Patent Document ID: 20160301624
Application ID: 14683795
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. An apparatus comprising: a model module that generates a model of computing resource usage in a distributed computer system, wherein the distributed computer system comprises a plurality of geographically distributed nodes organized into a plurality of clusters, each cluster comprising at least two of the plurality of nodes; a demand module that predicts future demand for computing resources in the distributed computer system; a cost module that calculates an operation cost for each computing resource in the computer system, wherein each node provides at least one computing resource; an available resource module that identifies a set of available computing resources in the computer system; a resource set module that determines a minimum cost set of computer resources capable of meeting the predicted demand based on the set of available computing resources and on operating costs; and an activation module that determines whether to activate or deactivate each of the plurality of nodes based on the set of computer resources capable of meeting the predicted demand, wherein at least a portion of the model module, demand module, cost module, available resource module, resource set module, and activation module comprise one or more of hardware and executable code, the executable code stored on one or more computer readable storage media.