ASSIGNMENT OF RESOURCES IN VIRTUAL MACHINE POOLS

• US 20130179574A1
• Filed: 01/09/2012
• Published: 07/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: CALDER, BRADLEY GENE, WANG, JU, BEDEKAR, VAMAN, SANKARAN, SRIRAM, McNETT, MARVIN II, GUNDA, PRADEEP KUMAR, ZHANG, YANG, ANTONY, SHYAM, MANIVANNAN, KAVITHA, KHATRI, HEMAL
• Granted Patent: US 8,904,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5011 Pool
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5014 Reservation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5033 considering data affinity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for assigning and associating resources in a cloud computing environment. Virtual machines in the cloud computing environment can be assigned or associated with pools corresponding to users as dedicated, standby, or preemptible machines. The various states provide users with the ability to reserve a desired level of resources while also allowing the operator of the cloud computing environment to increase resource utilization.

Claims

1. A method for providing resources in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

receiving a request from a first user for one or more standby reservations of virtual machines associated with a first virtual machine pool corresponding to the first user;

assigning one or more preemptible virtual machines to a second virtual machine pool corresponding to a second user;

performing one or more tasks for the second virtual machine pool using the assigned preemptible virtual machines;

determining that a load-based threshold for conversion of at least one standby reservation for the first virtual machine pool is satisfied;

selecting at least one preemptible virtual machine assigned to the second virtual machine pool for preemption based on at least one of a bid price associated with the second virtual machine pool and a length of time for performing a task on a preemptible virtual machine;

stopping performance of tasks on the at least one selected virtual machine; and

assigning the at least one selected virtual machine to the first virtual machine pool as a dedicated virtual machine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking the number of standby reservations of virtual machines associated with the first virtual machine pool.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for one or more standby reservations comprises a request with affinity for one or more virtual machine clusters.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the affinity for the one or more virtual machine clusters comprises at least one of an affinity based on a connectivity with virtual machines assigned to the first virtual machine pool or a connectivity to storage.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting at least one preemptible virtual machine for preemption comprises selecting at least one preemptible virtual machine from the one or more virtual machine clusters.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning at least one idle virtual machine to the first virtual machine pool as a dedicated virtual machine in response to determining that the load-based threshold is satisfied, the assigning of the at least one idle virtual machine occurring prior to assigning the selected at least one virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the load-based threshold does not include time-based criteria.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein performance of tasks is stopped on the at least one selected virtual machine prior to the end of an assignment time period, the method further comprising initiating at least one task on the at least one selected virtual machine for the first virtual machine pool prior to the end of the assignment time period.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one selected virtual machine is from a first virtual machine cluster, and wherein one or more machines assigned to the first virtual machine pool are from a virtual machine cluster different from the first virtual machine cluster.

11. The computer-storage media of claim 9, wherein the tracked number of standby reservations are less than the first amount of requested dedicated machines, the method further comprising assigning at least one additional virtual machine to the virtual machine pool as a dedicated virtual machine.

12. The computer-storage media of claim 9, wherein the tracked number of standby reservations include at least one standby reservation with an affinity for a virtual machine cluster, the conversion of the at least one standby reservation to a dedicated virtual machine comprising conversion to a dedicated virtual machine from the virtual machine cluster.

13. The computer-storage media of claim 9, wherein the affinity for the virtual machine cluster comprises at least one of an affinity based on a connectivity with virtual machines assigned to the virtual machine pool or a connectivity to storage.

10. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, perform a method for providing resources in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

tracking a number of standby reservations of virtual machines associated with a virtual machine pool corresponding to a user;

receiving a request from the user for an increase of dedicated machines assigned to the virtual machine pool by a first amount and an increase in the number of standby reservations associated with the virtual machine pool by a second amount;

converting at least one of the one or more standby reservations to a dedicated virtual machine assigned to the virtual machine pool;

associating one or more additional standby reservations with the virtual machine pool, the number of additional standby reservations being sufficient to achieve the increase in the number of standby reservations by the second amount; and

performing one or more tasks for the virtual machine pool using the at least one converted dedicated virtual machine.

14. A method for providing resources in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

assigning a first virtual machine from a first virtual machine cluster to a first virtual machine pool as a preemptible virtual machine for an assignment time period;

assigning a second virtual machine from a second virtual machine cluster to a second virtual machine pool as a preemptible virtual machine for the assignment time period;

performing one or more tasks on the first preemptible virtual machine and on the second preemptible virtual machine, the one or more tasks on the first preemptible virtual machine having a greater priority than the one or more tasks on the second preemptible virtual machine;

receiving a request from a third virtual machine pool for one or more dedicated virtual machines, the request including an affinity for the first virtual machine cluster;

converting the first preemptible virtual machine to a dedicated virtual machine assigned to the third virtual machine pool;

removing the assignment of the second preemptible virtual machine from the second virtual machine pool;

assigning the second preemptible virtual machine to the first virtual machine pool; and

initiating at least one task for the first virtual machine pool on the second preemptible virtual machine prior to the end of the assignment time period.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein converting the first preemptible virtual machine to a dedicated virtual machine comprises:

removing the assignment of the first preemptible virtual machine from the first virtual machine pool; and

assigning the first virtual machine to the third virtual machine pool.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising initiating at least one task for the third virtual machine pool on the first virtual machine prior to the end of the assignment time period.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more tasks on the first preemptible virtual machine have a greater priority than the one or more tasks on the second preemptible virtual machine based on at least one of a bid associated with the first virtual machine pool and the second virtual machine pool or a length of time for performing a task on the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the first virtual machine pool comprises virtual machines from virtual machine clusters different from the second virtual machine cluster prior to the assigning of the second preemptible virtual machine to the first virtual machine pool.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the request from the third virtual machine pool for one or more dedicated virtual machines comprises a request to convert at least one standby reservation to a dedicated virtual machine.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the affinity for the first virtual machine cluster comprises at least one of an affinity based on a connectivity with virtual machines assigned to the first virtual machine pool or a connectivity to storage.