Apparatus and method for determining load balancing weights using application instance statistical information

• US 20050120095A1
• Filed: 12/02/2003
• Published: 06/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Aman, Jeffrey David, Bostjancic, David Vincent, Dillenberger, Donna N., Yocom, Peter Bergersen, Arwe, John E., Baskey, Michael Edward, Bivens, John Alan II
• Granted Patent: US 7,493,380 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• 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 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs

Abstract

An apparatus and method for distributing traffic across a group of machines using application instance statistics. In order to perform load balancing in accordance with the present invention, a method of generating weights to bias load balancing distributions is provided. The application instances to which traffic is being distributed, or the application middleware, are instrumented to establish certain metrics about the application while running. The application instance instrumentation will provide application statistics such as number of successful transactions, application response times, application topology, importance of transactions being processed, time the application is blocked waiting for resources, resource consumption data, and the like. These metrics are collected, processed, and then presented as a set of weights to the load balancing apparatus to govern its distribution of traffic. With such application metrics available, traffic can be disbursed based on the current state of the application instances and other application instances in the transaction'"'"'s path, the application instance'"'"'s likelihood to complete the request, or even higher level business-oriented goals.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, of distributing traffic to application instances on one or more computing devices, comprising:

obtaining application instance specific operational information identifying operational characteristics of an application instance on a computing device of the one or more computing devices;

generating a load balancing weight to be associated with the application instance based on the application instance specific operation information obtained; and

distributing traffic to the application instance based on the generated load balancing weight.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining application instance specific operational information includes:

retrieving the application instance specific operational information from the application instance using an agent application resident on the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the application instance is instrumented to include code for communicating with the agent application and sending application instance specific operational information to the agent application from the application instance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a load balancing weight to be associated with the application instance includes:

comparing the application instance specific information to one or more other application instance specific information for one or more other application instances; and

generating a load balancing weight based on a relationship between the application instance specific information and the other application instance specific information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the relationship is a relative difference between the application instance specific information and the one or more other application instance specific information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein generating a load balancing weight based on a relationship between the application instance specific information and the other application instance specific information includes:

attributing weight points to each application instance of the application instance and the one or more other application instances based on a relative difference between the application instance specific information associated with the application instance and the other application instance specific information associated with the one or more other application instances.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application instance specific information includes at least one of a number of successful transaction processed by the application instance within a period of time, an application instance response time, an application instance topology, an importance of transactions currently being processed by the application instance, an amount of time the application instance has been blocked waiting for resources, and an amount of resources consumed by the application instance.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein retrieving the application instance specific information from the agent application is performed periodically.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a weight management system that is separate from the computing devices and from a load balancing device.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein generating a load balancing weight based on a relationship between the application instance specific information and the other application instance specific information includes:

assigning a base weight to each of the application instance and the one or more other application instances; and

increasing a weight value associated with the application instance or an other application instance based on one or more of the following;

which application instance has a relatively higher transaction success rate;

which application instance has a relatively better response time;

which application instance operates on an underutilized system;

which application instance has a relatively better response time and operates on an underutilized system;

which application instance processes the least significant transactions; and

which application instance passes transactions on to higher performing computing systems.

11. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for distributing traffic to application instances on one or more computing devices, comprising:

first instructions for obtaining application instance specific operational information identifying operational characteristics of an application instance on a computing device of the one or more computing devices;

second instructions for generating a load balancing weight to be associated with the application instance based on the application instance specific operation information obtained; and

third instructions for distributing traffic to the application instance based on the generated load balancing weight.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the first instructions for obtaining application instance specific operational information include:

instructions for retrieving the application instance specific operational information from the application instance using an agent application resident on the computing device.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the application instance is instrumented to include code for communicating with the agent application and sending application instance specific operational information to the agent application from the application instance.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the second instructions for generating a load balancing weight to be associated with the application instance include:

instructions for comparing the application instance specific information to one or more other application instance specific information for one or more other application instances; and

instructions for generating a load balancing weight based on a relationship between the application instance specific information and the other application instance specific information.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the relationship is a relative difference between the application instance specific information and the one or more other application instance specific information.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the instructions for generating a load balancing weight based on a relationship between the application instance specific information and the other application instance specific information include:

instructions for attributing weight points to each application instance of the application instance and the one or more other application instances based on a relative difference between the application instance specific information associated with the application instance and the other application instance specific information associated with the one or more other application instances.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the application instance specific information includes at least one of a number of successful transaction processed by the application instance within a period of time, an application instance response time, an application instance topology, an importance of transactions currently being processed by the application instance, an amount of time the application instance has been blocked waiting for resources, and an amount of resources consumed by the application instance.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions for retrieving the application instance specific information from the agent application is performed periodically.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the instructions for generating a load balancing weight based on a relationship between the application instance specific information and the other application instance specific information include:

instructions for assigning a base weight to each of the application instance and the one or more other application instances; and

instructions for increasing a weight value associated with the application instance or an other application instance based on one or more of the following;

which application instance has a relatively higher transaction success rate;

which application instance has a relatively better response time;

which application instance operates on an underutilized system;

which application instance has a relatively better response time and operates on an underutilized system;

which application instance processes the least significant transactions; and

which application instance passes transactions on to higher performing computing systems.

20. A system for distributing traffic to application instances on one or more computing devices, comprising:

means for obtaining application instance specific operational information identifying operational characteristics of an application instance on a computing device of the one or more computing devices;

means for generating a load balancing weight to be associated with the application instance based on the application instance specific operation information obtained; and

means for distributing traffic to the application instance based on the generated load balancing weight.