: classifying the plurality of customers into a plurality of premium customers and a plurality of standard customers; collecting a performance data for one of the plurality of premium customers by tracking and timing a plurality of transactions within the shared web application environment; comparing the performance data with an agreed service level for the one of the plurality of premium customers to determine if there is a breach of the agreed service level; determining that an available resource of the one of the plurality of premium customers cannot provide the agreed service level resulting in the breach of the agreed service level; in response to the breach of the agreed service level for the one of the plurality of the premium customers, determining if the available resource has been allocated to one of a plurality of customers that are not using the available resource; if the available resource has been allocated to the one of the plurality of customers that are not using the available resource, re-allocating the available resource from the one of the plurality of customers to the one of the plurality of the premium customers; if the available resource has not been allocated to the one of the plurality of customers that are not using the available resource, determining if the available resource has been allocated to one of the standard customers; and if the available resource has been allocated to the one of the standard customers, re-allocating the available resource from the one of the standard customers to the one of the plurality of the premium customers; wherein the one of the plurality of premium customers is entitled to a first compensation rate when there is the breach of the agreed service level with the one of the premium customers; wherein the one of the plurality of the standard customers is entitled to a second compensation rate when there is a breach of an agreed service level with the one of the plurality of the standard customers; wherein the second compensation rate is less than the first compensation rate; wherein the performance data includes a retrieval rate from the web application server to the database, a time to request and return the displayed web-page, and a number of users that the web application server manages; and wherein the step of re-allocating the available resource from the one of the standard customers to the one of the plurality of the premium customers is based on the retrieval rate from the web application server to the database, the time to request and return the displayed web-page, the number of users that the web application server manages, a target list of the standard customers, a first status of the one of the standard customers, and a second status of the one of the plurality of the premium customers.