APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A PROCESSING SYSTEM

• US 20090063616A1
• Filed: 08/27/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twitter Inc (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tylutki, Marcus A., Wadia, Noshir C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,668,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for controlling a processing system. The apparatus to control a processing system is provided with a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of controlling a processing system. These modules in the described embodiments include a data acquisition module that acquires performance data for a processing system, a data analysis module that calculates the slope between adjacent data points, a data normalization module that normalizes the data and computes a second order difference between the calculated slopes, a performance analysis module that determines the performance value that corresponds to the maximum calculated slope, a performance comparison module that sets a preferred performance threshold, and a performance control module that controls the processing system to achieve the preferred performance threshold.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a processing system, the method comprising:

acquiring a plurality of performance data pairs for a processing system, each performance data pair comprising a domain performance value and a range performance value, the plurality of performance data pairs sorted in order of the domain performance value for each performance data pair;

calculating a range slope for adjacent domain values within the plurality of performance data pairs;

computing a normalized second order difference in the range slope for a plurality of domain performance values;

determining a particular performance value that corresponds to a maximum normalized second order difference in the range slope;

adjusting a preferred performance threshold to correspond to the particular performance value; and

controlling the processing system using the preferred performance threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring a plurality of performance data pairs for a processing system comprises acquiring utilization performance data and response time performance data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring a plurality of performance data pairs for a processing system comprises acquiring throughput performance data and response time performance data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the processing system comprises controlling a rate that service requests are delivered to a command processor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the processing system comprises balancing service requests delivered to a plurality of command processors.

6. An apparatus to control a processing system, the apparatus comprising:

a data acquisition module configured to acquire a plurality of performance data pairs for a processing system, each performance data pair comprising a domain performance value and a range performance value, the plurality of performance data pairs sorted in order of the domain performance value for each performance data pair;

a data analysis module configured to calculate a range slope for adjacent domain values within the plurality of performance data pairs;

a data normalization module configured to compute a normalized second order difference in the range slope for a plurality of domain performance values;

a performance analysis module configured to determine a particular performance value that corresponds to a maximum normalized second order difference in the range slope;

a performance comparison module configured to adjust a preferred performance threshold to correspond to the particular performance value; and

a performance control module configured to control the processing system using the preferred performance threshold.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the data acquisition module is further configured to acquire utilization performance data and response time performance data.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the data acquisition module is further configured to acquire throughput performance data and response time performance data.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the performance control module is further configured to control a rate that service requests are delivered to a command processor.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the performance control module is further configured to balance the number of service requests delivered to a plurality of command processors.

11. A system to control a processing system, the system comprising:

a plurality of client systems configured to issue service requests;

a plurality of command processors configured to receive and fulfill service requests; and

a performance optimizer configured to acquire a plurality of performance data pairs for the plurality of command processors, each performance data pair comprising a domain performance value and a range performance value, the performance optimizer further configured to determine a particular performance value that corresponds to a maximum normalized second order difference in the range slope, adjust a preferred performance threshold to correspond to the particular performance value, and control the plurality of command processors using the preferred performance threshold.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of command processors comprises a plurality of servers selected from a group consisting of application servers, web servers, database servers, and storage servers.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the performance optimizer is further configured to acquire utilization performance data and response time performance data.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the performance optimizer is further configured to acquire throughput performance data and response time performance data.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the performance optimizer is further configured to control a rate that service requests are delivered to a command processor.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the performance optimizer is further configured to balance the number of service requests delivered to a plurality of command processors.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer usable program code executable to perform operations for controlling a processing system, the operations of the computer program product comprising:

acquiring a plurality of performance data pairs for a processing system, each performance data pair comprising a domain performance value and a range performance value, the plurality of performance data pairs sorted in order of the domain performance value for each performance data pair;

calculating a range slope for adjacent domain values within the plurality of performance data pairs;

computing a normalized second order difference in the range slope for a plurality of domain performance values;

determining a particular performance value that corresponds to a maximum normalized second order difference in the range slope;

adjusting a preferred performance threshold to correspond to the particular performance value; and

controlling the processing system using the preferred performance threshold.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein acquiring a plurality of performance data pairs for a processing system comprises acquiring utilization performance data and response time performance data.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein acquiring a plurality of performance data pairs for a processing system comprises acquiring throughput performance data and response time performance data.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein controlling the processing system comprises controlling a rate that service requests are delivered to a command processor.