Capacity risk management for virtual machines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017046191-A1
Application number	US-201615335349-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 26, 2016
Priority date	Jun 30, 2014
Publication date	Feb 16, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An access data collector collects access assignment data characterizing active access assignment operations of a hypervisor in assigning host computing resources among virtual machines for use in execution of the virtual machines. Then, a capacity risk indicator calculator calculates a capacity risk indicator characterizing a capacity risk of the host computing resources with respect to meeting a prospective capacity demand of the virtual machines, based on the access assignment data

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by at least one processor, the system comprising:
a data collector configured to cause the at least one processor to collect data characterizing active operations of a hypervisor in assigning host computing resources among a plurality of virtual machines for use in execution of the plurality of virtual machines; and a monitor configured to collect data characterizing levels of the host computing resources, the monitor using a capacity risk indicator calculator configured to cause the at least one processor to,
determine, for each host computing resource, a capacity risk indicator characterizing a capacity risk of the host computing resources with respect to meeting a prospective capacity demand of the plurality of virtual machines; and
automatically generate a plurality of records including, for each of the plurality of virtual machines, a summary risk indicator value, the summary risk indicator value being a weighted value determined using predictive saturation data and at least one calculated pressure index relative to a corresponding threshold.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the summary risk indicator value for each of the plurality of virtual machines is provided as a single numeric value between zero and one hundred.

3 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, for a portion of host computing resources within a single cluster of virtual machines, a combined summary risk indicator value, the combined summary risk indicator value representing combined data for two or more summary risk indicators; determining, that the combined summary risk indicator value is above the threshold indicated for at least one calculated pressure index; and reporting, with a report generator and for the single cluster of virtual machines, a saturation risk assessment.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the saturation risk assessment includes a description of investigative steps to determine saturation alleviation.

5 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating at least two pressure indexes; and calculating the capacity risk indicator based on a weighted combination of the at least two pressure indexes.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the capacity risk indicator includes a saturation level of at least a portion of the host computing resources.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the capacity risk indicator includes generating, for each host computing resource, a days-to-saturation metric based on a current rate of usage for at least one host computing resource.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the days-to-saturation metric is generated for each host computing resource.

9 . A method comprising:
determining, for each host computing resource, a capacity risk indicator characterizing a capacity risk of the host computing resources with respect to meeting a prospective capacity demand of a plurality of virtual machines; and automatically generating a plurality of records including, for each of the plurality of virtual machines, a summary risk indicator value, the summary risk indicator value being a weighted value determined using predictive saturation data and at least one calculated pressure index relative to a corresponding threshold.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the summary risk indicator value for each of the plurality of virtual machines is provided as a single numeric value between zero and one hundred.

11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining, for a portion of host computing resources within a single cluster of virtual machines, a combined summary risk indicator value, the combined summary risk indicator value representing combined data for two or more summary risk indicators; determining, that the combined summary risk indicator value is above the threshold indicated for at least one calculated pressure index; and reporting, with a report generator and for the single cluster of virtual machines, a saturation risk assessment.

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
calculating at least two pressure indexes; and calculating the capacity risk indicator based on a weighted combination of the at least two pressure indexes.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the capacity risk indicator includes a saturation level of at least a portion of the host computing resources.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the capacity risk indicator includes generating, for each host computing resource, a days-to-saturation metric based on a current rate of usage for at least one host computing resource.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the days-to-saturation metric is generated for each host computing resource.

16 . A computer program product including instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and configured, when executed by at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to:
determine, for each host computing resource, a capacity risk indicator characterizing a capacity risk of the host computing resources with respect to meeting a prospective capacity demand of the plurality of virtual machines; and automatically generate a plurality of records including, for each of a plurality of virtual machines, a summary risk indicator value, the summary risk indicator value being a weighted value determined using predictive saturation data and at least one calculated pressure index relative to a corresponding threshold.

17 . The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the summary risk indicator value for each of the plurality of virtual machines is provided as a single numeric value between zero and one hundred.

18 . The computer program product of claim 16 , further comprising:
determining, for a portion of host computing resources within a single cluster of virtual machines, a combined summary risk indicator value, the combined summary risk indicator value representing combined data for two or more summary risk indicators; determining, that the combined summary risk indicator value is above the threshold indicated for at least one calculated pressure index; and reporting, with a report generator and for the single cluster of virtual machines, a saturation risk assessment.

19 . The computer program product of claim 16 , further comprising:
calculating at least two pressure indexes; and calculating the capacity risk indicator based on a weighted combination of the at least two pressure indexes.

20 . The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein determining the capacity risk indicator includes generating, for each host computing resource, a days-to-saturation metric based on a current rate of usage for at least one host computing resource.

Assignees

• Bmc Software Inc

Inventors

• Sivasubramanian Jeyashree
• Apte Sudheer

Classifications

• G06F11/3433 Primary

  for load management (allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029) · CPC title

• G06F9/5077

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title

• G06F11/3442

  for planning or managing the needed capacity · CPC title

• G06F11/301

  where the computing system is a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems (virtual machines G06F9/45533; logical partitioning of resources G06F9/5077) · CPC title

• G06F11/3065

  Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in reporting the monitored data (error or fault reporting or logging G06F11/0766) · CPC title