CN101916415A - An on-demand service method for software licenses in a "cloud computing" platform - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an on-demand service method for software licenses in a "cloud computing" platform, which is characterized in that it includes generating a software license for a "cloud computing" platform and using it for users of the "cloud computing" platform. Since there are no restrictions on the number of software modules and licenses, no matter how many users need to use it at the same time, as long as the hardware resources are sufficient, the application software and its license resources can meet the needs in time. During the peak period of use of a large number of users, it can meet their needs in a timely manner, effectively improve the quality of service to users, the response time of applications and the productivity of users; when users do not use application software, there will be no software usage records, and the There will be no "software cost". Therefore, in the low period of user use, there will be no waste of user expenses; the utility of application software and its licenses will be more reasonably played, and the full sharing of application software in the "cloud computing" platform and the realization of software value will be realized. promote.

Description

An on-demand service method for software licenses in a "cloud computing" platform

technical field

The invention relates to a software license service method, in particular to an application software license on-demand service method applied in a "cloud computing" platform.

Background technique

The "cloud computing" platform is aggregated by a group of interconnected physical or virtualized servers, and provides users with on-demand services based on the network (such as the Internet). It dynamically and scalable aggregates a large number of resources and services, including computing resources, storage resources, application software resources, etc., and provides them to users in the form of "commercialized" services. Users no longer need to purchase and maintain hardware resources and software resources by themselves, and only need to pay for each use on the "cloud computing" platform, thereby realizing "computing on demand" services.

Scientific and engineering computing applications usually require the support of application software, and commercial application software generally uses the form of selling licenses to control the use of the software. The same "cloud computing" platform has a large number of dynamic users, a huge demand for application software licenses, and has the characteristics of dynamic randomness and elasticity. Therefore, in addition to providing on-demand services of hardware resources such as CPU and storage, how to provide users with on-demand services of application software licenses is a hot research topic.

The existing commercial application software license fee collection method is mainly calculated according to the sales quantity, which can be the number of servers, CPUs, users, clients, or user-customized quantities, and the price is often relatively expensive. According to the validity period of the license, it can be divided into permanent license and temporary license (for example, one month).

The above methods of charging fees for the use of software licenses all have a prerequisite, that is, the number of application software licenses is limited. They cannot be adapted to "cloud computing" platforms. There are mainly the following problems:

(1) If the application software licenses bound to the machine are sold according to the number of servers, CPUs, users or clients, on the one hand, due to the dynamic scalability of the "cloud computing" platform, the number is difficult to determine; on the other hand On the one hand, due to the aggregation of a large number of computing resources, the cost of its application software will inevitably increase significantly, which is unbearable for the operator or user of the "cloud computing" platform. (2) If only a certain number of software licenses are purchased, the number of users of the "cloud computing" platform is often huge and dynamic. Under the premise that the number of licenses is limited, on the one hand, the challenge exists in the peak usage period of users, and the application Software licenses cannot meet the needs of a large number of users, resulting in user applications needing to wait, or even unsatisfied for a long time; on the other hand, during the low period of user use, there will be idle application software license resources, that is, resource waste . The limited number of license resources actually becomes a bottleneck.

In the application of Chinese Patent Publication No. CN1751316, when the user's request exceeds the license terms (such as the number of licenses, the license period), instead of refusing the service immediately, it allows the excess usage, and tracks the excess usage, according to the number of uses Paid licensing schemes let customers end up paying for this overage. Although this method can alleviate the problem of peak user usage at a greater cost, it is still limited by the number of licenses and cannot provide elastic services to users of the "cloud computing" platform, and there may still be a waste of resources.

It is also proposed that the authorization and service of the software license be carried out according to the number of times the user uses the application software. This method can achieve the purpose of eliminating the limit on the number of licenses. However, the "cloud computing" platform has a large number of dynamic users, and it is obviously inconvenient to issue a license for each use. The resources and time used by different applications are often different, and it is not reasonable to charge only by the number of times used.

Contents of the invention

technical problem to be solved

In order to avoid the deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention proposes an on-demand service method for software licenses in a "cloud computing" platform, which can overcome the above-mentioned defects and cancel the number of traditional license resources. Through the timing service of software licenses, flexible, efficient and timely on-demand services of application software and its license resources to users of the "cloud computing" platform are realized.

