CALIBRATING CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20120042061A1
• Filed: 08/13/2010
• Published: 02/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ayala, Richard, Chavda, Kavita, Gopisetty, Sandeep, Murthy, Seshashayee S., Singh, Aameek
• Granted Patent: US 9,323,561 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3442 for planning or managing the needed capacity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/501 Performance criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/14 Network analysis or design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network

Abstract

In general, embodiments of present invention provide an approach for calibrating a cloud computing environment. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide an empirical approach for obtaining end-to-end performance characteristics for workloads in the cloud computing environment (hereinafter the “environment”). In a typical embodiment, different combinations of cloud server(s) and cloud storage unit(s) are determined. Then, a virtual machine is deployed to one or more of the servers within the cloud computing environment. The virtual machine is used to generate a desired workload on a set of servers within the environment. Thereafter, performance measurements for each of the different combinations under the desired workload will be taken. Among other things, the performance measurements indicate a connection quality between the set of servers and the set of storage units, and are used in calibrating the cloud computing environment to determine future workload placement. Along these lines, the performance measurements can be populated into a table or the like, and a dynamic map of a data center having the set of storage units can be generated.

Claims

1. A method for calibrating performance within a cloud computing environment, comprising:

determining different combinations of a set of servers and a set of storage units within the cloud computing environment;

generating a desired workload on the set of servers using a virtual machine; and

taking performance measurements for each of the different combinations under the desired workload.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a table that comprises the performance measurements.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising creating a dynamic map of a data center comprising the set of storage units based on the table.

4. The method of claim 1, the performance measurements indicating a connection quality between the set of servers and the set of storage units.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising calibrating the cloud computing environment using the performance metrics to determine future workload placement.

6. The method of claim 1, the virtual machine being deployed within the cloud computing environment.

7. The method of claim 1, the virtual machine comprising:

a simulation and measurement application;

an operating system; and

a resource definition library.

8. The method of claim 1, the virtual machine being created using an image library.

9. A system for calibrating performance within a cloud computing environment, comprising:

a bus;

a processor coupled to the bus; and

a memory medium coupled to the bus, the memory medium comprising instructions to;

determine different combinations of a set of servers and a set of storage units within the cloud computing environment;

generate a desired workload on the set of servers using a virtual machine; and

take performance measurements for each of the different combinations under the desired workload.

10. The system of claim 9, the memory medium further comprising instructions to generate a table that comprises the performance measurements.

11. The system of claim 10, the memory medium further comprising instructions to create a dynamic map of a data center comprising the set of storage units based on the table.

12. The system of claim 9, the performance measurements indicating a connection quality between the set of servers and the set of storage units.

13. The system of claim 12, the memory medium further comprising instructions to calibrate the cloud computing environment using the performance metrics to determine future workload placement.

14. The system of claim 9, the virtual machine being deployed within the cloud computing environment.

15. The system of claim 9, the virtual machine comprising:

a simulation and measurement application;

an operating system; and

a resource definition library.

16. The system of claim 9, the virtual machine being created using an image library.

17. A computer program product for calibrating a cloud computing environment, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage media, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media, to:

determine different combinations of a set of servers and a set of storage units within the cloud computing environment;

generate a desired workload on the set of servers using a virtual machine; and

take performance measurements for each of the different combinations under the desired workload.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media to generate a table that comprises the performance measurements.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, the memory medium further comprising instructions to create a dynamic map of a data center comprising the set of storage units based on the table.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, the performance measurements indicating a connection quality between the set of servers and the set of storage units.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, the memory medium further comprising instructions to calibrate the cloud computing environment using the performance metrics to determine future workload placement.

22. The computer program product of claim 17, the virtual machine being deployed within the cloud computing environment.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, the virtual machine comprising:

a simulation and measurement application;

an operating computer program product; and

a resource definition library.

24. The computer program product of claim 17, the virtual machine being created using an image library.

25. A method for deploying a system for calibrating performance within a cloud computing environment, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

determine different combinations of a set of servers and a set of storage units within the cloud computing environment;

generate a desired workload on the set of servers using a virtual machine; and

take performance measurements for each of the different combinations under the desired workload.