Near on-line servers

• US 20030177176A1
• Filed: 07/25/2002
• Published: 09/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Surgient, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hirschfeld, Robert A., McCrory, Dave D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,990,666 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/503 Resource availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A dynamic state manager (DSM) for a server cloud manager (SCM) of a virtualized logical server cloud including a resource definition, a rules module and a state manager engine. The resource definition incorporates information of the available physical and logical resources of the server cloud, including cost, priority, usage and demand information of the resources. The resource definition further incorporates dependencies and relationships between physical and logical resources. The rules module includes predetermined behavioral rules based on demand, usage, priority and cost information. The behavioral rules define optimized resource utilization of the resources of the server cloud. The state manager engine is linked to the resource definition and the rules module and cooperates with the SCM to apply the behavioral rules to achieve optimized resource utilization.

Claims

1. A dynamic state manager (DSM) for a server cloud manager (SCM) of a virtualized logical server cloud, comprising:

a resource definition that incorporates information of the available physical and logical resources of the server cloud, including cost, priority, usage and demand information of the resources and that incorporates dependencies and relationships between physical and logical resources;

a rules module that comprises predetermined behavioral rules based on demand, usage, priority and cost information, wherein the behavioral rules define optimized resource utilization of the resources of the server cloud; and

a state manager engine, linked to the resource definition and the rules module, that cooperates with the SCM to apply the behavioral rules to achieve optimized resource utilization.

2. The DSM of claim 1, wherein the resource definition includes:

a physical resource module that incorporates information of the physical resources available to the server cloud and that incorporates resource dependencies and relationships between physical and logical resources;

a resource cost module that incorporates relative cost information associated with the available physical resources and logical servers;

a resource priority module that incorporates relative priority information of the authorized entities;

a usage module that incorporates current usage information of the available physical resources; and

a demand module that incorporates current and pending demand information of the available physical resources.

3. The DSM of claim 2, wherein the demand module incorporates anticipated demands information.

4. The DSM of claim 2, wherein:

the physical resource module incorporates information of processor, memory and storage resources; and

wherein the resource cost module incorporates information concerning cost of usage of the processor, memory and storage resources and cost of moving logical server files between different types of storage or memory.

5. The DSM of claim 4, wherein:

a plurality of different logical server states are defined for each logical server of the server cloud;

wherein the resource cost module incorporates cost of switching logical server states; and

wherein the rules module incorporates a logical server decay rule that considers usage, relative cost and relative priority information to determine logical server state.

6. The DSM of claim 5, wherein the plurality of different logical server states includes an active state, a suspended state, an off state and at least one storage state.

7. The DSM of claim 6, wherein the at least one storage state includes storage of logical server files on a local physical server and storage of logical server files on a local storage coupled to the server cloud.

8. The DSM of claim 6, wherein the plurality of different logical server states further includes a remote state in which a logical server is located on a remote server cloud affiliated with the local server cloud.

9. The DSM of claim 1, wherein the rules module incorporates subscription management, contracts and business purposes rules that enable over-subscription of the server cloud to maximize resource utilization over time.

10. The DSM of claim 9, wherein the rules module ensures availability of resources to meet highest priority demands.

11. A server cloud manager (SCM) for controlling logical servers and physical resources that comprise a virtualized logical server cloud, comprising:

a plurality of core components that serve as a shared foundation to collectively manage events, validate and authorize server cloud users and agents, enforce predetermined requirements and rules and store operation data; and

a plurality of interface components that enable communication with and control of entities associated with the server cloud, the interface components including a dynamic state manager (DSM) that applies predetermined behavioral rules based on demand, usage, priority and cost to optimize usage of logical and physical resources of the server cloud.

12. The SCM of claim 11, wherein the DSM comprises:

a resource definition that incorporates information of the available physical and logical resources of the server cloud, the information including cost, priority, usage and demand information of the resources;

a rules module that comprises predetermined behavioral rules based on the demand, usage, priority and cost information, wherein the behavioral rules define optimized resource utilization of the resources of the server cloud; and

a state manager engine, linked to the resource definition and the rules module, that cooperates with the core components and any other interface components of the SCM to apply the behavioral rules to achieve optimized resource utilization.

13. The SCM of claim 12, wherein the DSM ensures best use of physical resources over time under dynamic loads if any changes of available physical resources occur.

14. The SCM of claim 12, wherein the DSM ensures availability of resources to meet demands having highest criticality.

15. The SCM of claim 14, wherein the DSM enables over-subscription of the server cloud by optimizing utilization of remaining resources by demands having lower criticality.

16. The SCM of claim 15, wherein the DSM facilitates massive over-subscription of the server cloud by maximizing utilization of resources over time.

17. The SCM of claim 12, wherein:

a plurality of different logical server states are defined for each logical server of the server cloud;

wherein the resource definition incorporates cost of processor, memory and storage resource usage information, cost of moving logical server files between different types of storage or memory, and cost of switching logical server states; and

wherein the rules module includes a logical server decay rule that considers usage, relative cost and relative priority information to determine logical server state.

18. The SCM of claim 17, wherein the plurality of different logical server states includes an active state, a suspended state, an off state and at least one storage state.

19. The SCM of claim 18, wherein at least one storage state includes storage on a physical server and storage on a local storage coupled to the server cloud.

20. The SCM of claim 18, wherein the plurality of different logical server states includes a remote state in which a logical server is located on a remote server cloud.