Smart scheduler

• US 20060156273A1
• Filed: 01/12/2005
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Narayan, Hari S., Remany, Venkata S.S., Padisetty, Sivaprasad V.
• Granted Patent: US 7,934,215 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine

Abstract

A smart scheduler is provided to prepare a machine for a job, wherein the job has specific requirements, i.e., dimensions. One or more config jobs are identified to configure the machine to meet the dimensions of the job. Information concerning the machine'"'"'s original configuration and groupings of config jobs that change the machine'"'"'s configuration are cached in a central storage. The smart scheduler uses information in the central storage to identify a suitable machine and one or more config jobs to configure the machine to meet the dimensions of a job. The smart scheduler schedules a run for the config jobs on the machine.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically preparing a machine that has one or more dimensions (“

machine dimensions”

) to execute an automated computing job (“

job”

) that has one or more dimensions (“

job dimensions”

), wherein the job dimensions are different from the machine dimensions, comprising;

identifying one or more config jobs to set the machine dimensions to be the same as the job dimensions; and

creating a run of the config jobs on the machine.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a dimension is selected from the group consisting of system dimension and customizable dimension, wherein a system dimension cannot be deleted by a config job.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a dimension is an explicit dimension, which indicates that a job will be executed on a machine having the dimension only if the job explicitly requires the dimension.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a config job is selected from the group consisting of a DELETE config job that deletes one or more dimensions and a SET config job that sets one or more dimensions.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising storing information concerning the machine and groupings of config jobs for configuring one or more machine dimensions.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising storing information concerning the machine and groupings of config jobs in a central storage.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising updating the central storage with any change in the machine or in one of the config jobs.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more config jobs to set the machine dimensions to be the same as the job dimensions includes:

identifying differences between job dimensions and machine dimensions; and

identifying one or more config jobs to make up the difference.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein identifying one or more config jobs to make up the differences further includes resolving a conflict caused by a constraint of a config job.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein creating a run of the config jobs on the machine includes:

selecting config jobs that delete machine dimensions not required by the job;

selecting config jobs that set dimensions in the machine required by the job; and

scheduling the selected config jobs to run on the machine.

11. A computing system for automatically preparing one or more machines to run an automated computing job (“

job”

), comprising;

(a) a plurality of machines, each of which is associated with one or more dimensions;

(b) a plurality of config jobs that can configure a machine to meet one or more dimensions of the job;

(c) a central storage containing information concerning the machines and the config jobs; and

(d) a smart scheduler component, coupled with the machines, the config jobs, and the central storage, for;

(i) identifying one or more config jobs to prepare a machine to run the job if the dimensions of the machine and the job dimensions are different; and

(ii) creating a run of the config jobs on the machine.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the smart scheduler first identifies one or more suitable machines among the plurality of machines to run the job.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein a suitable machine requires the fewest number of config jobs to prepare the suitable machine to run the job.

14. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the job requires a number of machines to run, the smart scheduler

identifies and prepares the number of machines to run the job;

and

reports a failure if the smart scheduler fails to find the numbers of machines.

15. The computing system of claim 11, wherein identifying one or more config jobs to prepare a machine to run the job includes:

identifying differences between dimensions of the job and dimensions of the machine; and

identifying one or more config jobs to make up the difference.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein identifying one or more config jobs to make up the differences further includes resolving a conflict caused by a constraint of a config job.

17. The computing system of claim 11, wherein creating a run of the config jobs on the machine includes:

selecting config jobs that delete machine dimensions not required by the job;

selecting config jobs that set dimensions in the machine required by the job; and

scheduling the selected config jobs to run on the machine.

18. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the central storage reflects any change in the configuration of a machine or in a config job.

19. A computer-implemented method for storing in a central storage information concerning a machine and concerning one or more config jobs capable of changing one or more dimensions associated with the machine (“

machine dimensions”

), comprising;

storing original machine configuration;

grouping one or more config jobs that delete a machine dimension; and

grouping one or more config jobs that set a machine dimension.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein grouping one or more config jobs that set a machine dimension includes:

identifying the machine dimension set by the config job; and

removing the config job from the grouping if a constraint of the config job conflicts with another config job in the grouping.