Virtual data center monitoring

• US 8,589,543 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2011
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dutta, Debojyoti, Banerjee, Subrata, Starmer, Robert H., Agrawal, Sanjay Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tammy
• Application Number:
  US13/174,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20130007261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/301 where the computing system is a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems virtual machines G06F9/45533; logical partitioning of resources G06F9/5077
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/324 Display of status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing

Abstract

Techniques are provided for monitoring the state or status of virtual data centers. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving state information representing the state of hardware devices supporting instantiations of virtual data centers operating within a physical data center. The state information is mapped to hardware devices supporting a selected instantiation of a virtual data center to identify state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center. An assessment is then made, based on the state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center, regarding a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy. A user is then notified of the assessment via, e.g., a color-coded dashboard representation of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center or a color-coded aspect of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving state information representing the state of hardware devices supporting instantiations of virtual data centers operating within a physical data center;

mapping the state information to hardware devices supporting a selected instantiation of a virtual data center to identify state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center;

assessing, based on the state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center, a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy; and

notifying a user of a status of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center based on the degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy,

wherein receiving state information comprises receiving state information from a plurality of probes, the state information being indicative of at least one of amount of storage in a storage hardware device or status of synchronized redundancy of data stored on the storage hardware device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising deploying the plurality of probes each configured to measure a state of respective hardware devices supporting the instantiations of virtual data centers, and receiving the state information from the plurality of probes so deployed.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising configuring the plurality probes such that the probes are passed through hierarchical levels of the physical data center to hardware devices supporting the instantiations of virtual data centers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving state information from the plurality of probes comprises receiving the state information via a publish-subscribe mechanism operating within the physical data center.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving state information from the plurality of probes comprises receiving state information indicative of at least one of available bandwidth for a given link between a first hardware device and a second hardware device, delay in communication from a first hardware device to a second hardware device or jitter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving state information from the plurality of probes comprises receiving state information indicative of at least one of available computer memory, computer processor speed or compute input/output speed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein assessing a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy comprises comparing elements of the predetermined policy to selected state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein notifying a user of a status of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center comprises displaying a color-coded representation of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center or a color-coded aspect of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein notifying a user of a status of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center comprises displaying or highlighting the representation of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center or a color-coded aspect of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center in a color of green, yellow or red.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a logical and corresponding physical location of a fault based on the state information.

11. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive state information representing the state of hardware devices supporting instantiations of virtual data centers operating within a physical data center;

map the state information to hardware devices supporting a selected instantiation of a virtual data center to identify state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center;

assess, based on the state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center, a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy; and

notify a user of a status of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center based on the degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy,

wherein receiving state information comprises receiving state information from a plurality of probes, the state information being indicative of at least one of amount of storage in a storage hardware device or status of synchronized redundancy of data stored on the storage hardware device.

12. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to receive state information cause the processor to receive the state information via a publish-subscribe mechanism operating within the physical data center.

13. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to receive state information cause the processor to receive state information indicative of at least one of available bandwidth for a given link between a first hardware device and a second hardware device, delay in communication from a first hardware device to a second hardware device or jitter.

14. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to receive state information cause the processor to receive state information indicative of at least one of available computer memory, computer processor speed or compute input/output speed.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to assess a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy cause the processor to compare elements of the predetermined policy to selected state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface unit configured to perform communications over a network;

a processor configured to be coupled to the network interface unit, wherein the processor is configured to;

receive via the network interface unit state information representing the state of hardware devices supporting instantiations of virtual data centers operating within a physical data center;

map the state information to hardware devices supporting a selected instantiation of a virtual data center to identify state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center;

assess, based on the state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center, a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy; and

notify a user, via the network interface unit, of a status of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center based on the degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy,

wherein receiving state information comprises receiving state information from a plurality of probes, the state information being indicative of at least one of amount of storage in a storage hardware device or status of synchronized redundancy of data stored on the storage hardware device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to receive the state information via a publish-subscribe mechanism operating within the physical data center.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to receive state information indicative of at least one of available bandwidth for a given link between a first hardware device and a second hardware device, delay in communication from a first hardware device to a second hardware device or jitter.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to compare elements of the predetermined policy to selected state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center.