Method and system for load balancing backup resources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10754368-B1
Application number	US-201715795914-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 27, 2017
Priority date	Oct 27, 2017
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

A method for load balancing backup resources of a backup resource pool includes obtaining status information for a plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool. The method includes, while an aggregate load state of the backup pool is not overloaded, making a first determination that a first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources has a load state that is overloaded based on the status information and a load policy. The method includes, in response to the first determination, adding a new backup resource to the backup pool.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for load balancing backup resources of a backup resource pool, the method comprising:
obtaining status information for a plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool, wherein the backup resources of the backup resource pool continuously provide resource intensive computer implemented services to clients;
while an aggregate load state of the backup resource pool is not overloaded, making a first determination that a first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool has a load state that is overloaded based on the status information and a load policy;
in response to the first determination, adding a new backup resource to the backup resource pool;
after adding the new backup resource, updating the status information for the plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool;
while the aggregate load state of the backup resource pool is underloaded, making a second determination that the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources has a second load state that is underloaded based on the status information and the load policy; and
in response to the second determination, removing the new backup resource from the resource backup pool.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aggregate load state of the backup resource pool is based on an average load state of each backup resource of the backup resource pool that is providing the resource intensive computer implemented services.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after adding the new backup resource, obtaining updated status information from the first backup resource.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to the second determination, removing the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources from the backup resource pool.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising in response to the first determination, disabling the first backup resource from being assigned to a new client.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources comprises a server.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources is a virtual resource hosted on a physical server.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the load policy specifies the load state of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources as a function of a degree of utilization of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the function specifies that the load state of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources is overloaded when the degree of utilization of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources exceeds a threshold.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status information specifies a rate of use of a computing resource of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources; a concurrency of use of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources; and a condition of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the computing resource is one selected from a group consisting of processor cycles, transitory memory space, network communication bandwidth, and disk input-output.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status information specifies a concurrency of use of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the concurrency of use is based on one selected from a group consisting of a cardinality of a plurality of the clients that utilize the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources and a cardinality of a plurality of processes executing on the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status information specifies a condition of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the condition is one selected from a group consisting of a power consumption of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources and a temperature of a component of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor enables the computer processor to perform a method for load balancing backup resources of a backup resource pool, the method comprising:
obtaining status information for a plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool, wherein the backup resources of the backup resource pool continuously provide resource intensive computer implemented services to clients;
while an aggregate load state of the backup resource pool is not overloaded, making a determination that a first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool has a load state that is overloaded based on the status information and a load policy;
in response to the determination, adding a new backup resource to the backup resource pool;
after adding the new backup resource, updating the status information for the plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool;
while the aggregate load state of the backup resource pool is underloaded, making a second determination that the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources has a second load state that is underloaded based on the status information and the load policy; and
in response to the second determination, removing the new backup resource from the backup resource pool.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein:
the aggregate load state of the backup resource pool is based on an average load state of each backup resource of the backup resource pool that is providing the resource intensive computer implemented services; and
the load policy specifies the load state of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources as a function of a degree of utilization of the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources.

18. A system, comprising:
a client;
a backup resource pool comprising a plurality of backup resources;
a resource controller in communication with the client and the backup resource pool, wherein the resource controller comprises a processor operable to:
obtain status information for the plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool, wherein the backup resources of the backup resource pool continuously provide resource intensive computer implemented services to, at least, the client;
while an aggregate load state of the backup resource pool is not overloaded, make a determination that a first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool has a load state that is overloaded based on the status information and a load policy;
in response to the determination, add a new backup resource to the backup resource pool;
after adding the new backup resource, updating the status information for the plurality of backup resources of the backup resource pool;
while the aggregate load state of the backup resource pool is underloaded, making a second determination that the first backup resource of the plurality of backup resources has a second load state that is underloaded based on the status information and the load policy; and
in response to the second determination, removing the new backup resource from the backup resource pool.

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Chopra Shelesh
• Mandic Vladimir
• Kulkarni Gururaj

Classifications

• H04L47/76

  using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation requested by the user or requested by the network in response to changing network conditions · CPC title

• G06F11/3442

  for planning or managing the needed capacity · CPC title

• G06F11/3409

  for performance assessment · CPC title

• G06F11/3055

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available (error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16) · CPC title

• G06F11/3006 Primary

  where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems (multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50) · CPC title