Virtual instance reconfiguration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8990807-B2
Application number	US-201213570683-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2012
Priority date	Aug 9, 2012
Publication date	Mar 24, 2015
Grant date	Mar 24, 2015

Abstract

In a virtual computing environment allocating instantiations of computing resources based on a computing metric of a primary application for execution on the instantiated computing resources, an instance manager increases allocated computing resources in response to a performance shortfall. The virtual computing environment executes virtualization instances of computing systems as an autonomous computing entity in a physical environment shared with other virtualization instances. Each virtualization instance has a configuration including a processor type and quantity, memory, and mass storage (i.e. disk) allocation. Further, each virtualization instance has a performance capacity (capacity) based on a performance metric for identifying throughput in terms of a target application that the virtualization instance was designated to support. The instance manager performs a substantially real-time reconfiguration response based on an impact analysis that configures additional computing resources (virtualization instances) based on an actual, not computed or projected, demand.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for configuring a virtualization instance comprising:
instantiating a virtualization instance according an initial configuration, the initial configuration based on performance demands of a primary application;
receiving an indication of a performance shortfall of the virtualization instance, the performance shortfall based on a computing metric indicative of a measure of computing resources for performing an operation by a primary application for which the virtualization instance is configured to handle; and
determining, based on an impact analysis of a current state of the virtualization instance and the performance shortfall, a revised configuration having sufficient computing resources for handling a true computing demand including the performance shortfall, the current state including an increase in computing demand beyond the initial configuration, wherein the true computing demand includes an extrinsic computing burden comprising additional computing demands separate from computing demands of the primary application.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising computing, based on the true computing demand, the hardware resources of the revised configuration, the hardware resources computed based on an association of processors and memory to a quantity of operations.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing the impact analysis by determining, based on the initial configuration and the performance shortfall, wherein the extrinsic computing burden is further indicative of additional computing resources for handling a current computing load over the initial configuration.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the extrinsic computing burden includes computing demands from applications executing on the virtualization instance other than the primary application, wherein the initial configuration is based only on the computing demands from execution of the primary application.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the initial configuration defines a configuration for supporting a number of operations corresponding to the performance demands at a time of deployment of the initial configuration.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the revised configuration includes a number of processors, a speed for each of the processors and a memory allocation, the configuration based on a number of operations of the primary application.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the computing metric defines a quantity of the operations per unit time by the primary application, the performance shortfall specifying an additional number of operations per unit time.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing metric includes a benchmark based on the primary application for which the virtualization instance was configured to handle, the benchmark defining a quantity of operations per unit time, and the extrinsic computing burden is based on computing expectations beyond the benchmark of the primary application for which an initial configuration of the virtualization instance is configured to handle.

9. A computer program product having computer program code stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for, in a virtual computing environment allocating instantiations of computing resources based on a computing metric of a primary application for execution on the instantiated computing resources, a method for increasing allocated computing resources comprising:
receiving a load metric indicative of an additional load on an initial computing instantiation executing a primary application, the load metric defining a measure of additional computing resources responsive to the additional load;
computing a true performance metric based on the received load metric for handling the additional load and an extrinsic load added after the initial computing instantiation, wherein the extrinsic load includes additional computing demands separate from computing demands of the primary application; and
instantiating an additional computing resource configured based on the computed true performance metric.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein computing the true performance metric is based on an impact analysis of the computing instantiation for determining computing burdens of additional software installed and executing on the initial computing instantiation.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
deploying the initial computing instantiation in an initial configuration having computing resources sufficient to handle an initial load, the initial load specifying a measure of the computing metric for completion in a unit time; and
performing an impact analysis on a current configuration using the determined load metric, wherein the additional computing resource is a virtualization instance having a configuration for handling the identified additional load and the extrinsic load.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the extrinsic load includes additional loads beyond the primary application for which the initial computing instantiation was configured to handle based on the initial load.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the additional computing resource is defined by a revised configuration and includes a number of processors, a speed for each of the processors and a memory allocation, the revised configuration based on a number of operations of the primary application.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:
identifying the computing metric, wherein the computing metric defines a quantity of the operations per unit time by the primary application, the true performance metric specifying an additional number of operations per unit time.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the deployed initial computing instantiation is based on predetermined associations of a computing metric for performing a particular number of the operations and the configuration for providing that number of operations.

16. A virtual computing environment comprising:
a virtualization server for executing an existing virtualization instance, the virtualization instance corresponding to an initial state, the initial state based on satisfying a computed load metric of a target application executing on the virtualization instance;
an operator interface operative to receive an indication of a performance shortfall of the existing virtualization instance, the performance shortfall indicating a measure of computing resources for mitigating the performance shortfall;
an instance manager for computing an extrinsic computing burden placed on the virtualization instance since the initial state, the extrinsic computing burden compromising the effectiveness of the existing virtualization instance toward handling the computed load metric, wherein the extrinsic computing burden includes additional computing demands separate from computing demands of the target application;
reconfigure logic operable to determine, based on the performance shortfall and the extrinsic computing burden, an increase in a measure of computing resources sufficient to mitigate the performance shortfall; and
a host responsive to the reconfigure logic for instantiating a virtualization instance having a revised configuration based on the identified existing virtualization instance and a true performance metric calculated based on the increased measure of computing resources.

17. The environment of claim 16 wherein the host is responsive to, based on the true computing demand, the hardware resources of the revised configuration, the hardware resources computed based on an association of processors and memory to a quantity of operations.

Assignees

• Wu Jiatai
• Kattumadam Krishna
• Vce Co Llc

Inventors

• Wu Jiatai
• Kattumadam Krishna

Classifications

• G06F9/45533 Primary

  Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors · CPC title

• G06F9/45545 Primary

  Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox · CPC title

• G06F11/3442

  for planning or managing the needed capacity · CPC title

• G06F2201/815

  Virtual · CPC title

• G06F9/44505

  Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files · CPC title