Input/output (I/O) performance of hosts through bi-directional bandwidth feedback optimization

• US 10,630,554 B1
• Filed: 10/29/2018
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mithal, Akshat, Roy, Subhojit
• Primary Examiner(s): Salad, Abdullahi E
• Application Number:
  US16/174,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20200136913A1
• Time in Patent Office: 540 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Embodiments for improving Input/Output (I/O) performance through bi-directional bandwidth feedback optimization in a distributed computing environment. Resource allocation information from a host is retrieved by an application plugin. Bandwidth allocation information is retrieved from a network switch using Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) by the application plugin. A bandwidth optimization operation is performed on the host and/or on the network switch according to the resource allocation information received from the host and the bandwidth allocation information received from the network switch by the application plugin.

Claims

1. A method for improving Input/Output (I/O) performance through bi-directional bandwidth feedback optimization, by a processor, comprising:

retrieving resource allocation information from a host by an application plugin;

retrieving bandwidth allocation information from a network switch using Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) by the application plugin;

performing a bandwidth optimization operation on at least one of the host and the network switch according to the resource allocation information received from the host and the bandwidth allocation information received from the network switch by the application plugin; and

determining, using the application plugin, whether the bandwidth allocation information of bandwidth allocated to a particular protocol of a plurality of protocols used by the network switch ETS is commensurate with respect to the resource allocation information of a set of resources currently used by the host which are dedicated to I/O traffic using the particular protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

when it is determined the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol used by the network switch ETS is higher than required by the set of resources currently used by the host, reducing the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch EFS; and

when it is determined the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol used by the network switch ETS is lower than required by the set of resources currently used by the host, increasing the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch EFS.

3. The method of claim 2, further including:

upon receiving a negative indication from the network switch ETS associated with decreasing the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol, providing feedback, by the application plugin to the host, to allocate additional resources to the set of resources; and

upon receiving a negative indication from the network switch ETS associated with increasing the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol, providing feedback, by the application plugin to the host, to de-allocate resources of the set of resources.

4. The method of claim 1, further including monitoring, using a monitoring agent, the I/O traffic used by the particular protocol;

wherein;

when a peak bandwidth usage of the particular protocol is below an allocated threshold for a predetermined time period, the monitoring agent creates a warning to the network switch ETS to increase the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol; and

when the peak bandwidth usage of the particular protocol is above the allocated threshold for the predetermined time period, the monitoring agent creates a warning to the network switch ETS to decrease the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, further including adjusting the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch ETS according to a frequency of pause frames and amount of the I/O traffic detected.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the host comprises a Virtual Machine (VM) and the resource allocation information is retrieved from a hypervisor executing the VM; and

the application plugin is executing within a Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller.

7. A system for improving Input/Output (I/O) performance through bi-directional bandwidth feedback optimization, comprising:

a processor executing instructions stored in a memory device;

wherein the processor;

retrieves resource allocation information from a host by an application plugin;

retrieves bandwidth allocation information from a network switch using Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) by the application plugin;

performs a bandwidth optimization operation on at least one of the host and the network switch according to the resource allocation information received from the host and the bandwidth allocation information received from the network switch by the application plugin; and

determines, using the application plugin, whether the bandwidth allocation information of bandwidth allocated to a particular protocol of a plurality of protocols used by the network switch ETS is commensurate with respect to the resource allocation information of a set of resources currently used by the host which are dedicated to I/O traffic using the particular protocol.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor:

when it is determined the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol used by the network switch ETS is higher than required by the set of resources currently used by the host, reduces the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch EFS; and

when it is determined the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol used by the network switch ETS is lower than required by the set of resources currently used by the host, increases the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch EFS.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor:

upon receiving a negative indication from the network switch ETS associated with decreasing the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol, provides feedback, by the application plugin to the host, to allocate additional resources to the set of resources; and

upon receiving a negative indication from the network switch ETS associated with increasing the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol, provides feedback, by the application plugin to the host, to de-allocate resources of the set of resources.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor monitors, using a monitoring agent, the I/O traffic used by the particular protocol;

wherein;

when a peak bandwidth usage of the particular protocol is below an allocated threshold for a predetermined time period, the monitoring agent creates a warning to the network switch ETS to increase the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol; and

when the peak bandwidth usage of the particular protocol is above the allocated threshold for the predetermined time period, the monitoring agent creates a warning to the network switch ETS to decrease the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor adjusts the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch ETS according to a frequency of pause frames and amount of the I/O traffic detected.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein:

the host comprises a Virtual Machine (VM) and the resource allocation information is retrieved from a hypervisor executing the VM; and

the application plugin is executing within a Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller.

13. A computer program product for improving Input/Output (I/O) performance through bi-directional bandwidth feedback optimization, by a processor, the computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

an executable portion that retrieves resource allocation information from a host by an application plugin;

an executable portion that retrieves bandwidth allocation information from a network switch using Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) by the application plugin;

an executable portion that performs a bandwidth optimization operation on at least one of the host and the network switch according to the resource allocation information received from the host and the bandwidth allocation information received from the network switch by the application plugin; and

an executable portion that determines, using the application plugin, whether the bandwidth allocation information of bandwidth allocated to a particular protocol of a plurality of protocols used by the network switch ETS is commensurate with respect to the resource allocation information of a set of resources currently used by the host which are dedicated to I/O traffic using the particular protocol.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further including an executable portion that:

when it is determined the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol used by the network switch ETS is higher than required by the set of resources currently used by the host, reduces the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch EFS; and

when it is determined the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol used by the network switch ETS is lower than required by the set of resources currently used by the host, increases the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch EFS.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further including an executable portion that:

upon receiving a negative indication from the network switch ETS associated with decreasing the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol, provides feedback, by the application plugin to the host, to allocate additional resources to the set of resources; and

upon receiving a negative indication from the network switch ETS associated with increasing the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol, provides feedback, by the application plugin to the host, to de-allocate resources of the set of resources.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, further including an executable portion that monitors, using a monitoring agent, the I/O traffic used by the particular protocol;

wherein;

when a peak bandwidth usage of the particular protocol is below an allocated threshold for a predetermined time period, the monitoring agent creates a warning to the network switch ETS to increase the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol; and

when the peak bandwidth usage of the particular protocol is above the allocated threshold for the predetermined time period, the monitoring agent creates a warning to the network switch ETS to decrease the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, further including an executable portion that adjusts the bandwidth allocated to the particular protocol in the network switch ETS according to a frequency of pause frames and amount of the I/O traffic detected.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein:

the host comprises a Virtual Machine (VM) and the resource allocation information is retrieved from a hypervisor executing the VM; and

the application plugin is executing within a Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller.