VIRTUAL MACHINE LOAD BALANCING

• US 20120324112A1
• Filed: 06/17/2011
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dow, Eli M., Silva, Dilma Da
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,428 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5033 considering data affinity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

A method for load balancing virtual machines includes accessing specification and utilization information for selected networked hardware platforms published on a network, the networked hardware platforms configured to run virtual machines and scoring the selected networked hardware platforms based on parameters from the utilization information to indicate resource availability for each of the selected networked hardware platforms. The method also includes removing a networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms based on a collocation policy to produce candidate platforms to receive a first virtual machine, wherein the collocation policy prohibits placement of the first virtual machine on the networked hardware platform based on at least one of consumer rules, provider rules, and industry rules.

Claims

1. A method for virtual machine load balancing, comprising:

accessing specification and utilization information for selected networked hardware platforms published on a network, the networked hardware platforms configured to run virtual machines;

scoring the selected networked hardware platforms based on parameters from the utilization information to indicate resource availability for each of the selected networked hardware platforms; and

removing a networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms based on a collocation policy to produce candidate platforms to receive a first virtual machine, wherein the collocation policy prohibits placement of the first virtual machine on the networked hardware platform based on at least one of consumer rules, provider rules, and industry rules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein scoring the selected networked hardware platforms comprises sorting the selected networked hardware platforms based on the specification and utilization information for each selected networked hardware platform.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the utilization information for the selected networked hardware platforms comprises parameters indicating a percentage or amount of the specification information resources being used.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises identifying the networked hardware platform that is prohibited or a virtual machine on the hardware platform that is prohibited by the collocation policy via a unique identifier assigned to the hardware platform or the selected virtual machine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises removing the networked hardware platform based on a prohibited virtual machine hosted by the selected networked hardware platform.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises removing the selected networked hardware platform based on a physical location of the selected networked hardware platform.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising selecting a target platform from the candidate platforms to receive the first virtual machine based on current consumption data and historical consumption data for the first virtual machine and the published specification and utilization information

8. The method of claim 7, comprising migrating the first virtual machine to the target platform.

9. A system, comprising:

a computer processor; and

logic executable by the computer processor, the logic configured to implement a method, the method including;

accessing specification and utilization information for selected networked hardware platforms published on a network, the networked hardware platforms configured to run virtual machines;

scoring the selected networked hardware platforms based on parameters from the utilization information to indicate resource availability for each of the selected networked hardware platforms; and

removing a networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms based on a collocation policy to produce candidate platforms to receive a first virtual machine, wherein the collocation policy prohibits placement of the first virtual machine on the networked hardware platform based on at least one of consumer rules, provider rules, and industry rules.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein scoring the selected network hardware platforms comprises sorting the selected networked hardware platforms based on the specification and utilization information for each selected networked hardware platform.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the utilization information for the selected networked hardware platforms comprises parameters indicating a percentage or amount of the specification information resources being used.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises identifying the networked hardware platform that is prohibited or a virtual machine on the hardware platform that is prohibited by the collocation policy via a unique identifier assigned to the hardware platform or the selected virtual machine.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises removing the networked hardware platform based on a prohibited virtual machine hosted by the selected networked hardware platform.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises removing the selected networked hardware platform based on a physical location of the selected networked hardware platform.

15. The system of claim 9, comprising selecting a target platform from the candidate platforms to receive the first virtual machine based on current consumption data and historical consumption data for the first virtual machine and the published specification and utilization information.

16. The system of claim 9, migrating the first virtual machine to the target platform

17. A computer program product comprising a storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied thereon, which when executed by a computer processor, causes the computer processor to implement a method, the method comprising:

accessing specification and utilization information for selected networked hardware platforms published on a network, the networked hardware platforms configured to run virtual machines;

scoring the selected networked hardware platforms based on parameters from the utilization information to indicate resource availability for each of the selected networked hardware platforms; and

removing a networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms based on a collocation policy to produce candidate platforms to receive a first virtual machine, wherein the collocation policy prohibits placement of the first virtual machine on the networked hardware platform based on at least one of consumer rules, provider rules, and industry rules.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein scoring the selected networked hardware platforms comprises sorting the selected networked hardware platforms based on the specification and utilization information for each selected networked hardware platform.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the utilization information for the selected networked hardware platforms comprises parameters indicating a percentage or amount of the specification information resources being used.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises identifying the networked hardware platform that is prohibited or a virtual machine on the hardware platform that is prohibited by the collocation policy via a unique identifier assigned to the hardware platform or the selected virtual machine.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises removing the networked hardware platform based on a prohibited virtual machine hosted by the selected networked hardware platform.

22. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises removing the selected networked hardware platform based on a physical location of the selected networked hardware platform.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein removing the networked hardware platform from the selected networked hardware platforms comprises removing the hardware platform to provide high availability of virtual machines for an end user.

24. The computer program product of claim 17, comprising selecting a target platform from the candidate platforms to receive the first virtual machine based on current consumption data and historical consumption data for the first virtual machine and the published specification and utilization information.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, comprising migrating the first virtual machine to the target platform.