Cloud services performance tuning and benchmarking

• US 9,762,461 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2013
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Raghunathan, Kavitha, Masterson, John, Balch, Nick, Bostock, Clive, Popescu, Florin, Murphy, John, Ferns, Emer, Alistar, Mihai
• Primary Examiner(s): DAILEY, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US13/937,483
• Publication Number:
  US 20150019707A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3428 Benchmarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for providing services related to managing computer systems. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide for providing performance tuning and benchmarking services to remote computer systems. Generally speaking, the service can provide functions to help customers maintain a consistent performance of their databases with minimal downtime by pro-actively addressing issues or bottlenecks with periodic assessments, monitoring of performance metrics that are causing stress throughout the term of the service, reporting violations of agreed upon thresholds for performance, and reactively helping customers address performance issues that arise with reactive tuning.

Claims

1. A method for providing performance tuning and benchmarking services to one or more remote computer systems, the method comprising:

initiating, by a service provider computer system, a gateway on one or more remote computer systems identified as targets, wherein the initiating is consequent to installing by the service provider computer system the gateway on the one or more remote computer systems if the gateway is determined to be not yet installed on the one or more remote computer systems;

initiating, by the service provider computer system, one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services;

capturing, by the service provider computer system through the gateway, data to identify captured data for a first set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems operating with a real-life workload for a first period of a defined term of the performance tuning and benchmarking services;

performing, by the service provider computer system, a performance review based at least in part on the captured data for the first set of metrics, wherein performance issues are detected and ranked according to severities respectively attributed to the performance issues to result in at least a first detected performance issue assigned a first severity rank and a second detected performance issue assigned a second severity rank;

based at least in part on results of the performance review, deploying, by the service provider computer system from a library of different types of services, a first service of a first type to address the first detected performance issue; and

providing, by the service provider computer system through a portal, a first set of one or more reports based at least in part on the results of the performing the performance review on the captured data, wherein the first set of one or more reports comprises a recommendation of a second service of a second type to address the second detected performance issue.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services comprises:

providing, by the service provider computer system, access to the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services through the portal; and

receiving, by the service provider computer system through the portal, a customer selection of at least one of the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services and an indication of the one or more remote computer system as targets of the selected at least one of the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the capturing the data related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems comprises:

identifying, by the service provider computer system, the first set of metrics to create an identified first set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems based at least in part on an indication received through the portal; and

monitoring the first set of metrics for the first period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing the performance review comprises generating a baseline report for the first period, the baseline report comprising results of the performance review and a set of recommendation associated with the results.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising providing the baseline report through the portal.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the service provider computer system and based at least in part on indications received through the portal, a second set of metrics for continued monitoring and a threshold associated with each of the second set of metrics;

capturing, by the service provider computer system through the gateway, second data to identify second captured data for a second set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems for a second period of the defined term of the performance tuning and benchmarking services;

performing, by the service provider computer system, a performance review based at least in part on the second captured data for the second set of metrics; and

providing, by the service provider computer system through the portal, a second set of one or more reports based at least in part on results of performing the performance review on the second captured data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the capturing the second data for the second set of metrics further comprises monitoring the second captured data against the thresholds associated with the second set of metrics.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising generating a report for the second period, the report for the second period comprising results of the performance review, indications of instances where the second captured data exceeded the thresholds, and a set of recommendation associated with the results.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising identifying metrics for continued monitoring to create identified metrics, capturing data to identify third captured data for the identified metrics, performing a performance review based at least in part on the third captured data, and providing reports based at least in part on results of the performing the performance review on the third captured data for a number of periods until an expiration of the defined term of the performance tuning and benchmarking services.

10. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with and readable by the processor and storing a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to provide performance tuning and benchmarking services to one or more remote computer systems by;

initiating a gateway on one or more remote computer systems identified as targets, wherein the initiating is consequent to installing the gateway on the one or more remote computer systems if the gateway is determined to be not yet installed on the one or more remote computer systems;

initiating one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services;

capturing, through a gateway, data to identify captured data for a first set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems operating with a real-life workload for a first period of a defined term of the performance tuning and benchmarking services;

performing a performance review based at least in part on the captured data for the first set of metrics, wherein performance issues are detected and ranked according to severities respectively attributed to the performance issues to result in at least a first detected performance issue assigned a first severity rank and a second detected performance issue assigned a second severity rank;

based at least in part on results of the performance review, deploying, from a library of different types of services, a first service of a first type to address the first detected performance issue; and

providing, through a portal, a first set of one or more reports based at least in part on the results of the performing the performance review on the captured data, wherein the first set of one or more reports comprises a recommendation of a second service of a second type to address the second detected performance issue.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the initiating the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services comprises:

providing access to the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services through the portal; and

receiving, through the portal, a customer selection of at least one of the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services and an indication of the one or more remote computer system as targets of the selected at least one of the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the capturing the data related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems comprises:

identifying the first set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems based at least in part on an indication received through the portal; and

monitoring the first set of metrics for the first period.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the performing the performance review comprises generating a baseline report for the first period, the baseline report comprising results of the performance review and a set of recommendation associated with the results.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

identifying, based at least in part on indications received through the portal, a second set of metrics for continued monitoring and a threshold associated with each of the second set of metrics;

capturing, through the gateway, second data to identify second captured data for a second set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems for a second period of the defined term of the performance tuning and benchmarking services, wherein the capturing the second data for the second set of metrics further comprises monitoring the second captured data against the thresholds associated with the second set of metrics;

performing a performance review based at least in part on the second captured data for the second set of metrics;

generating a report for the second period based at least in part on results of performing the performance review on the captured data, the report for the second period comprising results of the performance review, indications of instances where the second captured data exceeded the thresholds, and a set of recommendation associated with the results; and

providing, through the portal, the report for the second period.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising identifying metrics for continued monitoring, capturing third data to identify third captured data for the identified metrics, performing a performance review based at least in part on the third captured data, and providing reports based at least in part on results of the performing the performance review on the third captured data for a number of periods until an expiration of the defined term of the performance tuning and benchmarking services.

16. A computer-readable memory comprising a set of instructions stored therein which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to provide performance tuning and benchmarking services to one or more remote computer systems by:

initiating a gateway on one or more remote computer systems identified as targets, wherein the initiating is consequent to installing the gateway on the one or more remote computer systems if the gateway is determined to be not yet installed on the one or more remote computer systems;

initiating one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services;

capturing, through a gateway, data to identify captured data for a first set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems operating with a real-life workload for a first period of a defined term of the performance tuning and benchmarking services;

performing a performance review based at least in part on the captured data for the first set of metrics, wherein performance issues are detected and ranked according to severities respectively attributed to the performance issues to result in at least a first detected performance issue assigned a first severity rank and a second detected performance issue assigned a second severity rank;

based at least in part on results of the performance review, deploying, from a library of different types of services, a first service of a first type to address the first detected performance issue; and

providing, through a portal, a first set of one or more reports based at least in part on the results of the performing the performance review on the captured data, wherein the first set of one or more reports comprises a recommendation of a second service of a second type to address the second detected performance issue.

17. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, wherein the initiating the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services comprises:

providing access to the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services through the portal; and

receiving, through the portal, a customer selection of at least one of the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services and an indication of the one or more remote computer system as targets of the selected at least one of the one or more performance tuning and benchmarking services.

18. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, wherein the capturing the data related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems comprises:

identifying the first set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems based at least in part on an indication received through the portal; and

monitoring the first set of metrics for the first period.

19. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, wherein the performing the performance review comprises generating a baseline report for the first period, the baseline report comprising results of the performance review and a set of recommendation associated with the results.

20. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, further comprising:

identifying, based at least in part on indications received through the portal, a second set of metrics for continued monitoring and a threshold associated with each of the second set of metrics;

capturing, through the gateway, second data to identify second captured data for the second set of metrics related to performance of the one or more remote computer systems for a second period of the defined term of the performance tuning and benchmarking services, wherein the capturing the second data for the second set of metrics further comprises monitoring the second captured data against the thresholds associated with the second set of metrics;

performing a performance review based at least in part on the second captured data for the second set of metrics;

generating a report for the second period based at least in part on results of performing the performance review on the second captured data, the report for the second period comprising results of the performance review, indications of instances where the second captured data exceeded the thresholds, and a set of recommendation associated with the results; and

providing, through the portal, the report for the second period.