System, method, and computer program product for group scheduling of computer resources

• US 7,665,090 B1
• Filed: 03/08/2004
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Virtuozzo International GmbH
• Original Assignee: Swsoft Holdings, Ltd.
• Inventors: Protassov, Stanislav S., Beloussov, Serguei M., Tormasov, Alexander G.
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Meng-Ai
• Assistant Examiner(s): WAI, ERIC CHARLES
• Application Number:
  US10/793,881
• Time in Patent Office: 2,171 Days
• Field of Search: 718/104
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for managing computer resources in a computer system running an operating system and a plurality of processes grouped into at least two groups. A set of resource limits corresponds to the processes. A scheduler of resource allocation allocates resources to each process such that total resource allocation to a group to which that process belongs remains constant. The resources comprise, e.g., network bandwidth, number of network connections, I/O bandwidth for peripheral devices, number of operations in a period of time for service operation with countable requests for service, number of operations in a period of time for a daemon with countable requests for service, permission for execution of operation, number of security descriptors, and number of terminals. The scheduler reallocates the resources based on a predictive algorithm, or based on process priority, or based on relative weighting of the processes. The scheduler can adjust an increase and a decrease of the resources available to a particular process. The scheduler is capable of increasing a resource allocation restriction to one process by and by waiting for that resource to become available. The scheduler is capable of increasing a resource allocation to one process by reducing allocation restriction to other processes in the same group on a basis proportional to their current use of that resource. The scheduler can reduce a resource allocation to a particular process based on a history of consumption of the resource by that process and a history of consumption of other resources by that process.

Claims

1. A system for managing computer resources comprising:

a computer system running an operating system;

a system scheduler managing resource allocation for processes using an API;

an add-on scheduler for managing the resource allocation within groups of processes without notifying the operating system, wherein the groups of processes exist only with reference to the add-on scheduler and not as an operating system concept,

wherein the add-on scheduler is implemented in user space;

a plurality of user processes running on the computer system,

wherein the user processes are grouped into at least two logical groups by the add-on scheduler without notifying the operating system, and

wherein the groups of processes are capable of being dynamically modified by the add-on scheduler;

a first set of parameters used by the add-on scheduler for managing the resource allocation within the groups of processes, with the resource allocations being adjusted using the first set of parameters,

wherein the first set of parameters is not supported by the system scheduler;

a second set of parameters used by the system scheduler for managing the resource allocation;

wherein the add-on scheduler reallocates resources restrictions based on (a) a request for resources beyond an established limit, (b) a group resource consumption being a sum of resource consumptions of each process belonging to that group, and (c) based on a predictive algorithm such that the resources are allocated in advance of an actual request for the resources,

wherein the resources restrictions include soft limits,

wherein the add-on scheduler reduces values of the resource restrictions available to a particular process based on any of a history of consumption of the resource by that process and a history of consumption of other resources by that process, and

wherein the add-on scheduler reallocates relative resource allocation between processes within the group of processes, without increasing total resource allocation to the group of processes.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the processes comprises a plurality of threads.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the manager is capable of performing a forced reallocation of the resource from one user to another.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-on scheduler controls restrictions for resources of a renewable type.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the resources of the renewable type comprise any of network bandwidth, number of network connections, I/O bandwidth for devices, number of operations in a period of time for service operation with countable requests for service, number of operations in a period of time for a daemon with countable requests for service, permission for execution of operation, number of security descriptors, and number of pseudo terminals.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-on scheduler controls restrictions for resources of a non-renewable type.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the resources of the non-renewable type comprise any of disk space, storage space, number of files, number of operating system service structures for servicing user requests, buffer size, network traffic, number of users, number of groups of users, virtual memory, physical memory and swap file size.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-on scheduler also reallocates the resources restrictions based on weighting of the processes.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-on scheduler adjusts by increasing or decreasing values of the resource restrictions available to a particular process.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-on scheduler increases a resource restriction value to one process by waiting for that resource to become available.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-on scheduler reallocates a resource restriction value to one process by reducing resource restrictions to other processes in the same group on a basis proportional to their current utilization level of that resource.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-on scheduler reduces a resource restrictions allocation to a particular process based on any of a command from the operating system, a current consumption level of the resource by that process, a history of consumption of the resource by that process, a level of consumption of other resources by that process, and a history of consumption of other resources by that process.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a storage of the resource restrictions accessible by the add-on scheduler.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the storage is any of a database, a data in a computer memory, and file on a disk.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the resources restrictions include limitations on resource use.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the limitations include hard limits.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the resources restrictions include guarantees of available resources.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the guarantees include relaxed guarantees.

