Selecting a cloud from a plurality of clouds for a workload

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016330138-A1
Application number	US-201514706060-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 7, 2015
Priority date	May 7, 2015
Publication date	Nov 10, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A cloud broker receives a container from a client device. The container includes a software application and metadata. The cloud broker instructs a first cloud hosting facility to execute the container at a performance level specified by the metadata. The cloud broker determines first metrics when the first cloud hosting facility is executing the container. The cloud broker instructs a second cloud hosting facility to execute the container at the performance level specified by the metadata. The cloud broker determines second metrics when the second cloud hosting facility is executing the container. The cloud broker automatically selects a particular cloud hosting facility to host the container based at least partly on the first metrics and the second metrics.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, at a cloud broker from a client device, a container that includes a software application and metadata; instructing, by the cloud broker, a first cloud hosting facility to execute the container at a performance level specified by the metadata; determining, by the cloud broker, first metrics associated with the first cloud hosting facility during execution of the container by the first cloud hosting facility; instructing, by the cloud broker, a second cloud hosting facility to execute the container at the performance level; determining, by the cloud broker, second metrics associated with the second cloud hosting facility during the execution of the container by the second cloud hosting facility; and selecting, by the cloud broker, a particular cloud hosting facility to host the container that includes the software application based at least partly on the first metrics and the second metrics.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the container includes an application programming interface that is adaptable by the cloud broker to enable the first cloud hosting facility to execute the application and adaptable to enable the second cloud hosting facility to execute the application.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the metadata specifies at least one of: a minimum memory input/output (I/O) speed, a minimum memory read speed, a minimum memory write speed, a minimum sustainable memory bandwidth, a minimum central processing unit (CPU speed), a minimum number of available CPU cores, a minimum number of floating point operations per seconds (FLOPS), a minimum disk I/O speed, a minimum file compression speed, a minimum network I/O speed, or a maximum amount of resource contention.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
instructing a third cloud hosting facility to execute the container at the performance level; determining third metrics associated with the third cloud hosting facility during the execution of the container by the third cloud hosting facility; and selecting the particular cloud hosting facility to host the container that includes the software application based at least partly on the first metrics, the second metrics, and the third metrics.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the particular cloud hosting facility is one of the first cloud hosting facility, the second cloud hosting facility, or the third cloud hosting facility.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the application comprises at least one of a human resources software application, a customer relationship management software application, website services software application, or a financial services software application.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the container is based on at least one of Docker, Rocket, Warden, or Garden.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein an operating system of the container comprises a Linux-based operating system.

9 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions that are executable by one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a first container that includes a first software application and metadata specifying a minimum performance level; instructing a first cloud hosting facility to execute the first container at the minimum performance level; determining first metrics during execution of the first container by the first cloud hosting facility; instructing a second cloud hosting facility to execute the first container at the performance level; determining second metrics during the execution of the first container by the second cloud hosting facility; and selecting a first particular cloud hosting facility to host the first container based at least partly on the first metrics and the second metrics.

10 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, from the client device, a second container that includes a second software application and second metadata; determining third metrics during the execution of the second container by the first cloud hosting facility; determining fourth metrics during the execution of the second container by the second cloud hosting facility; and selecting a second particular cloud hosting facility to host the second container based at least partly on the third metrics and the fourth metrics.

11 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10 , wherein:
the first cloud hosting facility is selected to host the second container; and the second cloud hosting facility is selected to host the first container.

12 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9 , wherein the metadata specifies at least one of: a minimum memory input/output (I/O) speed, a minimum memory read speed, a minimum memory write speed, a minimum sustainable memory bandwidth, a minimum central processing unit (CPU speed), a minimum number of available CPU cores, a minimum number of floating point operations per seconds (FLOPS), a minimum disk I/O speed, a minimum file compression speed, a minimum network I/O speed, or a maximum amount of resource contention.

13 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9 , wherein the first container includes an application programming interface that is adaptable to enable at least the first cloud hosting facility and the second cloud hosting facility to execute the application.

14 . A computing device, comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a first container that includes a first software application and first metadata specifying a minimum performance level;
determining first metrics during execution of the first container by a first cloud hosting facility;
determining second metrics during the execution of the first container by a second cloud hosting facility; and
selecting a particular cloud hosting facility to host the first container.

15 . The computing device of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving, from the client device, a second container that includes a second software application and second metadata; determining third metrics during the execution of the second container by the first cloud hosting facility; and determining fourth metrics during the execution of the second container by the second cloud hosting facility.

16 . The computing device of claim 15 , wherein selecting the particular cloud hosting facility to host the first container comprises:
selecting one of the first cloud hosting facility or the second cloud hosting facility to host the first container based at least partly on the first metrics, the second metrics, the third metrics, and the fourth metrics.

17 . The computing device of claim 15 , further comprising:
selecting one of the first cloud hosting facility or the second cloud hosting facility to host the second container based at least partly on the first metrics, the second metrics, the third metrics, and the fourth metrics.

18 . The computing device of claim 15 , wherein the second container includes an application programming interface that enables at least the first cloud hosting facility and the second cloud hosting

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Thomason James

Classifications

• G06F2009/45595

  Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

  Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• H04L47/827 Primary

  Aggregation of resource allocation or reservation requests · CPC title