VIRTUAL MACHINE PLACEMENT

• US 20160285906A1
• Filed: 03/23/2015
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Fine, Kevin, Kruglick, Ezekiel
• Granted Patent: US 9,965,309 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Technologies for virtual machine placement within a data center are described herein. An example method may include determining a shared threat potential for a virtual machine based, at least in part, on a degree of co-location the virtual machine has with a current virtual machine operating on a physical machine, determining a workload threat potential for the virtual machine based, at least in part, on a level of advantage associated with placing the virtual machine on the physical machine, determining a threat potential for the virtual machine based, at least in part, on a combination of the shared threat potential and the workload threat potential, and placing the virtual machine on the physical machine based on the threat potential.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processor, a shared threat potential for a virtual machine based, at least in part, on a degree of co-location the virtual machine has with a current virtual machine operating on a physical machine;

determining, by the processor, a workload threat potential for the virtual machine based, at least in part, on a level of advantage associated with placing the virtual machine on the physical machine;

determining, by the processor, a threat potential for the virtual machine based, at least in part, on a combination of the shared threat potential and the workload threat potential; and

placing, by the processor, the virtual machine on the physical machine based on the threat potential.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by a processor, a shared threat potential for a virtual machine based, at least in part, on a degree of co-location the virtual machine has with a current virtual machine operating on a physical machine comprises determining an amount of resource sharing of the physical machine the virtual machine will have with the current virtual machine, and wherein a higher amount of resource sharing is indicative of a higher shared threat potential.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a higher degree of co-location increases the shared threat potential, and wherein the degrees of co-location on the physical machine include board level, chip level, and core level.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by a processor, a shared threat potential for a virtual machine based, at least in part, on a degree of co-location the virtual machine has with a current virtual machine operating on a physical machine comprises determining a number of current virtual machines the virtual machine will be co-located with on the physical machine.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the shared threat potential is at a maximum when the virtual machine is co-located with a single current virtual machine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the processor, a workload threat potential for the virtual machine based, at least in part, on a level of advantage associated with placing the virtual machine on the physical machine comprises determining a profile for the virtual machine, and comparing the profile to a profile of the current virtual machine on the physical machine.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein comparing the profile to a profile of the current virtual machine on the physical machine comprises determining how complementary the profile of the virtual machine is with the profile of the current virtual machine operating on the physical machine, and wherein increases in how complementary the virtual machine profile and the current virtual machine profile are increases the advantage, and wherein an increase in the advantage is indicative of an increased workload threat potential.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the profile of the virtual machine describes a plurality of resource requirements for the virtual machine, and wherein the resource requirements include processor usage, network usage, memory usage, or combinations thereof.

9. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium that includes computer executable instructions stored thereon to perform a virtual machine placement procedure, the procedure comprising:

identify a plurality of physical machines;

determine a shared threat potential for placing the virtual machine on each of the plurality of physical machines;

determine a threat potential associated with placing the virtual machine on each of the plurality of physical machines based on the respective shared threat potential and an advantage of placing the virtual machine on each of the plurality of physical machines; and

place the virtual machine on a selected physical machine of the plurality of physical machines based on the respective threat potential.

10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein to determine a shared threat potential for placing the virtual machine on each of the respective plurality of physical machines is based at least in part on a level of sharing the virtual machine will have with a current virtual machine on each of the plurality of physical machines.

11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the level of sharing the virtual machine will have with a current virtual machine on each of the plurality of physical machines is indicative of a degree of co-location the virtual machine will have with a current virtual machine.

12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the shared threat level increases for increased degrees of co-location.

13. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein to determine a plurality of physical machines in which a virtual machine may be placed is based, at least in part, on a profile of the virtual machine.

14. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the advantage of placing the virtual machine on each of the plurality of physical machines is based, at least in part, on a profile of the virtual machine.

15. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the more unique a profile is for a virtual machine the higher the advantage of placing the virtual machine on one or more of the plurality of physical machines.

16. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the higher the advantage the more elevated the risk is with the placement of the virtual machine in that one or more physical machines.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a virtual machine placement system, an identification of a virtual machine to place into a data center including a plurality of physical machines coupled to a virtual machine placement interface;

determining, by the virtual machine placement system, a plurality of available physical machines to place the virtual machine based, at least in part, on a profile of the virtual machine;

estimating, by the virtual machine placement system, a respective risk level for placing the virtual machine with each of the plurality of available physical machines; and

placing, by the virtual machine placement system, the virtual machine on a physical machine of the plurality of available physical machines based on the respective risk level.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

comparing, by the virtual machine placement system, the risk level associated with placing the virtual machine on one of the plurality of available physical machines to a first threshold; and

based on the risk level being greater than the first threshold, activating, by the virtual machine placement system, a new physical machine.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

comparing, by the virtual machine placement system, the risk level associated with placing the virtual machine on one of the plurality of available physical machines to a second threshold;

based on the risk level being greater than the second threshold, placing, by the virtual machine placement system, the virtual machine on that available physical machine; and

activating, by the virtual machine placement system, a side channel monitor, wherein the side channel monitor is configured to monitor the physical machine the virtual machine is placed for side channel attacks.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

placing, by the virtual machine placement system, the virtual machine on the new physical machine.

21. A virtual machine placement system comprising at least one processing unit and at least one computer executable media encoded with instructions, the instructions comprising instructions causing the at least one processing unit to:

determine a plurality of available physical machines on which a virtual machine may be placed;

determine a shared threat potential for placing the virtual machine on each of the plurality of available physical machines;

determine a threat potential associated with placing the virtual machine on each of the plurality of available physical machines based on the respective shared threat potential and an advantage of placing the virtual machine on each of the plurality of available physical machines; and

place the virtual machine on an available physical machine based on the respective threat potential.

22. The virtual machine placement system of claim 21, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions causing the at least one processing unit to:

compare threat potential associated with placing the virtual machine on one of the plurality of available physical machines to a first threshold;

based on the threat potential being greater than the first threshold, allocating an additional available physical machine; and

place the virtual machine on the additional available physical machine.

23. The virtual machine placement system of claim 21, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions causing the at least one processing unit to:

compare the threat potential associated with placing the virtual machine on one of the plurality of available physical machines to a second threshold; and

based on the risk level being greater than the second threshold, place the virtual machine on that available physical machine.

24. The virtual machine placement system of claim 23, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions causing the at least one processing unit to activate a side channel monitor, wherein the side channel monitor monitors the available physical machine in which the virtual machine is placed for side channel attacks.