19. A method of managing computer resources comprising:

on a computer system running an operating system, starting a system scheduler managing resource allocation for processes using an API;

starting an add-on scheduler for managing the resource allocation within groups of processes without notifying the operating system, wherein the groups of processes exist only with reference to the add-on scheduler and not as an operating system concept,

wherein the add-on scheduler is implemented in user space;

launching a plurality of user processes running on the computer system,

grouping the user processes into at least two logical groups by the add-on scheduler without notifying the operating system,

wherein the groups of processes are capable of being dynamically modified by the add-on scheduler;

utilizing a first set of parameters by the add-on scheduler for managing the resource allocation within the groups of processes, with the resource allocations being adjusted using the first set of parameters,

wherein the first set of parameters is not supported by the system scheduler;

utilizing a second set of parameters used by the system scheduler for managing the resource allocation;

using the add-on scheduler, reallocating the resources restrictions based on (a) a request for resources beyond an established limit, (b) a group resource consumption being a sum of resource consumptions of each process belonging to that group, and (c) based on a predictive algorithm such that the resources are allocated in advance of an actual request for the resources,

wherein the restrictions include soft limits,

using the add-on scheduler reducing values of the resource restrictions available to a particular process based on any of a history of consumption of the resource by that process and a history of consumption of other resources by that process, and

using the add-on scheduler, reallocating relative resource allocation between processes within the group, without increasing total resource allocation to the group.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the processes comprises a plurality of threads.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the processes is a thread.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the resources are of a renewable type.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the resources of the renewable type comprise any of network bandwidth, number of network connections, I/O bandwidth for devices, number of operations in a period of time for service operation with countable requests for service, number of operations in a period of time for a daemon with countable requests for service, permission for execution of operation, number of security descriptors, and number of pseudo terminals.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the resources are of a non-renewable type.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the resources of the non-renewable type comprise any of disk space, storage space, number of files, number of operating system service structures for servicing user requests, buffer size, network traffic, number of users, number of groups of users, virtual memory, physical memory and swap file size.

26. The method of claim 19, further comprising reallocating the resources restrictions based on a request for resources beyond an established limit.

27. The method of claim 19, further comprising reallocating the resources restrictions based on weighting of the processes.

28. The method of claim 19, further comprising reallocating the resources restrictions so as to increase the resources restriction value available to a particular process while keeping the total resource restrictions to the group to which that process belongs constant.

29. The method of claim 19, further comprising increasing a resource restriction value to one process by waiting for that resource to become available.

30. The method of claim 19, further comprising increasing a resource restriction value to one process by reducing resource restrictions to other processes in the same group on a basis proportional to their current utilization level of that resource.

31. The method of claim 19, further comprising reducing a resource restrictions allocation to a particular process based on any of a command from the operating system, a current consumption level of the resource by that process, a history of consumption of the resource by that process, a level of consumption of other resources by that process, and a history of consumption of other resources by that process.

32. The method of claim 19, wherein the resources restrictions include limitations on resource use.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the limitations include hard limits.

34. The method of claim 19, wherein the resources restrictions include guarantees of available resources.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the guarantees include relaxed guarantees.

36. A computer program product for managing computer resources, the computer program product comprising a computer useable storage medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for controlling at least one processor, the computer program logic comprising computer code for implementing the method of claim 19.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the resources are of a renewable type.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the resources of the renewable type comprise any of network bandwidth, number of network connections, I/O bandwidth for devices, number of operations in a period of time for service operation with countable requests for service, number of operations in a period of time for a daemon with countable requests for service, permission for execution of operation, number of security descriptors, and number of pseudo terminals.

39. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the resources are of a non-renewable type.

40. The computer program product of claim 39, wherein the resources of the non-renewable type comprise any of disk space, storage space, number of files, number of operating system service structures for servicing user requests, buffer size, network traffic, number of users, number of groups of users, virtual memory, physical memory and swap file size.

41. The computer program product of claim 36, further comprising computer program code means for reallocating the resources restrictions based on a request for resources beyond an established limit.

42. The computer program product of claim 36, further comprising computer program code means for reallocating the resources restrictions based on any of a predictive algorithm, on process priority, and on weighting of the processes.

43. The computer program product of claim 36, further comprising computer program code means for reallocating the resources restrictions so as to increase the resources restriction value available to a particular process while keeping the total resource restrictions to the group to which that process belongs constant.

44. The computer program product of claim 36, further comprising computer program code means for increasing a resource restriction value to one process by waiting for that resource to become available.

45. The computer program product of claim 36, further comprising computer program code means for increasing a resource restriction value to one process by reducing resource restrictions to other processes in the same group on a basis proportional to their current utilization level of that resource.

46. The computer program product of claim 36, further comprising computer program code means for reducing a resource restrictions allocation to a particular process based on any of a command from the operating system, a current consumption level of the resource by that process, a history of consumption of the resource by that process, a level of consumption of other resources by that process, and a history of consumption of other resources by that process.

47. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the resources restrictions include limitations on resource use.

48. The computer program product of claim 47, wherein the limitations include hard limits.

49. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the resources restrictions include guarantees of available resources.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the guarantees include relaxed guarantees.