APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING METERED CAPACITY OF COMPUTER RESOURCES

摘要

An apparatus and method provides the capability of metering temporary capaci ty on demand in a computer system. A resource-time is specified, such as processor-days. The actual usage of the resource is monitored, and the customer is charged for only the actual usage of the resource. In this manne r a customer may purchase a specified resource-time, and is only charged for t he time that the resource is actually used. The preferred embodiments extend to metering temporary capacity on demand in a logically partitioned computer system. If a resource is shared, the actual usage of the resource is monitored, and the customer is only billed for actual usage that exceeds a predetermined non-zero threshold.