Method and apparatus for scheduling jobs on a network

• US 20070101336A1
• Filed: 11/03/2005
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yasskin, Jeffrey, Schwichtenberg, Frank, Moore, Matthew, Zeigler, Benjamin, Wolf, Alyssa, Redburn, Jeremy
• Granted Patent: US 7,831,972 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine

Abstract

An apparatus and method for scheduling a job process on at least one node in a server data processing network. The scheduling is based on a state of at least two nodes in the network as well as a cost metric of installing a required application on at least one of the nodes in the network of nodes. The apparatus and method gathers metrics indicating properties associated with at least two nodes on the network, the metrics including a presence of an application necessary for running the process. A first cost factor for scheduling the process on a node in the network having the application necessary for running the process is compared with a second cost factor for scheduling the process on a node in the network that does not have the application necessary for running the process. Finally, a node in the network is selected for scheduling the process.

Claims

1. A method for selecting at least one computational node in a distributed information processing system for scheduling a job process, the method on a node manager comprising:

receiving a job to be scheduled for execution on at least one of a plurality of computational nodes communicatively coupled together over a network;

gathering metrics indicating properties associated with at least two of the computational nodes, the metrics including a dependency of at least one application necessary for executing the job;

generating a cost factor associated with at least two of the computational nodes, wherein the cost factor for each computational node includes a cost associated with having the at least one application necessary for executing the job installed; and

selecting among the at least two computational nodes with a lowest cost factor for executing the job.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dependency indicates at least one of:

a required second application; and

a conflicting second application.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

installing the at least one application necessary for running the job in response to the selected node not having the at least one application necessary for running the job.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metrics include at least one of:

a quantity of incoming processes;

a type of incoming processes; and

currently installed applications.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cost factor includes at least one of:

a time required to install the necessary application; and

a licensing cost.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the time required to install the necessary application is specified by a user.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the time required to install the necessary application is based on at least one of:

an average time of past installs;

a median time of past installs; and

a highest time of past installs.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein elements within the cost factor are assigned weights.

9. An apparatus for scheduling a job process on at least one computational node in a distributed information processing system, the apparatus comprising:

a node manager for receiving a process to be scheduled;

a plurality of computational nodes communicatively coupled to the node manager;

a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for;

gathering metrics indicating properties associated with at least two of the computational nodes, the metrics including a dependency of at least one application necessary for executing the job; and

generating a cost factor associated with at least two of the computational nodes, wherein the cost factor for each computational node includes a cost associated with having the at least one application necessary for executing the job installed; and

a selector that selects, based on a cost factor comparison, at least one node in the network for scheduling the process.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising:

a provisioning system for provisioning onto the selected node the application necessary for running the process; and

a scheduler for scheduling the process on the selected computer.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the metrics include at least one of:

quantity of incoming processes;

type of incoming processes; and

currently installed applications.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the cost factor includes at least one of:

a time required to install the necessary application;

a licensing cost; and

historical time taken to provision an application.

13. A computer program product for selecting at least one computational node in a distributed information processing system for scheduling a job process, the computer program product comprising:

a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

receiving a job to be scheduled for execution on at least one of a plurality of computational nodes communicatively coupled together over a network;

gathering metrics indicating properties associated with at least two of the computational nodes, the metrics including a dependency of at least one application necessary for executing the job;

generating a cost factor associated with at least two of the computational nodes, wherein the cost factor for each computational node includes a cost associated with having the at least one application necessary for executing the job installed; and

selecting among the at least two computational nodes with a lowest cost factor for executing the job.

14. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the dependency indicates at least one of:

a required second application; and

a conflicting second application.

15. The computer program product according to claim 13, further comprising:

installing the at least one application necessary for running the job in response to the selected node not having the at least one application necessary for running the job.

16. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the metrics include at least one of:

a quantity of incoming processes;

a type of incoming processes; and

currently installed applications.

17. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the cost factor includes at least one of:

a time required to install the necessary application; and

a licensing cost.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the time required to install the necessary application is specified by a user.

19. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the time required to install the necessary application is based on at least one of:

an average time of past installs;

a median time of past installs; and

a highest time of past installs.

20. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein elements within the cost factor are assigned weights.