Systems and methods for performance indexing

• US 9,495,222 B1
• Filed: 08/24/2012
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dell Software, Inc. (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Jackson, Philip Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kamran, Mehran
• Application Number:
  US13/594,431
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• 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 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores

Abstract

Systems and methods relate to indexing of performance and cost of workloads in a computing environment. The computing environment may include a virtualized computing environment. According to some embodiments, a performance index relating to a plurality of workloads executing in the computing environment may be generated, where the performance index is based at least in part on performance and cost of use of one or more resources in the computing environment by the plurality of workloads. The index may be normalized. If the performance or cost of a particular workload departs from an expected performance or cost determined from the average performance and/or cost in the computing environment, resources may be reallocated to the workloads such that the performance or cost of the workload is closer to its expected performance or cost based on the performance index.

Claims

1. A computer system for normalized indexing of performance and cost of workloads in a virtualized computing environment, the computer system comprising:

computer hardware including a computer processor; and

a performance manager comprising instructions executable by the computer processor to cause the computer hardware to;

access information relating to actual performance of a plurality of workloads executing in a virtualized computing environment comprising one or more resources,

wherein each of the plurality of workloads comprises at least one of an application, a service, a process, a task, a thread, a script, or a virtual machine, and

wherein the one or more resources comprise allocation, availability, or capacity of at least one of CPU, memory, storage, or network;

generate a normalized performance index based on the actual performance of the plurality of workloads, wherein the normalized performance index is based at least in part on performance and cost of the one or more resources in the virtualized computing environment used by the plurality of workloads;

determine whether an actual performance and cost of a first workload in the plurality of workloads departs from an anticipated performance and cost based on the normalized performance index;

in response to a determination that the actual performance and cost of the first workload departs from the anticipated performance and cost, reallocate the one or more resources to the plurality of workloads in the virtualized computing environment such that the performance and cost of the first workload is closer to the anticipated performance and cost based on the normalized performance index;

wherein the normalized performance index is based at least in part on a ratio of the performance to the cost of the use of the one or more resources in the virtualized computing environment by the plurality of the workloads;

wherein the performance manager is further configured to provide a graphical representation of the normalized performance index or the plurality of workloads; and

wherein the graphical representation comprises a heat map.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the normalized performance index is based at least in part on average cost and performance of at least some of the plurality of workloads executing in the computing environment.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the performance manager is further configured to update the normalized performance index to reflect a change in the virtualized computing environment.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the performance manager is further configured to determine tiers of service based on the normalized performance index.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the performance manager is further configured to determine whether cost or performance of a workload in the plurality of workloads is outside a tier of service associated with the workload.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the normalized performance index is based at least in part on chargeback models relating to the one or more resources or to the plurality of workloads.

7. A method for indexing of performance and cost of workloads in a virtualized computing environment, the method comprising:

under control of a performance management system comprising non-transitory data storage and physical computer processors;

accessing information relating to actual performance of a plurality of workloads executing in a virtualized computing environment comprising computing resources;

generating a performance index based on the actual performance of the plurality of workloads, wherein the performance index is based at least in part on performance and cost of the computing resources in the virtualized computing environment used by the plurality of workloads;

normalizing the performance index;

determining whether an actual performance and cost of a first workload in the plurality of workloads departs from an anticipated performance and cost based on the performance index;

in response to a determination that the actual performance and cost of the first workload departs from the anticipated performance and cost, taking a corrective action such that the performance and cost of the first workload is closer to the anticipated performance and cost based on the performance index;

wherein the normalized performance index is based at least in part on a ratio of the performance to the cost of the use of the one or more resources in the virtualized computing environment by the plurality of the workloads;

wherein the performance management system is further configured to provide a graphical representation of the performance index or the plurality of workloads; and

wherein the graphical representation comprises a heat map.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of workloads comprises at least one of an application, a service, a process, a task, a thread, a script, or a virtual machine.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more resources comprise allocation, availability, or capacity of at least one of CPU, memory, storage, or network.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the corrective action comprises reallocating the computing resources to the plurality of workloads in the virtualized computing environment.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the performance index comprises calculating an average cost-performance relationship for at least some of the workloads executing in the virtualized computing environment.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein determining whether performance and cost of a first workload in the plurality of workloads departs from an expected performance and cost based on the performance index is determined by calculating a difference between the performance and cost of the first workload and the expected performance and cost based on the performance index.

13. Non-transitory computer storage having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer system having computer storage, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

accessing a normalized performance index relating to actual performance of a plurality of workloads executing in a computing environment, wherein the performance index is based at least in part on performance and cost of computing resources in the computing environment used by the plurality of workloads;

evaluating whether an actual performance of a first workload in the plurality of workloads is out of balance from an anticipated performance based on the normalized performance index;

in response to an evaluation that the actual performance of the first workload is out of balance from the anticipated performance, taking a corrective action such that the performance and cost of the first workload moves closer to the anticipated performance based on the normalized performance index;

wherein the normalized performance index is based at least in part on a ratio of the performance to the cost of the use of the one or more resources in the virtualized computing environment by the plurality of the workloads;

wherein the performance manager is further configured to provide a graphical representation of the normalized performance index or the plurality of workloads; and

wherein the graphical representation comprises a heat map.

14. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 13, further comprising updating the performance index to reflect a change in the resources or workloads in the computing environment.

15. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 13, wherein evaluating whether the first workload in the plurality of workloads is out of balance relative to the performance index comprises calculating a price performance delta index (PPDI).