Method, system and program products for projecting the impact of configuration changes on controllers

• US 6,751,683 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2000
• Issued: 06/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yocom, Peter B., Johnson, Francis E., Rooney, William J., King, Gary M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): PEYTON, TAMMARA R
• Application Number:
  US09/676,715
• Time in Patent Office: 1,355 Days
• Field of Search: 702/1, 702/2, 702/100, 702/104, 709/104, 709/105, 709/226, 710/38, 710/8, 710/10, 710/15, 710/16, 713/100, 714/4, 714/30
• US Class Current: 710/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45541 Bare-metal, i.e. hypervisor runs directly on hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

An impact of configuration changes on controllers is projected. This projection quantifies the impact for each controller affected by the change, such that it is known by a quantifiable value how much the change impacts the controller. In order to project the impact, a projected I/O velocity of the controller is determined.

Claims

1. A method of projecting an impact of configuration changes on controllers, said method comprising:

selecting a controller associated with a configuration change; and

projecting an impact of the configuration change on the controller, wherein said projecting quantifies the impact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said projecting comprises determining a projected I/O velocity of said controller, said projected I/O velocity quantifying the impact.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining comprises:

projecting utilization of one or more channels of said controller to obtain one or more channel utilizations;

determining one or more contention factors for said controller, said determining employing said one or more channel utilizations; and

obtaining said projected I/O velocity using at least one contention factor of said one or more contention factors.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said projecting utilization of one or more channels comprises:

iteratively adjusting projected load on the one or more channels until a projected unassigned load associated with said controller is at a predefined level; and

determining projected utilization of the one or more channels, in response to the iteratively adjusting.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said determining one or more contention factors comprises using said one or more channel utilizations to determine one or more average channel utilizations, and using said one or more average channel utilizations to determine said one or more contention factors.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising selecting the lowest contention factor from said one or more contention factors, and using said lowest contention factor to obtain said projected I/O velocity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said projecting said impact comprises:

projecting an I/O velocity for said controller using a current configuration of said controller to obtain a first projected value;

projecting an I/O velocity for said controller using a proposed configuration to obtain a second projected value; and

using said first projected value and said second projected value to obtain a quantification of the impact.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said using comprises:

subtracting said first projected value from said second projected value to obtain a delta; and

adding the delta to an actual I/O velocity previously determined for said controller to obtain a quantification of the impact.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said controller comprises a control unit.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said controller comprises one of the following:

a processor communicating with another processor; and

a single device.

11. A system of projecting an impact of configuration changes on controllers, said system comprising:

means for selecting a controller associated with a configuration change; and

means for projecting an impact of the configuration change on the controller, wherein the projecting quantifies the impact.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said means for projecting comprises means for determining a projected I/O velocity of said controller, said projected I/O velocity quantifying the impact.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said means for determining comprises:

means for projecting utilization of one or more channels of said controller to obtain one or more channel utilizations;

means for determining one or more contention factors for said controller, said means for determining employing said one or more channel utilizations; and

means for obtaining said projected I/O velocity using at least one contention factor of said one or more contention factors.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for projecting utilization of one or more channels comprises:

means for iteratively adjusting projected load on the one or more channels until a projected unassigned load associated with said controller is at a predefined level; and

means for determining projected utilization of the one or more channels, in response to the iteratively adjusting.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for determining one or more contention factors comprises means for using said one or more channel utilizations to determine one or more average channel utilizations, and means for using said one or more average channel utilizations to determine said one or more contention factors.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising means for selecting the lowest contention factor from said one or more contention factors, and wherein said means for obtaining comprises means for using said lowest contention factor to obtain said projected I/O velocity.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein said means for projecting said impact comprises:

means for projecting an I/O velocity for said controller using a current configuration of said controller to obtain a first projected value;

means for projecting an I/O velocity for said controller using a proposed configuration to obtain a second projected value; and

means for using said first projected value and said second projected value to obtain a quantification of the impact.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said means for using comprises:

means for subtracting said first projected value from said second projected value to obtain a delta; and

means for adding the delta to an actual I/O velocity previously determined for said controller to obtain a quantification of the impact.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein said controller comprises a control unit.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein said controller comprises one of the following:

a processor communicating with another processor; and

a single device.

21. A system of projecting an impact of configuration changes on controllers, said system comprising:

a controller associated with a configuration change; and

a processor to project an impact of the configuration change on the controller, wherein the projection quantifies the impact.

22. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of projecting an impact of configuration changes on controllers, said method comprising:

selecting a controller associated with a configuration change; and

projecting an impact of the configuration change on the controller, wherein said projecting quantifies the impact.

23. The at least one program storage device of claim 22, wherein said projecting comprises determining a projected I/O velocity of said controller, said projected I/O velocity quantifying the impact.

24. The at least one program storage device of claim 23, wherein said determining comprises:

projecting utilization of one or more channels of said controller to obtain one or more channel utilizations;

determining one or more contention factors for said controller, said determining employing said one or more channel utilizations; and

obtaining said projected I/O velocity using at least one contention factor of said one or more contention factors.

25. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said projecting utilization of one or more channels comprises:

iteratively adjusting projected load on the one or more channels until a projected unassigned load associated with said controller is at a predefined level; and

determining projected utilization of the one or more channels, in response to the iteratively adjusting.

26. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said determining one or more contention factors comprises using said one or more channel utilizations to determine one or more average channel utilizations, and using said one or more average channel utilizations to determine said one or more contention factors.

27. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said method further comprises selecting the lowest contention factor from said one or more contention factors, and using said lowest contention factor to obtain said projected I/O velocity.

28. The at least one program storage device of claim 22, wherein said projecting said impact comprises:

projecting an I/O velocity for said controller using a current configuration of said controller to obtain a first projected value;

projecting an I/O velocity for said controller using a proposed configuration to obtain a second projected value; and

using said first projected value and said second projected value to obtain a quantification of the impact.

29. The at least one program storage device of claim 28, wherein said using comprises:

subtracting said first projected value from said second projected value to obtain a delta; and

adding the delta to an actual I/O velocity previously determined for said controller to obtain a quantification of the impact.

30. The at least one program storage device of claim 22, wherein said controller comprises a control unit.

31. The at least one program storage device of claim 22, wherein said controller comprises one of the following:

a processor communicating with another processor; and

a single device.