Techniques for resource location and migration across data centers

• US 9,367,257 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2008
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hamilton, James R, Manos, Michael J, Dunagan, John D, Wolman, Alastair, Agarwal, Sharad, Zhang, Ming
• Primary Examiner(s): HASAN, SYED HAROON
• Application Number:
  US12/209,008
• Publication Number:
  US 20100076933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,833 Days
• Field of Search: 707/610
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

An exemplary system includes a front-end component to receive requests for resources in a data center and configured to associate each request with identifying information, to locate one or more resources for each request and to store, in a log file, the identifying information and information about the location of the one or more resources; one or more distributed computation and storage components to acquire log file information and configured to analyze log information to decide if one or more resources associated with one or more requests should be migrated to a data center in a different geographical location; and a location service component to receive decisions made by the one or more distributed computation and storage components and configured to inform the front-end component when a decision causes one or more resources to be migrated to a data center in a different geographical location to thereby allow the front-end component to re-direct future requests for the one or more migrated resources to the data center in the different geographical location. Various other devices, systems and methods are also described.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors;

a front-end component stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to receive a request for resources in a first data center, associate the request with identifying information, break the request into two or more sub-requests, send the two or more sub-requests separately, direct a particular resource for a respective sub-request, and store, in a log file, the identifying information of the request, identifying information of the respective sub-request, and the particular resource to which the respective sub-request is directed;

one or more distributed computation and storage components stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to acquire log information and analyze the log information to decide if the particular resource associated with the respective sub-request should be migrated to a second data center in a different geographical location; and

a location service component stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to receive a decision made by the one or more distributed computation and storage components and inform the front-end component that the decision causes the particular resource to be migrated to the second data center in the different geographical location to thereby allow the front-end component to re-direct future requests for the particular resource to the second data center in the different geographical location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular resource comprises a migratable resource capable of being migrated via a network from the first data center to the second data center.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the log information comprises an IP address that geographically locates an issuer of the request.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the log information comprises IP addresses that geographically locate issuers of requests for at least one common resource.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more distributed computation and storage components are further executable by the one or more processors to analyze the log information with respect to a model that generates migration decisions that reduce a likelihood of local minima configurations.

6. A method comprising:

under a control of a computing device configured with computer-readable instructions,

receiving a request for one or more data resources stored in a first data center, wherein the one or more data resources are accessed based at least in part on the request, and wherein the one or more data resources comprise migratable data resources capable of being migrated via a network from the first data center to a second data center geographically separate from the first data center;

determining if the one or more data resources associated with the request should be migrated to the second data center in a different geographical location based on a plurality of factors including a state of the one or more data resources that is shared across multiple entities external to the first data center and including a frequency of user requests of the one or more data resources;

analyzing log information with respect to a model that generates migration decisions that reduce a likelihood of local minima configurations;

identifying at least a most frequently used portion of the one or more data resources to be migrated to the second data center in the different geographical area based at least in part on the frequency of the user requests of the one or more data resources; and

migrating the at least the most frequently used portion of the one or more data resources to the second data center in the different geographical area based on the identifying.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the log information comprises an IP address that geographically locates an issuer of the request.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the log information comprises IP addresses that geographically locate issuers of requests for at least one common resource.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of factors further include an available bandwidth between the first data center and one or more external devices.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of factors further include a latency between a computing device of a user and the first data center.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the migrating is based in part on at least one of a business factor or a legal constraint on a geographical location of the one or more resources.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the analyzing the log information is based in part on an iteration of an application of a simulated annealing algorithm, each iteration of the application of the simulated annealing algorithm replacing a current configuration of the first data center with another configuration of the second data center chosen with a probability that depends on a difference between an energy function and a temperature parameter, the energy function indicating a geographical distance between the first data center and a user.

13. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the system to perform operations comprising;

receiving a request for a resource in a first data center at a first location;

associating the request with identifying information;

storing, in a log file, the identifying information and information about the first location of the resource;

analyzing log information in the log file to decide if the resource associated with the request should be migrated to a second data center at a second different geographical location, the analyzing comprising analyzing the log information based on an iteration of an application of a simulated annealing algorithm, each iteration of the application of the simulated annealing algorithm replacing a current configuration of the first data center with another configuration of the second data center chosen with a probability that depends on a difference between an energy function and a temperature parameter, the energy function indicating a geographical distance between the first data center and a user; and

based at least partly on a decision to cause the resource to be migrated to the second data center in the second different geographical location, re-directing a future request for the resource to the second data center in the second different geographical location.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the resource comprises a migratable resource capable of being migrated via a network from the first data center to the second data center.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the log information comprises an IP address that geographically locates an issuer of the request.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the log information comprises IP addresses that geographically locate issuers of requests for at least one common resource.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the analyzing comprises analyzing log information with respect to a model that generates migration decisions that reduce a likelihood of local minima.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the current configuration of the first data center changes randomly to the another configuration of the second data center based at least partly on a determination that the temperature parameter is above a threshold.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein as the temperature parameter declines, the probability increases that the difference between the energy function and the temperature parameter in the current configuration of the first data center is greater than the difference in the another configuration of the second data center.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the difference between the energy function and the temperature parameter in the current configuration of the data center increases in the another configuration of the second data center to reduce the likelihood of local minima.