System and method for capacity planning for systems with multithreaded multicore multiprocessor resources

• US 20090055823A1
• Filed: 08/22/2007
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HyPerformix, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: HyPerformix, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Neuse, Douglas M., Zink, Kenneth C., Walton, Christopher B.
• Granted Patent: US 7,957,948 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3442 for planning or managing the needed capacity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3447 Performance evaluation by modeling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3457 Performance evaluation by simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30

Abstract

A method for expressing a hierarchy of scalabilities in complex systems, including a discrete event simulation and an analytic model, for analysis and prediction of the performance of multi-chip, multi-core, multi-threaded computer processors is provided. Further provided is a capacity planning tool for migrating data center systems from a source configuration which may include source systems with multithreaded, multicore, multichip central processing units to a destination configuration which may include destination systems with multithreaded, multicore and multichip central processing units, wherein the destination systems may be different than the source systems. Apparatus and methods are taught for the assembling of and utilization of linear and exponential scalability factors in the capacity planning tool when a plurality of active processor threads populate processors with multiple chips, multiple cores per chip and multiple threads per core.

Claims

1. A method of estimating the scalability of a computer processor system including a processor, the processor having a core, the core capable of running a thread, the thread capable of supporting a task and the processor running an operating system;

the method comprising;

estimating an operating system scalability factor;

estimating a thread scalability factor;

estimating a CPU scalability factor;

estimating a processor scalability factor;

iteratively combining the operating system scalability factor, thread scalability factor, CPU scalability factor and processor scalability factor in an equation having a linear element and a non-linear element to arrive at a result;

computing the result to a measured parameter to arrive at an error;

comparing the error to a predetermined maximum; and

accepting the result as a scalability factor of the computer processor system.