Adjustable virtual network performance

• US 8,843,925 B1
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• 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:
  US13/296,643
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 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 performed by data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

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

determining one or more initial physical resources that satisfy the plurality of received user-specified parameter values;

allocating the determined one or more initial physical resources to a virtual disk instance;

monitoring usage of a first parameter of the virtual disk instance including computing a monitored usage value for the first parameter, the monitored usage value representing how much of a user-specified parameter value for the first parameter was used by the virtual disk instance;

determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount;

in response to determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount, modifying generating a modified first parameter value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value for the first parameter;

generating a modified second parameter value for a second parameter of the user-specified parameter values;

generating a modified plurality of parameter values from the received parameter values and the modified first and second parameter values, wherein the modified plurality of parameter values includes the modified first parameter value as the parameter value for the first parameter and the modified second parameter value as the parameter value for the second parameter;

determining one or more updated physical resources that satisfy the modified plurality of parameter values; and

modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime including allocating the determined one or more updated physical resources to the virtual disk instance in place of the one or more initial physical resources.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a modified first parameter value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value for the first parameter comprises determining a modified first parameter value that results in a lower price than a price determined based on the user-specified parameter value for the first parameter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

receiving a plurality of user-specified parameter values comprises receiving the user-specified parameter values through an interface presented to a user, the interface including fields for specifying discrete values for the user-specified parameter values.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a modified first parameter value based on the monitored usage value comprises:

determining a modified parameter value for the first parameter that is between the user-specified parameter value and the monitored usage value.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting a price associated with the virtual disk instance based on the modified plurality of parameter values.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual disk instance appears to a user as a single physical disk having the user-specified parameter values for storage size and input/output performance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein performance of a plurality of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance is smoothed to mimic one or more physical resources.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime comprises dynamically modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance while the virtual disk instance is in use.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the virtual disk instance to build an instance of a virtual machine.

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

11. A computer program product, encoded on one or more non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

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

determining one or more initial physical resources that satisfy the plurality of received user-specified parameter values; and

allocating the determined one or more initial physical resources to a virtual disk instance;

monitoring usage of a first parameter of the virtual disk instance including computing a monitored usage value for the first parameter, the monitored usage value representing how much of a user-specified parameter value for the first parameter was used by the virtual disk instance;

determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount;

in response to determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount, generating a modified first parameter value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value for the first parameter;

generating a modified second parameter value for a second parameter of the user-specified parameter values;

generating a modified plurality of parameter values from the received parameter values and the modified first and second parameter values, wherein the modified plurality of parameter values includes the modified first parameter value as the parameter value for the first parameter and the modified second parameter value as the parameter for the second parameter;

determining one or more updated physical resources that satisfy the modified plurality of parameter values; and

modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime including allocating the determined one or more updated physical resources to the virtual disk instance in place of the one or more initial physical resources.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein generating a modified first parameter value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value for the first parameter comprises determining a modified first parameter value that results in a lower price than a price determined based on the user specified parameter value for the first parameter.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein receiving a plurality of user-specified parameter values comprises receiving the user-specified parameter values through an interface presented to a user, the interface including fields for specifying discrete values for the user-specified parameter values.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein generating a modified first parameter value based on the monitored usage value comprises:

determining a modified parameter value for the first parameter that is between the user-specified parameter value and the monitored usage value.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

adjusting a price associated with the virtual disk instance based on the modified plurality of parameter values.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the virtual disk instance appears to a user as a single physical disk having the user-specified parameter values for storage size and input/output performance.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein performance of a plurality of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance is smoothed to mimic one or more physical resources.

18. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime comprises dynamically modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance while the virtual disk instance is in use.

19. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise using the virtual disk instance to build an instance of a virtual machine.

20. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein receiving a plurality of user-specified parameter values includes providing controls for receiving user input specifying virtual disk parameter values unconstrained by physical hardware.

21. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

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

determining one or more initial physical resources that satisfy the plurality of received user-specified parameter values;

allocating the determined one or more initial physical resources to a virtual disk instance;

monitoring usage of a first parameter of the virtual disk instance including computing a monitored usage value for the first parameter, the monitored usage value representing how much of a user-specified parameter value for the first parameter was used by the virtual disk instance;

determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount;

in response to determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount, generating a modified first parameter value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value for the first parameter;

generating a modified second parameter value for a second parameter of the user-specified parameter values;

generating a modified plurality of parameter values from the received parameter values and the modified first and second parameter values, wherein the modified plurality of parameter values includes the modified first parameter value as the parameter value for the first parameter and the modified second parameter value as the parameter for the second parameter;

determining one or more updated physical resources that satisfy the modified plurality of parameter values; and

modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime including allocating the determined one or more updated physical resources to the virtual disk instance in place of the one or more initial physical resources.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein generating a modified first parameter value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value for the first parameter comprises determining a modified first parameter value that results in a lower price than a price determined based on the user specified parameter value for the first parameter.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein receiving a plurality of user-specified parameter values comprises receiving the user-specified parameter values through an interface presented to a user, the interface including fields for specifying discrete values for the user-specified parameter values.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein generating a modified first parameter value based on the monitored usage value comprises:

determining a modified parameter value for the first parameter that is between the user-specified parameter value and the monitored usage value.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise:

adjusting a price associated with the virtual disk instance based on the modified plurality of parameter values.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the virtual disk instance appears to a user as a single physical disk having the user-specified parameter values for storage size and input/output performance.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein performance of a plurality of physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance is smoothed to mimic one or more physical resources.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime comprises dynamically modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance while the virtual disk instance is in use.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise using the virtual disk instance to build an instance of a virtual machine.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein receiving a plurality of user-specified parameter values includes providing controls for receiving user input specifying virtual disk parameter values unconstrained by physical hardware.

31. A method performed by data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

monitoring usage of a virtual disk instance having one or more initial physical resources allocated according to a plurality of user-specified parameter values including values for a storage size and input/output performance;

computing a monitored usage value for a first parameter of the plurality of user-specified parameter values, the monitored usage value representing how much of a user-specified parameter value for the first parameter was used by the virtual disk instance;

determining that the monitored usage value is less than user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount;

in response to determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value by at least a predetermined amount, determining a suggested modification value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value;

providing, to a user, the suggested modification value for the first parameter;

receiving user input from the user selecting the suggested modification value for the first parameter;

modifying the user-specified parameter value for the first parameter based on the suggested modification value;

replacing the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values with the suggested modification value selected by the user;

determining one or more updated physical resources that satisfy the suggested modification value; and

modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime including allocating the determined one or more updated physical resources to the virtual disk instance in place of one or more initial physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein determining a suggested modification value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value comprises determining a modified parameter value that results in a reduced allocation of physical resources than the allocation of the initial physical resources.

33. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

monitoring usage of a virtual disk instance having one or more initial physical resources allocated according to a plurality of user-specified parameter values including values for a storage size and input/output performance;

computing a monitored usage value for a first parameter of the plurality of user-specified parameter values, the monitored usage value representing how much of a user-specified parameter value for the first parameter was used by the virtual disk instance;

determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount;

in response to determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value by at least a predetermined amount, determining a suggested modification value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value;

providing, to a user, the suggested modification value for the first parameter;

receiving user input from the user selecting the suggested modification value for the first parameter;

modifying the user-specified parameter value for the first parameter based on the suggested modification value;

replacing the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values with the suggested modification value selected by the user;

determining one or more updated physical resources that satisfy the suggested modification value; and

modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime including allocating the determined one or more updated physical resources to the virtual disk instance in place of one or more initial physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein determining a suggested modification value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value comprises determining a modified parameter value that results in a reduced allocation of physical resources than the allocation of the initial physical resources.

35. A computer program product, encoded on one or more non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

monitoring usage of a virtual disk instance having one or more initial physical resources allocated according to a plurality of user-specified parameter values including values for a storage size and input/output performance;

computing a monitored usage value for a first parameter of the plurality of user-specified parameter values, the monitored usage value representing how much of a user-specified parameter value for the first parameter was used by the virtual disk instance;

determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values by at least a predetermined amount;

in response to determining that the monitored usage value is less than the user-specified parameter value by at least a predetermined amount, determining a suggested modification value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value;

providing, to a user, the suggested modification value for the first parameter;

receiving user input from the user selecting the suggested modification value for the first parameter;

modifying the user-specified parameter value for the first parameter based on the suggested modification value;

replacing the user-specified parameter value of the plurality of user-specified parameter values with the suggested modification value selected by the user;

determining one or more updated physical resources that satisfy the suggested modification value; and

modifying the allocation of physical resources to the virtual disk instance at runtime including allocating the determined one or more updated physical resources to the virtual disk instance in place of one or more initial physical resources allocated to the virtual disk instance.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein determining a suggested modification value for the first parameter based on the monitored usage value comprises determining a modified parameter value that results in a reduced allocation of physical resources than the allocation of the initial physical resources.