OPTIMIZING AVAILABLE COMPUTING RESOURCES WITHIN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

• US 20130117494A1
• Filed: 11/03/2011
• Published: 05/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Silver Peak Systems Incorporated (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Hughes, David Anthony, Burns, John
• Granted Patent: US 9,626,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/08 in hierarchically structured memory systems, e.g. virtual memory systems
• 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

Methods and systems for the optimization of available computing resources within a virtual environment are disclosed. An exemplary method comprises determining the sizes of the computing resources available to the virtual machine and determining optimal data structures for the virtual machine based on the sizes of the computing resources. The optimal data structures may include an indexing data structure and a historic data. The method may further comprise allocating a Random Access Memory (RAM) and disk storage to the optimal data structures and configuring the optimal data structures within the RAM and the disk storage. The optimization of data structures involves balancing requirements of the indexing data structure and the historic data.

Claims

1. A method for optimization of resources within a virtual machine, the method comprising:

determining sizes of computing resources available to a virtual machine;

based on the sizes of the computing resources, determining optimal data structures for the virtual machine, the optimal data structures including an indexing data structure and a historic data;

allocating a Random Access Memory (RAM) and a disk storage to the optimal data structures; and

configuring the optimal data structures within the RAM and the disk storage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the historic data includes at least a portion of the contents of data packets extracted sequentially from flows of network data traveling across a network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating, to a further virtual machine, information related to the optimal data structures for the virtual machine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing resources include the RAM, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), the disk storage, and a Virtual Machine (VM) container.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimal data structure sizes are affected by specific historical measurements.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimal data structures are based on relative sizes of the indexing data structure and the historic data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the indexing data structure includes at least one hash table.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the indexing data structure comprises one or more signature array hash tables, and the historic data comprises flow history pages.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining optimal data structures comprises determining optimal sizes of the one or more signature array hash tables and the flow history pages.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining optimal sizes of the one or more signature array hash tables is an iterative process.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining sizes of computing resources comprises requesting a virtual machine manager to provide information related to allocated resources and/or acquiring computing resources usage metrics.

12. A system for optimization of resources within a virtual machine, the system comprising:

a size determination module configured to determine sizes of computing resources available to a virtual machine;

an optimal data structure determination module configured to determine, based on the sizes of the computing resources, optimal data structures for the virtual machine, the optimal data structures including an indexing data structure and a historic data;

an allocation module configured to allocate a Random Access Memory (RAM) and a disk storage to the optimal data structures; and

a configuration module configured to configure the optimal data structures within the RAM and the disk storage.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a communication module configured to communicate, to a further virtual machine, information related to the optimal data structures for the virtual machine.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the optimal data structure sizes are based on specific historical data.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the optimal data structures are based on relative sizes of the indexing data structure and the historic data.

16. The system of claim 12, further comprising a paged memory system for the optimal data structures.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the indexing data structure comprises one or more signature array hash tables and the historic data comprises a flow history pages table.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the optimal data structure determination module is further configured to determine optimal sizes of the one or more signature array hash tables and the flow history pages table.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the size determination module is further configured to request a virtual machine manager to provide information related to allocated resources and/or acquires computing resources usage metrics in order to determine sizes of computing resources available to the virtual machine.

20. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more computers, causes the one or more computers to:

determine sizes of computing resources available to a virtual machine;

based on the sizes of the computing resources, determine optimal data structures for the virtual machine, the optimal data structures including an indexing data structure and a historic data;

allocate a Random Access Memory (RAM) and a disk storage to the optimal data structures; and

configure the optimal data structures within the RAM and the disk storage.