Technical solutions

An on-demand service method for software licenses in a "cloud computing" platform, characterized in that it includes generating a software license for a "cloud computing" platform and using it for users of the "cloud computing" platform. The specific steps are as follows:

Steps to generate a software license for a "cloud computing" platform:

Step 1: The person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform generates the user information C of the software license, including the following steps:

Step a: Generate cloud computing platform user information C, including "cloud computing" platform information, fee payment information, license server machine information and application software information; the "cloud computing" platform information is: "cloud computing" platform Name, "cloud computing" platform identification number, person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform; the fee payment information: payment type, prepaid amount; machine information of the license server: machine name, machine identification number; the application software information: application software name, software version number;

Step b: use the message digest algorithm to perform a hash operation on C to obtain a hash value A;

Step c: Use the private key of the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform to digitally sign the hash value A to obtain the signature data S;

Step d: Add signature data S to the end of C;

Step e: The person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform sends the user information C to the application software provider;

Step 2: Steps for the application software provider to verify the user information C of the cloud computing platform:

Step a: Use the digest algorithm to perform a hash operation on the user information C of the "cloud computing" platform to obtain a hash value H;

Step b: Use the public key certificate of the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform to verify the signature data in the user information and obtain a hash value H';

Step c: When H and H are consistent, the application software supplier adds the software supplier name of the application software license, the background management program and port, the name of each module of the application software, the issuance time and the expiration date; and adds the fee payment information Confidence levels and time periods in;

Step 3 Steps for the application software provider to digitally sign the application software license:

Step a: Use a digest algorithm to perform a hash operation on the "cloud computing" platform information, fee payment information, license server machine information and application software information to obtain a hash value V;

Step b: use the private key certificate of the application software provider to digitally sign the hash value V to obtain the signature data F;

Step c: Add the signature data F to the end of the application software license;

Step d: The application software provider sends the software license to the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform, and provides it to users of the "cloud computing" platform;

"Cloud Computing" platform users use steps:

Step 1: When the user logs in, the "Cloud Computing" platform verifies the user's username and password; if the verification is passed, proceed to the following steps, otherwise log in again;

Step 2: When the user job requests the application software license, verify the validity of the software license:

When the software license is illegal:

Step a: Terminate the execution of the user job, check the time limit D of the software license, if D has expired, notify the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform and the application software provider, and continue the following processing; otherwise, terminate the "cloud computing" computing" platform to provide services;

Step b: The application software supplier liquidates the remaining amount, and refunds the excess and makes up for the deficiency; if the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform requests to generate a new stage license, incorporate the excess amount into the new prepaid amount; and continue to step c; otherwise , to terminate the provision of services for the "cloud computing" platform;

Step c: The application software provider or its agent regenerates a software license according to the software license generation steps described above, and sends it to the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform;

When the software license is legal:

Step a: start the job execution, record the job start time to the log file;

Step c: After the job ends, record the job end time to the log file;

Step d: Send the software usage time of the job to the application software provider based on the HTTPS protocol;

Step e: The application software provider calculates the software license usage time and software cost of the "cloud computing" platform according to the software usage time, and updates the available quota of the "cloud computing" platform;

The steps to verify the legitimacy of the software license as described:

Step (a): using a digest algorithm, perform a hash operation on the "cloud computing" platform information part of the software license, the application software provider, and the time limit D of the software license to obtain a hash value U;

Step (b): Use the public key certificate of the application software supplier to verify the signature operation on the signature data part of the software license to obtain a hash value U';

Step (c): Compare whether U and U' are the same. If they are not the same, it can be judged that the software license is illegal, if they are the same, continue to the following judgment;

Step (d): compare with the time on the standard network clock server, verify whether the time limit D is valid, if not passed, then the software license is illegal, if passed, then continue the following judgment;

Step (e): When the machine serial number information M extracted from the computer used is the same as the machine name and machine identification number in the license, the software license is legal; otherwise, the software license is illegal.

Beneficial effect

An on-demand service method for software licenses in the "cloud computing" platform proposed by the present invention eliminates the bottleneck problem of license quantity limitation in the "cloud computing" platform, and realizes flexibility, high efficiency and timeliness for a large number of dynamic users on-demand service.

(1) Since there are no restrictions on the number of software modules and licenses, no matter how many users need to use it at the same time, as long as the hardware resources are sufficient, the application software and its license resources can meet the needs in time. During the peak period of use of a large number of users, it can meet their needs in a timely manner, effectively improve the service quality for users, the response time of applications and the productivity of users;

(2) When the user does not use the application software, there will be no software usage records, and there will be no "software cost". Therefore, during the low period of user use, there will be no waste of user spending;

(3) Users only need to pay for their own actual use, thus effectively utilizing software costs, reducing costs, and facilitating users' use;

(4) For application software manufacturers and operators, the utility of application software and its licenses is more reasonably played, and the full sharing of application software in the "cloud computing" platform and the improvement of software value are realized.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a structural diagram of a software license on-demand service method in a "cloud computing" platform;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the content of the application software license in the "cloud computing" platform;

Fig. 3 is the on-demand service steps of the application software license in the "cloud computing" platform;

Detailed ways

Now in conjunction with embodiment, accompanying drawing, the present invention will be further described:

The invention is based on license authorization without quantity limit, counts the usage time of the application software and its license by the user, charges according to the usage time of the software license, and realizes on-demand service for the users of the "cloud computing" platform. In the invention of the on-demand service method for software licenses in the so-called "cloud computing" platform, the following three components are included, and its structure is shown in Figure 1:

(1) Application software license. Each "cloud computing" platform has its own unlimited number of licenses on the application software license server.

