Controlling virtualization resource utilization based on network state

• US 8,959,513 B1
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Swaminathan, Deepak
• Primary Examiner(s): SWIFT, CHARLES M
• Application Number:
  US13/628,557
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4893 taking into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 : Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 : where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 : Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A controller device is connected to a group of virtual machines and one or more network devices in a network. The controller device is configured to store policies relating to when to start up and when to shut down the virtual machines based on users logging into the network, users logging out of the network, users attempting to access the plurality of virtual machines, and/or particular types of traffic in the network; receive network activity data from a network device of the one or more network devices in the network; identify, based on the network activity data and the policies, a virtual machine, of the group of virtual machines, to start up or shut down; and cause the virtual machine to start up or shut down.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a controller device, connected to a plurality of virtual machines of one or more servers and one or more network devices in a network, to;

store a plurality of policies relating to when to start up and when to shut down the plurality of virtual machines based on users logging into or logging out of the network, users attempting to access the plurality of virtual machines, information regarding associations between the plurality of virtual machines and user devices of users, and particular types of traffic in the network,

the user devices accessing the plurality of virtual machines, of the one or more servers, via the one or more network devices,

the plurality of policies being stored in a memory of the controller device;

receive network activity data from a network device of the one or more network devices in the network;

identify, based on the network activity data and at least one policy of the plurality of policies, a virtual machine, of the plurality of virtual machines, to start up or shut down; and

cause the virtual machine to start up or shut down.

2. The system of claim 1, where the network device is an interface for metadata access point (IF-MAP) server that collects the network activity data from one or more other network devices of the one or more network devices and provides the network activity data to the controller device.

3. The system of claim 1, where the network activity data indicates that a particular user has logged into the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be started up when the particular user logs into the network,

where the controller device, when identifying the virtual machine, is to identify, based on the particular user logging into the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to start up, and

where the controller device, when causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down, is to cause the virtual machine to start up.

4. The system of claim 1, where the network activity data indicates that a particular user has logged out of the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be shut down when the particular user logs out of the network,

where the controller device, when identifying the virtual machine, is to identify, based on the particular user logging out of the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to shut down, and

where the controller device, when causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down, is to cause the virtual machine to shut down.

5. The system of claim 1, where the controller device is further to receive at least one of the plurality of policies from a human operator or another device.

6. The system of claim 1, where the controller device is further to generate at least one of the plurality of policies based on patterns of network activity observed in the network.

7. The system of claim 1, where the controller device, when causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down, is to directly control the virtual machine to start up or shut down via an application programming interface associated with the virtual machine.

8. A method comprising:

storing, by a controller device, a plurality of policies relating to when to start up and when to shut down a plurality of virtual machines of a server based on information regarding associations between a plurality of virtual machines and user devices, users logging into a network or logging out of the network, users attempting to access the plurality of virtual machines, and particular types of traffic in the network,

the controller device being connected to the plurality of virtual machines and one or more network devices in the network;

receiving, by the controller device, network activity data from a network device of the one or more network devices in the network;

identifying, by the controller device and based on the network activity data and at least one policy of the plurality of policies, a virtual machine, of the plurality of virtual machines, to start up or shut down; and

causing, by the controller device, the virtual machine to start up or shut down.

9. The method of claim 8, where the network activity data indicates that a particular user has logged into the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be started up when the particular user logs into the network,

where identifying the virtual machine includes identifying, based on the particular user logging into the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to start up, and

where causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down includes causing the virtual machine to start up.

10. The method of claim 8, where the network activity data indicates that a user, of a particular user group, has logged into the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be started up when users, of the particular user group, log into the network,

where identifying the virtual machine includes identifying, based on the user logging into the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to start up, and

where causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down includes causing the virtual machine to start up.

11. The method of claim 8, where the network activity data indicates that a particular user has logged out of the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be shut down when the particular user logs out of the network,

where identifying the virtual machine includes identifying, based on the particular user logging out of the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to shut down, and

where causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down includes causing the virtual machine to shut down.

12. The method of claim 8, where the network activity data indicates that a particular user has attempted to access the virtual machine,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be started up when a user attempts to access the virtual machine,

where identifying the virtual machine includes identifying, based on the particular user attempting to access the virtual machine and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to start up, and

where causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down includes causing the virtual machine to start up.

13. The method of claim 8, where the network activity data indicates that no users, of a particular user group, are logged into the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be shut down when no users, of the particular user group, are logged into the network,

where identifying the virtual machine includes identifying, based on no users, of the particular user group, being logged into the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to shut down, and

where causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down includes causing the virtual machine to shut down.

14. The method of claim 8, where the network activity data indicates network traffic relating to a particular application,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be started up when network traffic, is observed, relating to the particular application,

where identifying the virtual machine includes identifying, based on the network traffic relating to the particular application and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to start up, and

where causing the virtual machine to start up or shut down includes causing the virtual machine to start up.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

store a plurality of policies relating to when to start up and when to shut down a plurality of virtual machines of a server based on information regarding associations between a plurality of virtual machines and user devices, users logging into a network or logging out of the network, users attempting to access the plurality of virtual machines, and particular types of traffic in the network;

receive network activity data from a network device of a plurality of network devices in the network;

identify, based on the network activity data and at least one policy of the plurality of policies, a virtual machine, of the plurality of virtual machines, to start up or shut down; and

cause the virtual machine to start up or shut down.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, where the network activity data indicates that a particular user has logged into the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be started up when the particular user logs into the network,

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to identify the virtual machine include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to identify, based on the particular user logging into the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to start up, and

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to cause the virtual machine to start up or shut down include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to cause the virtual machine to start up.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, where the network activity data indicates that a user, of a particular user group, has logged into the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be started up when users, of the particular user group, log into the network,

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to identify the virtual machine include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to identify, based on the user, of the particular user group, logging into the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to start up, and

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to cause the virtual machine to start up or shut down include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to cause the virtual machine to start up.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, where the network activity data indicates that a particular user has attempted to access the virtual machine,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be started up when a user attempts to access the virtual machine,

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to identify the virtual machine include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to identify, based on the particular user attempting to access the virtual machine and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to start up, and

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to cause the virtual machine to start up or shut down include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to cause the virtual machine to start up.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, where the network activity data indicates that no users, of a particular user group, are logged into the network,

where one of the plurality of policies indicates that the virtual machine should be shut down when no users, of the particular user group, are logged into the network,

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to identify the virtual machine include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to identify, based on no users, of the particular user group, being logged into the network and the one of the plurality of policies, the virtual machine to shut down, and

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to cause the virtual machine to start up or shut down include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to cause the virtual machine to shut down.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to cause the virtual machine to start up or shut down include one or more instructions to cause the one or more processors to directly control the virtual machine to start up or shut down via an application programming interface associated with the virtual machine.