Stale Performance Assessment of a Hypervisor

• US 20130247043A1
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Splunk Inc.
• Original Assignee: Splunk Inc.
• Inventors: Bingham, Brian, Fletcher, Tristan
• Granted Patent: US 9,164,786 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45545 Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Techniques promote monitoring of hypervisor systems by presenting dynamic representations of hypervisor architectures that include performance indicators. A reviewer can interact with the representation to progressively view select lower-level performance indicators. Higher level performance indicators can be determined based on tower level state assessments. A reviewer can also view historical performance metrics and indicators, which can aid in understanding which configuration changes or system usages may have led to sub-optimal performance.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

accessing, on a computing device, an architecture identifying relationships between a plurality of components in a system providing virtual-machine processing, the plurality of components including a plurality of virtual machines;

monitoring, for each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, a performance metric of the virtual machine;

storing, for each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, the performance metric of the virtual machine, in association with a time point, in a database;

detecting an input identifying a time period;

identifying, based on the architecture, a set of performance metrics stored in the database, the set of performance metrics being associated with time points that are within the time period;

determining, on the computing device and subsequent to detecting the input, a historical performance indicator based on the set of performance metrics; and

presenting the historical performance indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a set of performance indicators based on the set of performance metrics, each performance indicator of the set of performance indicators characterizing performance within a different time interval within the time period; and

presenting the set of performance indicators.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a performance indicator of the set of performance indicators characterizes performance within a time interval that ended at least 48 hours prior to the detection of the input and that had a duration less than two minutes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the input includes a first temporal endpoint of the time period, and wherein the method further comprises determining a second endpoint of the time period.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a representation of at least part of the architecture simultaneously with the presentation of the performance indicator.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a set of virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines that were connected in he architecture,

wherein the performance metrics in the set of performance metrics characterize performance of a virtual machine in the set of virtual machines within a time point in the time period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessed architecture differs from a current architecture applicable to the system, and wherein the accessed current architecture identifies a different set of virtual machines as being currently connected to the higher-level component.

8. A system, comprising:

one or more data processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the processor to perform operations including;

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including;

accessing an architecture identifying relationships between a plurality of components in a system providing virtual-machine processing, the plurality of components including a plurality of virtual machines;

monitoring, for each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, a performance metric of the virtual machine;

storing, for each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, the performance metric of the virtual machine, in association with a time point, in a database;

detecting an input identifying a time period;

identifying, based on the architecture, a set of performance metrics stored in the database, the set of performance metrics being associated with time points that are within the time period;

determining, subsequent to detecting the input, a historical performance indicator based on the set of performance metrics; and

presenting the historical performance indicator.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed on the one or more data processors, further cause the process to:

determine a set of performance indicators based on the set of performance metrics, each performance indicator of the set of performance indicators characterizing performance within a different time interval within the time period; and

present the set of performance indicators.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein a performance indicator of the set of performance indicators characterizes performance within a time interval that ended at least 48 hours prior to the detection of the input and that had a duration less than two minutes.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the input includes a first temporal endpoint of the time period, and wherein the method further comprises determining a second endpoint of the time period.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed on the one or more data processors, further cause the process to present a representation of at least part of the architecture simultaneously with the presentation of the performance indicator.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed on the one or more data processors, further cause the process to:

identify a set of virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines that were connected in the architecture,

wherein the performance metrics in the set of performance metrics characterize performance of a virtual machine in the set of virtual machines within a time point in the time period.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the accessed architecture differs from a current architecture applicable to the system, and wherein the accessed current architecture identifies a different set of virtual machines as being currently connected to the higher-level component.

15. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause one or more data processors to:

access an architecture identifying relationships between a plurality of components in a system providing virtual-machine processing, the plurality of components including a plurality of virtual machines;

monitor, for each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, a performance metric of the virtual machine;

store, for each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, the performance metric of the virtual machine, in association with a time point, in a database;

detect an input identifying a time period;

identify, based on the architecture, a set of performance metrics stored in the database, the set of performance metrics being associated with time points that are within the time period;

determine, subsequent to detecting the input, a historical performance indicator based on the set of performance metrics; and

present the historical performance indicator.

16. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the one or more data processors to:

determine a set of performance indicators based on the set of performance metrics, each performance indicator of the set of performance indicators characterizing performance within a different time interval within the time period; and

present the set of performance indicators.

17. The computer-program product of claim 16, wherein a performance indicator of the set of performance indicators characterizes performance within a time interval that ended at least 48 hours prior to the detection of the input and that had a duration less than two minutes.

18. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the input includes a first temporal endpoint of the time period, and wherein the method further comprises determining a second endpoint of the time period.

19. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the one or more data processors to present a representation of at least part of the architecture simultaneously with the presentation of the performance indicator.

20. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the one or more data processors to:

identify a set of virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines that were connected in the architecture,

wherein the performance metrics in the set of performance metrics characterize performance of a virtual machine in the set of virtual machines within a time point in the time period.

21. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the accessed architecture differs from a current architecture applicable to the system, and wherein the accessed current architecture identifies a different set of virtual machines as being currently connected to the higher-level component.