Perfect application capacity analysis for elastic capacity management of cloud-based applications

• US 10,009,416 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2015
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Bauer, Eric J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Coulter, Kenneth R
• Application Number:
  US14/684,413
• Publication Number:
  US 20160301746A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,171 Days
• Field of Search: 709224, 709223, 709220-222, 709230-235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A capability for perfect application capacity analysis for elastic capacity management of a cloud-based application is presented. The capability for perfect application capacity analysis for elastic capacity management of a cloud-based application may support use of perfect application capacity analysis to identify opportunities for improvements in elastic capacity management of the cloud-based application. The capability for perfect application capacity analysis for elastic capacity management of a cloud-based application may include receiving historical application demand and capacity data for the cloud-based application, determining a set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application, determining perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application based on the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application and the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application, and identifying, based on the historical application capacity data for the cloud-based application and the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application, an opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor and a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the processor configured to;

receive historical application data for a cloud-based application, wherein the historical application data comprises historical application demand data for the cloud-based application and historical application capacity data for the cloud-based application;

determine a set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application;

determine perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application based on the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application and the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application, wherein the perfect application capacity data comprises at least one of economically perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application or technically perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application; and

identify, based on at least a portion of the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application and at least one of the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application or the historical application capacity data for the cloud-based application, an opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application comprises at least one of an operational constraint, a process constraint, a policy constraint, or an architectural constraint.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application comprises at least one of a minimum size of capacity change actions, a maximum rate of capacity change actions, a maximum number of pending capacity change actions, or a demand forecasting policy.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to determine the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine a minimum amount of application capacity for the cloud-based application, to support the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application, subject to one or more constraints of the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to determine the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine a first set of perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application based on a first set of constraints from the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application; and

determine a second set of perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application based on a second set of constraints from the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application;

wherein the first set of constraints and the second set of constraints are different.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to determine the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine a perfect application capacity curve comprising a plot of a quantity of application capacity for the cloud-based application over time.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein, to identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine, based on the historical application capacity data for the cloud-based application, an actual application capacity curve comprising a plot of a quantity of application capacity for the cloud-based application over time; and

identify an area between the actual application capacity curve and the perfect application capacity curve.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein, to identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine, based on the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application, an actual application demand curve comprising a plot of a quantity of application demand for the cloud-based application over time; and

identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application based on an area between the actual application demand curve and the perfect application capacity curve.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to determine the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine a set of capacity change actions for the cloud-based application.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein, to identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine a capacity management plan for the cloud-based application based on the set of capacity change actions for the cloud-based application.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to determine the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine a first set of perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application; and

determine a second set of perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first set of perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application comprises a first perfect application capacity curve comprising a plot of a quantity of application capacity for the cloud-based application over time, wherein the second set of perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application comprises a second perfect application capacity curve comprising a plot of a quantity of application capacity for the cloud-based application over time.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein, to identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application based on an area between the first perfect application capacity curve and the second perfect application capacity curve.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first set of perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application comprises a first set of capacity change actions for the cloud-based application, wherein the second set of perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application comprises a second set of capacity change actions for the cloud-based application.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein, to identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, based on the first set of capacity change actions for the cloud-based application and the second set of capacity change actions for the cloud-based application, as an optimal set of capacity change actions for the cloud-based application.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to determine the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

determine the economically perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application while being constrained by at least one operational constraint of the cloud based application and at least one policy constraint of the cloud-based application; and

determine the technically perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application while being constrained by the at least one operational constraint of the cloud-based application but without being constrained by the at least one policy constraint of the cloud-based application.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein, to identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud based application based on the historical application capacity data and the economically perfect application capacity data;

wherein the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application is indicative of an opportunity for an operational improvement for the cloud-based application.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein, to identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application based on the economically perfect application capacity data and the technically perfect application capacity data;

wherein the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application is indicative of an opportunity for a process improvement for the cloud-based application.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein, to identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application, the processor is configured to:

identify the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application based on the technically perfect application capacity data and the historical application demand data;

wherein the opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application is indicative of at least one of an opportunity for a policy improvement for the cloud-based application or an opportunity for an architectural improvement for the cloud-based application.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving historical application data for a cloud-based application, wherein the historical application data comprises historical application demand data for the cloud-based application and historical application capacity data for the cloud-based application;

determining a set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application;

determining perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application based on the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application and the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application, wherein the perfect application capacity data comprises at least one of economically perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application or technically perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application; and

identifying, based on at least a portion of the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application and at least one of the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application or the historical application capacity data for the cloud-based application, an opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, historical application data for a cloud-based application, wherein the historical application data comprises historical application demand data for the cloud-based application and historical application capacity data for the cloud-based application;

determining, by the processor, a set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application;

determining, by the processor, perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application based on the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application and the set of constraints associated with the cloud-based application, wherein the perfect application capacity data comprises at least one of economically perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application or technically perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application; and

identifying, by the processor, based on at least a portion of the perfect application capacity data for the cloud-based application and at least one of the historical application demand data for the cloud-based application or the historical application capacity data for the cloud-based application, an opportunity to improve elastic capacity management for the cloud-based application.