Dynamic feedback control of resources in computing environments

• US 20090016220A1
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Zhikui, Salem, Kenneth, Zhu, Xiaoyun, Uysal, Mustafa, Merchant, Arif A., Singhal, Sharad, Padala, Pradeep
• Granted Patent: US 8,767,535 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications

Abstract

A method for controlling resource allocation is provided. The method includes determining a service metric associated with a first application, wherein the first application is associated with one or more virtual machines. The method further includes comparing the service metric to an application specific service level goal associated with the first application and modifying a resource allocation associated with the first application at one or more of the virtual machines.

Claims

1. A method for controlling resource allocation comprising:

determining a service metric associated with a first application, said first application associated with one or more virtual machines;

comparing said service metric to an application specific service level goal associated with said first application; and

modifying a resource allocation associated with said first application at one or more of said virtual machines.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein determining said service metric comprises:

determining an average end-to-end response time associated with said first application.

3. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

determining resource availability at one or more of said virtual machines associated with said first application.

4. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

determining a prioritization associated with said first application.

5. The method as described in claim 4 further comprising:

comparing said prioritization associated with said first application to a prioritization associated with a second application; and

modifying resource allocations associated with said first application and said second application at one or more of said virtual machines based on said prioritization.

6. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

modifying application specific service level goal associated with said first application.

7. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

modifying a resource allocation associated with said first application at one or more of said virtual machines to maintain a minimum service level associated with said application.

8. A computer readable medium comprising executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, causes the system to perform a method for controlling resource utilization comprising:

determining a service metric associated with a first application wherein said first application is associated with one or more virtual machines;

comparing said service metric to an application specific service level goal associated with said first application; and

modifying a resource allocation associated with said first application at one or more of said virtual machines.

9. The computer readable medium as described in claim 8 wherein determining said service metric comprises:

determining an average end-to-end response time associated with said first application.

10. The computer readable medium as described in claim 8 wherein said method further comprises:

determining resource availability at one or more of said virtual machines associated with said first application.

11. The computer readable medium as described in claim 8 wherein said method further comprises:

determining a prioritization associated with said first application.

12. The computer readable medium as described in claim 11 wherein said method further comprises:

comparing said prioritization associated with said first application to a prioritization associated with a second application; and

modifying resource allocations associated with said first application and said second application at one or more of said virtual machines based on said prioritization.

13. The computer readable medium as described in claim 8 wherein said method further comprises:

modifying said application specific service level goal associated with said first application.

14. The computer readable medium as described in claim 8 wherein said method further comprises:

modifying a resource allocation associated with said first application at one or more of said virtual machines to maintain a minimum service level associated with said first application.

15. A resource allocation control module comprising:

a service metric determiner module for determining a service metric associated with a first application, said first application associated with one or more virtual machines;

a service goal comparison module for comparing said service metric to an application specific service level goal associated with said first application; and

a resource allocation module for enabling dynamic modification of a resource allocation associated with said first application at one or more of said virtual machines.

16. The resource allocation control module as described in claim 15 wherein said service metric determiner module determines an average end-to-end response time associated with said first application between one or more of said virtual machines.

17. The resource allocation control module as described in claim 15 wherein said service metric determiner module determines a resource availability data at one or more of said virtual machines associated with said first application.

18. The resource allocation control module as described in claim 15 further comprising:

an application priority determiner module for determining a prioritization associated with said first application.

19. The resource allocation control module as described in claim 18 wherein said service metric determiner module compares said prioritization associated with said first application to a prioritization associated with a second application;

and

said resource allocation module modifies resource allocations associated with said first application and said second application at one or more of said virtual machines based on said prioritization.

20. The resource allocation control module as described in claim 15 wherein said resource allocation module modifies said application specific service level goal associated with said first application.