Managing a workload of a plurality of virtual servers of a computing environment

• US 8,959,220 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2010
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Frey, Jeffrey A., Shah, Hiren R., Yocom, Peter B.
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US12/938,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20120110164A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,568 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/227, 709/229, 709/226, 718/100, 718/104, 718/105
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• 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

An integrated hybrid system is provided. The hybrid system includes compute components of different types and architectures that are integrated and managed by a single point of control to provide federation and the presentation of the compute components as a single logical computing platform.

Claims

1. A computer program product for managing resources within a computing environment, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

defining a workload of the computing environment, the workload comprising a plurality of virtual servers of one or more computing systems, the plurality of virtual servers supporting a business application;

assigning a user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy to the workload to service the business application; and

managing the workload based on the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy assigned to the workload, wherein the managing comprises;

determining whether the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy assigned to the workload is being met; and

dynamically adjusting resources of one or more virtual servers of the plurality of virtual servers by altering a configuration of at least one component of the one or more virtual servers, based on the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy not being met, to facilitate achieving the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy, wherein a dynamic resource allocation adjustment is made between active virtual servers of the one or more virtual servers.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the plurality of virtual servers comprises one or more virtual servers executed by one computing system of the one or more computing systems, said one computing system having a first system architecture, and the plurality of virtual servers comprising one or more other virtual servers executed by another computing system of the one or more computing systems, the another computing system having a second system architecture.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the another computing system comprises a blade extension.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises monitoring state of one or more resources used by the one or more virtual servers of the plurality of virtual servers to determine compliance with the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the adjusting further comprises adjusting at least one of allocation of at least one resource of the one or more resources or use of at least one resource of the one or more resources, based on the monitoring indicating non-compliance with the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises:

determining, based on the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy, whether an amount of a resource of the one or more virtual servers of the workload is to be adjusted; and

adjusting the amount of the resource, based on the determining indicating that the amount is to be adjusted.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting an amount of central processing unit resources used by the one or more virtual servers.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy comprises a performance policy, and wherein the managing comprises monitoring the one or more virtual servers of the plurality of virtual servers to determine compliance with the performance policy.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the managing comprises adjusting one or more resources of the one or more virtual servers, based on the monitoring indicating non-compliance with the performance policy.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises managing the workload across an ensemble of computing systems, said ensemble comprising one computing system of one architecture and another computing system of another architecture different from the one architecture.

18. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein altering the configuration comprises dynamically adjusting resource allocation between one active virtual server and another active virtual server by reassigning a resource previously assigned to the one active virtual server to another active virtual server.

19. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the managing further comprises providing virtual server mobility between hypervisors, in which a virtual server in-memory state of a virtual server may be moved from a source hypervisor to a target hypervisor and virtual server resources on the source hypervisor may be deallocated.

11. A computer system for managing resources within a computing environment, said computer system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

defining a workload of the computing environment, the workload comprising a plurality of virtual servers of one or more computing systems, the plurality of virtual servers supporting a business application;

assigning a user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy to the workload to service the business application; and

managing the workload based on the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy assigned to the workload, wherein the managing comprises;

determining whether the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy assigned to the workload is being met; and

dynamically adjusting resources of one or more virtual servers of the plurality of virtual servers by altering a configuration of at least one component of the one or more virtual servers, based on the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy not being met, to facilitate achieving the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy, wherein a dynamic resource allocation adjustment is made between active virtual servers of the one or more virtual servers.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of virtual servers comprises one or more virtual servers executed by one computing system of the one or more computing systems, said one computing system having a first system architecture, and the plurality of virtual servers comprising one or more other virtual servers executed by another computing system of the one or more computing systems, the another computing system having a second system architecture.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the managing comprises monitoring state of one or more resources used by the one or more virtual servers of the plurality of virtual servers to determine compliance with the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the managing further comprises adjusting at least one of allocation of at least one resource of the one or more resources or use of at least one resource of the one or more resources, based on the monitoring indicating non-compliance with the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the managing comprises:

determining, based on the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy, whether an amount of a resource of the one or more virtual servers of the workload is to be adjusted; and

adjusting the amount of the resource, based on the determining indicating that the amount is to be adjusted.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the user-supplied goal-oriented service level policy comprises a performance policy, and wherein the managing comprises monitoring the one or more virtual servers of the plurality of virtual servers to determine compliance with the performance policy.

17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the managing comprises managing the workload across an ensemble of computing systems, said ensemble comprising one computing system of one architecture and another computing system of another architecture different from the one architecture.

20. The computer system of claim 11, wherein altering the configuration comprises dynamically adjusting resource allocation between one active virtual server and another active virtual server by reassigning a resource previously assigned to the one active virtual server to another active virtual server.