Patent ID: 8832219

Claim:
A method comprising: accessing a set of aggregate usage history data for a set of users each operating a set of machines consuming a set of resources in a host cloud; generating a set of variable consumption periods over which the consumption of the set of resources will be tracked for the set of users on a combined basis, wherein a length of each of the set of variable consumption periods is less than a length of a subscription limit period defined in a set of subscription parameters; identifying a set of subscription margins for a resource in the set of resources in view of a comparison of the consumption of the resource to a resource subscription limit for the set of users on a combined basis over the set of variable consumption periods; generating, by a processor, a set of marginal consumption values for the set of users for the set of variable consumption periods in the host cloud, wherein the length of each of the set of variable consumption periods varies in view of relative changes in the set of marginal consumption values; and generating a management action in view of the marginal consumption value for the set of variable consumption periods.