(2) "Cloud Computing" platform management software for application software licenses. In each "cloud computing" platform, one or more computer server devices are provided as the application software license server of the "cloud computing" platform, and the "cloud computing" platform management software of the application software license is run. It collects all users on the entire "cloud computing" platform, the usage time records of the application software licenses on different computing systems owned by them.

(3) Application software cost management software. The application software manufacturer or its agent provides one or more computer server devices as application software on-demand servers, and runs the application software cost management software. It directly communicates with the "cloud computing" platform management software of the application software license, and completes the collection, statistics, accounting and charging of application software usage time for one or more "cloud computing" platforms. From "cloud computing" platform management software to expense management software, digital signature and encryption technologies are used to ensure data integrity and security during the acquisition and transmission of application software license usage time data.

In the present invention, the application software license has been designed in a targeted manner. As shown in Figure 2, the content of the application software license is no longer limited by the number and modules, but includes the following parts:

(1) "Cloud Computing" platform information part:

(a) "Cloud computing" platform name

(b) "Cloud computing" platform identification number

(c) Person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform

(2) Fee payment information part:

(a) Payment Type

(b) Prepaid amount

(c) Trust level

(d) time limit

(3) The specific machine information part of the license server:

(a) Machine name

(b) machine identification number

(4) The information part of the application software:

(a) Application software name

(b) version

(c) Supplier name

(d) Application software background management program and its port

(5) The module information part of the application software:

(a) Module name

(b) Time of issue

(c) Expiration date

(d) Digital signature

Its content includes "cloud computing" platform information, fee prepayment information, time limit, specific machine information of the license server, application software information, and application software module information. There is no limit to application software modules, and there is no limit to the number of licenses for application software modules. The person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform, when purchasing the application software and its license, prepays a certain amount in advance. Within the set time limit, legal users of the "cloud computing" platform can use any module of the application software, and there is no limit to the number of software licenses. However, each use of the application software by the user will be tracked and recorded. The accumulated time used by the user will be used as the basis for accounting and used to calculate the software usage fees that need to be paid. At the same time, the expense management software will periodically update the available credit.

Utilizing the on-demand service method of software licenses in the "cloud computing" platform of the present invention, the method steps of the present invention will be further described below through two specific implementation examples.

Embodiment 1: A "cloud computing" platform user submits a job, and the service process of using an application software license is as follows:

Step 1: The user logs in, and the "cloud computing" platform authenticates the legitimacy of his identity. If the verification is passed, proceed to the following steps, otherwise log in again;

Step 2: After the user's identity verification is passed, the job submitted by the user applies for using the application software and a license;

Step 3: Verify the legitimacy of the software license:

When the software license is illegal:

a: Terminate the execution of the user's job, check the time limit D of the software license, if D has expired, notify the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform and the application software provider, and continue the following processing; otherwise, terminate the "cloud computing" "The platform provides services;

b: The application software supplier liquidates the remaining amount, and refunds the excess and makes up for the deficiency; if the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform requests to generate a new stage license, the excess amount will be included in the new prepaid amount; and continue to step c; otherwise, Terminate the provision of services to the "cloud computing" platform;

c: The application software provider or its agent will regenerate a software license according to the steps of software license generation described above, and send it to the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform;

When the software license is legal:

Step 4: The job starts to execute, and the job start time is recorded in the log file;

Step 5: After the job is executed, record the job end time to the log file;

Step 6: Send the software usage time of the job to the application software provider based on the HTTPS protocol;

Step 7: The application software provider calculates the software license usage time and software cost of each "cloud computing" platform according to the software usage time, and updates the available quota of each "cloud computing" platform.

