Adjustable virtual network performance

• US 8,276,140 B1
• Filed: 11/14/2011
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Beda, Joseph S. III, Kadatch, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Tang, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US13/295,897
• Time in Patent Office: 316 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, relating to managing resources. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving configuration information, the configuration information specifying a plurality of parameter values including values for a size and input/output performance parameters, where the size and performance parameters are independently specified by a user; determining one or more physical resources that satisfy the received configuration information; and generating one or more virtual disk instances having the specified size and performance parameters.

Claims

1. A method for managing cloud computing resources performed by data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of user-specified parameter values including values for storage size and input/output performance parameters for a virtual disk instance;

generating one or more virtual disk instances having the user-specified parameter values;

monitoring usage of the one or more virtual disk instances;

determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies a threshold;

in response to determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies the threshold, determining two or more modified parameter values that result in a lower price than a price determined based on the corresponding two or more user-specified parameter values; and

updating the corresponding two or more user-specified parameter values with the two or more modified parameter values.

2. The method of claim 1, where generating each virtual disk instance includes allocating usage of at least a share of each of the one or more determined physical resources to the respective virtual disk instance.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting an interface to a user, the interface including fields for specifying discrete values for the plurality of parameters.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual disk instance appears to a user as a single physical disk having the specified size and input/output performance parameters regardless of the number of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance of a plurality of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance is smoothed to mimic a single machine.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more user adjustments to the size and input/output performance parameters; and

dynamically modifying the one or more virtual disk instances based on the received user adjustments.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more virtual disk instances are used to build an instance of a virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the plurality of user-specified parameter values includes providing controls for receiving user input specifying virtual disk parameter values unconstrained by physical hardware.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein updating two or more of the plurality of user-specified parameter values based on the monitored usage comprises:

suggesting a modified parameter value for a particular parameter to a user;

receiving user input selecting the suggested parameter value; and

updating the particular parameter with the suggested parameter value.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the two or more of the plurality of parameter values based on the monitored usage comprises:

determining a modified parameter value for a particular parameter; and

automatically updating the particular parameter with the modified parameter value.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the input/output performance parameters include a communication bandwidth, a disk read rate, or a disk write rate.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified input or output rate of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a respective user-specified input or output rate of the one or more virtual disk instances.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified storage size of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a user-specified storage size of the one or more virtual disk instances.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified network communication bandwidth of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a user-specified network communication bandwidth of the one or more virtual disk instances.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies a threshold comprises:

determining an actual input or output rate for the one or more virtual disk instances;

determining a user-specified input or output rate for the one or more virtual disk instances; and

determining that the actual input or output rate is lower than the respective user-specified input or output rate.

16. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of user-specified parameter values including values for storage size and input/output performance parameters for a virtual disk instance;

generating one or more virtual disk instances having the user-specified parameter values;

monitoring usage of the one or more virtual disk instances;

determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies a threshold;

in response to determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies the threshold, determining two or more modified parameter values that result in a lower price than a price determined based on the corresponding two or more user-specified parameter values; and

updating the corresponding two or more user-specified parameter values with the two or more modified parameter values.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 16, where generating each virtual disk instance includes allocating usage of at least a share of each of the one or more determined physical resources to the respective virtual disk instance.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the program further comprises instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

presenting an interface to a user, the interface including fields for specifying discrete values for the plurality of parameters.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the virtual disk instance appears to a user as a single physical disk having the specified size and input/output performance parameters regardless of the number of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the performance of a plurality of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance is smoothed to mimic a single machine.

21. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the program further comprises instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving one or more user adjustments to the size and input/output performance parameters; and

dynamically modifying the one or more virtual disk instances based on the received user adjustments.

22. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the one or more virtual disk instances are used to build an instance of a virtual machine.

23. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein receiving the plurality of user-specified parameter values includes providing controls for receiving user input specifying virtual disk parameter values unconstrained by physical hardware.

24. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein updating two or more of the plurality of user-specified parameter values based on the monitored usage comprises:

suggesting a modified parameter value for a particular parameter to a user;

receiving user input selecting the suggested parameter value; and

updating the particular parameter with the suggested parameter value.

25. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein updating the two or more of the plurality of parameter values based on the monitored usage comprises:

determining a modified parameter value for a particular parameter; and

automatically updating the particular parameter with the modified parameter value.

26. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the input/output performance parameters include a communication bandwidth, a disk read rate, or a disk write rate.

27. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified input or output rate of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a respective user-specified input or output rate of the one or more virtual disk instances.

28. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified storage size of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a user-specified storage size of the one or more virtual disk instances.

29. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified network communication bandwidth of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a user-specified network communication bandwidth of the one or more virtual disk instances.

30. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies a threshold comprises:

determining an actual input or output rate for the one or more virtual disk instances;

determining a user-specified input or output rate for the one or more virtual disk instances; and

determining that the actual input or output rate is lower than the respective user-specified input or output rate.

31. A system comprising:

one or more computers operable to perform operations comprising;

receiving a plurality of user-specified parameter values including values for storage size and input/output performance parameters for a virtual disk instance;

generating one or more virtual disk instances having the user-specified parameter values;

monitoring usage of the one or more virtual disk instances;

determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies a threshold;

in response to determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies the threshold, determining two or more modified parameter values that result in a lower price than a price determined based on the corresponding two or more user-specified parameter values; and

updating the corresponding two or more user-specified parameter values with the two or more modified parameter values.

32. The system of claim 31, where generating each virtual disk instance includes allocating usage of at least a share of each of the one or more determined physical resources to the respective virtual disk instance.

33. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

presenting an interface to a user, the interface including fields for specifying discrete values for the plurality of parameters.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the virtual disk instance appears to a user as a single physical disk having the specified size and input/output performance parameters regardless of the number of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein the performance of a plurality of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance is smoothed to mimic a single machine.

36. The system of claim 31, further operable to perform operations comprising:

receiving one or more user adjustments to the size and input/output performance parameters; and

dynamically modifying the one or more virtual disk instances based on the received user adjustments.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more virtual disk instances are used to build an instance of a virtual machine.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein receiving the plurality of user-specified parameter values includes providing controls for receiving user input specifying virtual disk parameter values unconstrained by physical hardware.

39. The system of claim 31, wherein updating two or more of the plurality of user-specified parameter values based on the monitored usage comprises:

suggesting a modified parameter value for a particular parameter to a user;

receiving user input selecting the suggested parameter value; and

updating the particular parameter with the suggested parameter value.

40. The system of claim 31, wherein updating the two or more of the plurality of parameter values based on the monitored usage comprises:

determining a modified parameter value for a particular parameter; and

automatically updating the particular parameter with the modified parameter value.

41. The system of claim 31, wherein the input/output performance parameters include a communication bandwidth, a disk read rate, or a disk write rate.

42. The system of claim 31, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified input or output rate of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a respective user-specified input or output rate of the one or more virtual disk instances.

43. The system of claim 31, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified storage size of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a user-specified storage size of the one or more virtual disk instances.

44. The system of claim 31, wherein determining two or more modified parameter values comprises:

determining a modified network communication bandwidth of the one or more virtual disk instances that is lower than a user-specified network communication bandwidth of the one or more virtual disk instances.

45. The system of claim 31, wherein determining that the monitored usage of the one or more virtual disk instances satisfies a threshold comprises:

determining an actual input or output rate for the one or more virtual disk instances;

determining a user-specified input or output rate for the one or more virtual disk instances; and

determining that the actual input or output rate is lower than the respective user-specified input or output rate.