System for optimizing server use in a data center

• US 20060107087A1
• Filed: 10/25/2005
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: PlateSpin Ltd. (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Pollack, Stephen, Fagerstroem, Peter, Chui, Cadman, Sieroka, Daniel, Stetic, John
• Application Number:
  US11/257,008
• Publication Number:
  US 20060107087A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

A system and method for analyzing the usage of servers and their associated applications and providing suggestions on how to best make use of the resources of the servers. Numerous forms of analysis are utilized to provide suggestions to a user for efficient use of the servers. Should a suggestion be accepted by a user a conversion between servers is conducted. Optionally a conversion may be conducted automatically based upon a suggestion.

Claims

1. A system for remotely monitoring usage of machines in a data center and suggesting conversions between machines to make efficient use of resources in said data center, said system comprising:

a) a data collection engine; and

b) an optimization engine operatively coupled to said data collection engine.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said system is operatively coupled to a machine conversion engine for the purpose of executing a conversion remotely and automatically.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a machine conversion engine and a job management engine operatively coupled to each of said data collection engine and said optimization engine.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said data collection engine comprises means for collecting data and storing it in a database and means for collecting data in real time and presenting it to a user via a graphical interface.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said data collection engine comprises a web services interface, said interface comprising an inventory module, a performance module and an analysis module.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said inventory module comprises means for collecting information on the configuration of said machines and storing the same in a database.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein said performance module comprises means for extracting performance information from a database of information collected by said data collection engine and means for providing it to a requester.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein said analysis module comprises means for examining possible conversions between machines and means for determining the viability of a conversion.

9. The optimization engine of claim 1 wherein said optimization engine utilizes one or more analysis modules to provide suggestions on converting machines.

10. The optimization engine of claim 9 wherein said analysis module is an expert system.

11. The optimization engine of claim 9 wherein said analysis module comprises means for utilizing bin packing.

12. The optimization engine of claim 9 wherein said analysis module is a neural network.

13. The optimization engine of claim 9 wherein said analysis module comprises means for utilizing fuzzy logic.

14. The optimization engine of claim 9 wherein said analysis module comprises means for accepting analysis parameters from a user.

15. A method for remotely monitoring usage of machines in a data center to make efficient use of resources in the data center, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting performance and machine data;

analyzing the data; and

suggesting conversions between machines.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of executing a conversion remotely and automatically.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of storing said data in a database and presenting it to a user via a graphical interface.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of collecting said data in real time and presenting it to a user via a graphical interface.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein said analyzing utilizes an expert system.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein said analyzing utilizes bin packing.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein said analyzing utilizes a neural network.

22. The method of claim 15 wherein said analyzing utilizes fuzzy logic.

23. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of accepting analysis parameters from a user.

24. A computer readable medium, said medium comprising instructions for remotely monitoring usage of machines in a data center to make efficient use of resources in the data center, said instructions implementing the steps of:

collecting performance and machine data;

analyzing the data; and

suggesting conversions between machines.