Embodiment 2: Multiple users of the "cloud computing" platform submit multiple jobs at the same time, and the service process of using multiple application software licenses is as follows:

Step 1: The user logs in, and the "cloud computing" platform authenticates the legitimacy of his identity. If the verification is passed, continue to the following steps, otherwise log in again;

Step 2: After multiple user authentications are passed, the jobs submitted by multiple users apply for the use of application software and multiple licenses;

Step 3: Verify the legitimacy of the software license:

When the software license is illegal:

a: Terminate the execution of the user's job, check the time limit D of the software license, if D has expired, notify the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform and the application software provider, and continue the following processing; otherwise, terminate the "cloud computing" "The platform provides services;

b: The application software supplier liquidates the remaining amount, and refunds the excess and makes up for the deficiency; if the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform requests to generate a new stage license, the excess amount will be included in the new prepaid amount; and continue to step c; otherwise, Terminate the provision of services to the "cloud computing" platform;

c: The application software provider or its agent will regenerate a software license according to the steps of software license generation described above, and send it to the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform;

When the software license is legal:

Step 4: Start multiple jobs one by one and execute them at the same time, and record the start time of each job to the log file;

Step 5: Once a job is executed, record the job end time to a log file;

Step 6: Once a job is executed, send the software usage time of the job to the application software provider based on the HTTPS protocol;

Step 7: The application software provider calculates the software license usage time and software cost of each "cloud computing" platform according to the software usage time, and updates the available quota of each "cloud computing" platform.

Claims (1)

1. An on-demand service method for software licenses in a "cloud computing" platform, characterized in that it includes generating a software license and the use of a "cloud computing" platform user for a "cloud computing" platform, and the concrete steps are as follows: Steps to generate a software license for a "cloud computing" platform: Step 1: The person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform generates the user information C of the software license, including the following steps: Step a: Generate cloud computing platform user information C, including "cloud computing" platform information, fee payment information, license server machine information and application software information; the "cloud computing" platform information is: "cloud computing" platform Name, "cloud computing" platform identification number, person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform; the fee payment information: payment type, prepaid amount; machine information of the license server: machine name, machine identification number; the application software information: application software name, software version number; Step b: use the message digest algorithm to perform a hash operation on C to obtain a hash value A; Step c: Use the private key of the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform to digitally sign the hash value A to obtain the signature data S; Step d: Add signature data S to the end of C; Step e: The person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform sends the user information C to the application software provider; Step 2: Steps for the application software provider to verify the user information C of the cloud computing platform: Step a: Use the digest algorithm to perform a hash operation on the user information C of the "cloud computing" platform to obtain a hash value H; Step b: Use the public key certificate of the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform to verify the signature data in the user information and obtain a hash value H'; Step c: When H and H are consistent, the application software supplier adds the software supplier name of the application software license, the background management program and port, the name of each module of the application software, the issuance time and the expiration date; and adds the fee payment information Confidence levels and time periods in; Step 3 Steps for the application software provider to digitally sign the application software license: Step a: Use a digest algorithm to perform a hash operation on the "cloud computing" platform information, fee payment information, license server machine information and application software information to obtain a hash value V; Step b: use the private key certificate of the application software provider to digitally sign the hash value V to obtain the signature data F; Step c: Add the signature data F to the end of the application software license; Step d: The application software provider sends the software license to the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform, and provides it to users of the "cloud computing" platform; "Cloud Computing" platform users use steps: Step 1: When the user logs in, the "Cloud Computing" platform verifies the user's username and password; if the verification is passed, proceed to the following steps, otherwise log in again; Step 2: When the user job requests the application software license, verify the validity of the software license: When the software license is illegal: Step a: Terminate the execution of the user job, check the time limit D of the software license, if D has expired, notify the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform and the application software provider, and continue the following processing; otherwise, terminate the "cloud computing" Computing" platform provides services; Step b: The application software supplier liquidates the remaining amount, and refunds the excess and makes up for the deficiency; if the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform requests to generate a new stage license, incorporate the excess amount into the new prepaid amount; and continue to step c; otherwise , to terminate the provision of services for the "cloud computing" platform; Step c: The application software provider or its agent regenerates a software license according to the software license generation steps described above, and sends it to the person in charge of the "cloud computing" platform; When the software license is legal: Step a: start the job execution, record the job start time to the log file; Step c: After the job ends, record the job end time to the log file; Step d: Send the software usage time of the job to the application software provider based on the HTTPS protocol; Step e: The application software provider calculates the software license usage time and software cost of the "cloud computing" platform according to the software usage time, and updates the available quota of the "cloud computing" platform; The steps to verify the legitimacy of the software license as described: Step (a): using a digest algorithm, perform a hash operation on the "cloud computing" platform information part of the software license, the application software provider, and the time limit D of the software license to obtain a hash value U; Step (b): Use the public key certificate of the application software supplier to verify the signature operation on the signature data part of the software license to obtain a hash value U'; Step (c): Compare whether U and U' are the same. If they are not the same, it can be judged that the software license is illegal, if they are the same, continue to the following judgment; Step (d): compare with the time on the standard network clock server, verify whether the time limit D is valid, if not passed, then the software license is illegal, if passed, then continue the following judgment; Step (e): When the machine serial number information M extracted from the computer used is the same as the machine name and machine identification number in the license, the software license is legal; otherwise, the software license is illegal.

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