MANAGEMENT OF VIRTUAL MACHINE MIGRATION IN AN OPERATING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20150143364A1
• Filed: 11/19/2013
• Published: 05/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Jason L., Bhatia, Nimesh, Boss, Gregory J., Singh, Animesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,348,654 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4862 the task being a mobile agent, i.e. specifically designed to migrate
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4875 with migration policy, e.g. auction, contract negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4893 taking into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 involving task migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 : Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Embodiments directed toward a method, and a system. A method can be directed toward deciding whether to accept a virtual machine migration on a host. The method can include receiving a request to host a migrated virtual machine. The method can include determining if the host is overcommitted. The method can include selecting a low priority virtual machine in response to the host being overcommitted. The method can include determining if a resource for the low priority virtual machine can be reduced to accommodate the migrated virtual machine. The method can include reducing the resources for the low priority virtual machine in response to the resources being able to be reduced. The method can include accepting the request to host the migrated virtual machine in response to the reduction of the resources.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for migrating a virtual machine, comprising:

monitoring a first host hosting a plurality of virtual machines for a virtual machine migration event;

determining whether the virtual machine migration event causes the first host to be overcommitted;

identifying a low priority virtual machine on the first host in response to the first host being overcommitted; and

implementing an optimization path for the low priority virtual machine on the first host.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing the optimization path further comprises:

predicting whether a migration of the low priority virtual machine to a second host causes the second host to be overcommitted; and

migrating the low priority virtual machine to the second host in response to the second host not being overcommitted.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying a second host low priority virtual machine in response to the second host being overcommitted;

predicting, on a third host, whether a migration of the second host low priority virtual machine causes the third host to be overcommitted; and

migrating the second host low priority virtual machine to the third host and the low priority virtual machine to the second host in response to the third host not being overcommitted.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein predicting whether the low priority virtual machine migration event causes the second host to be overcommitted, comprises:

calculating a value index for a prediction for the low priority virtual machine migration event; and

selecting the prediction based on the value index.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing an optimization path comprises:

transmitting a migration request to a second host; and

migrating the low priority virtual machine to a second host in response to an acceptance of the migration request by the second host.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein accepting the migration request comprises:

determining whether the second host will be overcommitted beyond an overcommitment threshold; and

transmitting the acceptance of the migration request to the first host in response to the second host being overcommitted within the overcommitment threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, from the first host, data metrics used to determine the overcommitment and identify the low priority virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a resource on the low priority virtual machine can be reduced; and

reducing the resource for the low priority virtual machine in response to the low priority virtual machine being able to be reduced.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein reducing the resource comprises:

determining an optimal size of the low priority virtual machine by examining a usage pattern for the low priority virtual machine, and

reducing the resource so that the usage pattern is less than the optimal size of the low priority virtual machine.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the first host will accept the virtual machine from the virtual machine migration event; and

avoiding migration of the virtual machine in response to the first host rejecting the virtual machine.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring a first host comprises:

detecting the virtual machine migration event;

accepting a virtual machine migration from the virtual machine migration event;

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the virtual machine migration event causes the first host to be overcommitted comprises:

receiving requirements from the plurality of virtual machines on the first host and the virtual machine from the virtual machine migration event;

determining a resource of the first host;

comparing the requirements to the resource; and

identifying an overcommitment in response to the requirements being greater than the resource and within an overcommitment threshold.

13. A method of deciding whether to accept a virtual machine migration on a host, comprising:

receiving a request to host a migrated virtual machine;

determining if the host is overcommitted;

selecting a low priority virtual machine in response to the host being overcommitted;

determining if a resource for the low priority virtual machine can be reduced to accommodate the migrated virtual machine;

reducing the resource for the low priority virtual machine in response to the resource being able to be reduced;

accepting the request to host the migrated virtual machine in response to the reduction of the resource.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

sending a low priority virtual machine migration request to a second host in response to the resource for the low priority virtual machine not being able to be reduced;

migrating the low priority virtual machine to the second host in response to the low priority virtual machine request being accepted by the second host; and

accepting the request to host the migrated virtual machine in response to the migration of the low priority virtual machine.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein reducing the resource comprises:

determining an optimal size of the low priority virtual machine by examining a usage pattern for the low priority virtual machine, and

reducing the resource so that the usage pattern is less than the optimal size of the low priority virtual machine.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining if the resource for the low priority virtual machine can be reduced comprises:

receiving a shrinkage threshold; and

determining if the host can be reduced within the shrinkage threshold.

17. A system for migrating a virtual machine, comprising:

one or more computer processors, configured to;

monitor a first host hosting a plurality of virtual machines for a virtual machine migration event;

determine whether the virtual machine migration event causes the first host to be overcommitted;

identify a low priority virtual machine on the first host in response to the first host being overcommitted; and

implement an optimization path for the low priority virtual machine on the first host.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to implement the optimization path by:

predicting whether a migration of the low priority virtual machine to a second host causes the second host to be overcommitted; and

migrating the low priority virtual machine to the second host in response to the second host not being overcommitted.