PLACEMENT OF A CLOUD SERVICE USING NETWORK TOPOLOGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE PERFORMANCE

• US 20120239792A1
• Filed: 03/15/2011
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: BANERJEE, SUBRATA, Kapur, Sukhdev S., Merrill, Joshua, Ganesan, Ashok, Dutta, Debojyoti, Ghosh, Arpan K., Dai, Huida
• Granted Patent: US 8,732,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Techniques are described for selecting an optimal data center for instantiating a first cloud service. Embodiments of the invention receive a request specifying a topology of a first cloud service to be hosted by one of a plurality of data centers which provide computing resources to host a plurality of cloud services. A suitability value is then determined for each of the data centers which measures a fitness of the data center for instantiating the first cloud service. In one embodiment, the suitability value is determined by calculating a plurality of metric values for the data center, normalizing the metric values and calculating a weighted average of the normalized values. One of the data centers is then selected for instantiating the first cloud service, based at least in part on the determined suitability values.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request specifying a topology for a first cloud service to be hosted by one of a plurality of data centers which provide computing resources for hosting a plurality of cloud services, wherein the topology includes one or more resource requirements and one or more connectivity requirements for the first cloud service;

for each data center in the plurality of data centers, determining a suitability value which describes a fitness of the respective data center for hosting the first cloud service having the specified topology; and

from at least two of the plurality of data centers capable of hosting the first cloud service, selecting one of the data centers to fulfill the request, based at least in part on the determined suitability values.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of metrics for evaluating a fitness of each data center for hosting the new cloud service at the data center; and

wherein determining a suitability value further comprises;

calculating a value for each metric in the plurality of metrics, wherein the calculated value reflects a measurement of the metric for hosting the first cloud service at the data center.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a suitability value further comprises:

normalizing each of the calculated values for the plurality of metrics to produce a plurality of normalized values, wherein the suitability value is determined by taking a weighted average of the values in the plurality of normalized values.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the received request specifies a client site, and wherein the plurality of metrics includes a physical proximity metric indicative of a geographic distance between the data center and the client site.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the received request specifies a client site, and wherein the plurality of metrics includes a network proximity metric indicative of a network distance between the data center and the client site.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the received request specifies a client site, and wherein the plurality of metrics includes at least one measurement of network performance for a network connection between the data center and the client site.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of metrics includes a measurement of an availability of one or more components included in the topology of the new cloud service at the data center.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of metrics includes a workload metric indicating the current workload of the data center.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the received request further contains one or more policy constraints each including a conditional expression identifying a set of data centers, and wherein selecting one of the data centers to fulfill the request is further based on the one or more policy constraints.

10. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory to store executable code, which, when executed on the processor, performs a method comprising;

receiving a request specifying a topology for a first cloud service to be hosted by one of a plurality of data centers which provide computing resources for hosting a plurality of cloud services, wherein the topology includes one or more resource requirements and one or more connectivity requirements for the first cloud service;

for each data center in the plurality of data centers, determining a suitability value which describes a fitness of the respective data center for hosting the first cloud service having the specified topology; and

from at least two of the plurality of data centers capable of hosting the first cloud service, selecting one of the data centers to fulfill the request, based at least in part on the determined suitability values.

11. The system of claim 10, the operation further comprising:

identifying a plurality of metrics for evaluating a fitness of each data center for hosting the new cloud service at the data center; and

wherein determining a suitability value further comprises;

calculating a value for each metric in the plurality of metrics, wherein the calculated value reflects a measurement of the metric for hosting the first cloud service at the data center.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein determining a suitability value further comprises:

normalizing each of the calculated values for the plurality of metrics to produce a plurality of normalized values, wherein the suitability value is determined by taking a weighted average of the values in the plurality of normalized values.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the received request specifies a client site, and wherein the plurality of metrics includes a physical proximity metric indicative of a geographic distance between the data center and the client site.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the received request specifies a client site, and wherein the plurality of metrics includes a network proximity metric indicative of a network distance between the data center and the client site.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the received request specifies a client site, and wherein the plurality of metrics includes at least one measurement of network performance for a network connection between the data center and the client site.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of metrics includes a measurement of an availability of one or more components included in the topology of the new cloud service at the data center.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of metrics includes a workload metric indicating the current workload of the data center.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the received request further contains one or more policy constraints each including a conditional expression identifying a set of data centers, and wherein selecting one of the data centers to fulfill the request is further based on the one or more policy constraints.

19. A computer program product, comprising:

computer code that receives a request specifying a topology for a first cloud service to be hosted by one of a plurality of data centers which provide computing resources for hosting a plurality of cloud services, wherein the topology includes one or more resource requirements and one or more connectivity requirements for the first cloud service;

computer code that, for each data center in the plurality of data centers, determines a suitability value which describes a fitness of the respective data center for hosting the first cloud service having the specified topology;

computer code that, from at least two of the plurality of data centers capable of hosting the first cloud service, selects one of the data centers to fulfill the request, based at least in part on the determined suitability values; and

a computer readable medium that stores the computer codes.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

computer code that identifies a plurality of metrics for evaluating a fitness of each data center for hosting the new cloud service at the data center; and

wherein the computer code that determines the suitability value further comprises computer code that calculates a value for each metric in the plurality of metrics, wherein the calculated value reflects a measurement of the metric for hosting the first cloud service at the data center.