Patent ID: 8176188

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and program code configured to be executed by the at least one processor to determine a cost for using a standby resource in a computer system, wherein the standby resource is activated in response to a resource requirement, and wherein the program code is configured to: automatically determine a cause of the resource requirement by detecting an occurrence of a failure; retrieve a code associated with the determined cause from an electronic log; in response to retrieving the code, correlate the code to a charge indicator, wherein the charge indicator pertains at least in part to the determined cause, and wherein the charge indicator includes a reduced rate relative to another charge indicator that is correlated to another code that is associated with a cause other than a cause associated with an occurrence of a failure; in response to automatically determining the cause of the resource requirement, determine a duration of standby resource activation; and determine the cost for using the standby resource according to the charge indicator and the duration of standby resource activation such that the cost for using the standby resource is reduced relative to if the cause of the resource requirement was for other than an occurrence of a failure.