BATCH SCHEDULING

• US 20140075442A1
• Filed: 11/11/2013
• Published: 03/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Ferrandiz, Josep M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,250,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4887 involving deadlines, e.g. rate based, periodic
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups

Abstract

There is provided a method to schedule execution of a plurality of batch jobs by a computer system. The method includes: reading one or more constraints that constrain the execution of the plurality of batch jobs by the computer system and a current load on the computer system; grouping the plurality of batch jobs into at least one run frequency that includes at least one batch job; setting the at least one run frequency to a first run frequency; computing a load generated by each batch job in the first run frequency on the computer system based on each batch job'"'"'s start time; and determining an optimized start time for each batch job in the first run frequency that meets the one or more constraints and that distributes each batch job'"'"'s load on the computer system using each batch job'"'"'s computed load and the current load.

Claims

1. A method to schedule execution of a plurality of batch jobs by a computer system, the method comprising:

reading one or more constraints that constrain the execution of the plurality of batch jobs by the computer system, including constraints from a service level agreement, and a current load on the computer system;

grouping the plurality of batch jobs into at least one run frequency that includes at least one batch job;

setting the at least one run frequency to a first run frequency;

computing a load generated by each batch job in the first run frequency on the computer system based on each batch job'"'"'s start time to protect against a worst case in which a number of batch operations in such given time period is higher than an average number of batch operations expected during the busiest of such given time period; and

determining an optimized start time for each batch job in the first run frequency that meets the one or more constraints and that distributes each batch job'"'"'s load on the computer system using each batch job'"'"'s computed load and the current load, the one or more constraints including at least one constraint of the service level agreement.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising initializing each batch job'"'"'s start time to a preset value.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising regularizing at least one batch job with an irregular run frequency from the plurality of batch jobs to a batch job with a regular frequency.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a batch job schedule for the first run frequency.

5. The method of claim 1, updating the current load on the computer system with loads of each batch job in the first frequency.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

setting the at least one run frequency to a second run frequency;

computing a load generated by each batch job in the second run frequency on the computer system based on each batch job'"'"'s start time; and

determining an optimized start time for each batch job in the second run frequency that meets the one or more constraints and that distributes each batch job'"'"'s load on the computer system using each batch job'"'"'s computed load and the updated current load for the first run frequency.

7. A system to schedule execution of a plurality of batch jobs by a third party computer system, the system comprising:

an input module adapted to read one or more constraints that constrain the execution of the plurality of batch jobs by the third party computer system, including constraints from a service level agreement, and a current load on the third party computer system;

a frequency regularization module adapted to group the plurality of batch jobs into at least one run frequency that includes at least one batch job;

a load initialization module adapted to compute a load generated by each batch job in a first run frequency on the third party computer system based on each batch job'"'"'s start time to protect against a worst case in which a number of batch operations in such given time period is higher than an average number of batch operations expected during the busiest of such given time period; and

a start time determination module adapted to determine an optimized start time for each batch job in the first run frequency that meets the one or more constraints and that distributes each batch job'"'"'s load on the third party computer system using each batch job'"'"'s computed load and the current load, the one or more constraints including at least one constraint of the service level agreement.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a time initialization module for initializing each batch job'"'"'s start time to a preset value.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the frequency regularization module further adapted to regularize at least one batch job with an irregular run frequency from the plurality of batch jobs to a batch job with a regular frequency.

10. The system of claim 7, further comprising a schedule generation module adapted to generate a batch job schedule for the first run frequency.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising a load update module adapted to update the current load on the computer system with loads of each batch job in the first frequency.

12. The system of claim 11,

wherein the load initialization module is further adapted to compute a load generated by each batch job in a second run frequency on the computer system based on each batch job'"'"'s start time;

and

wherein the start time determination module is further adapted to determine an optimized start time for each batch job in the second run frequency that meets the one or more constraints and that distributes each batch job'"'"'s load on the computer system using each batch job'"'"'s computed load and the updated current load for the first run frequency.

13. A machine-readable storage medium including a set of instructions to schedule execution of a plurality of batch jobs by a computer system, the instructions, when executed by a processor cause the machine to:

read one or more constraints that constrain the execution of the plurality of batch jobs by the computer system, including constraints from a service level agreement, and a current load on the computer system;

group the plurality of batch jobs into at least one run frequency that includes at least one batch job;

set the at least one run frequency to a first run frequency;

compute a load generated by each batch job in the first run frequency on the computer system based on each batch job'"'"'s start time to protect against a worst case in which a number of batch operations in such given time period is higher than an average number of batch operations expected during the busiest of such given time period; and

determine an optimized start time for each batch job in the first run frequency that meets the one or more constraints and that distributes each batch job'"'"'s load on the computer system using each batch job'"'"'s computed load and the current load, the one or more constraints including at least one constraint of the service level agreement.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions cause the machine to initialize each batch job'"'"'s start time to a preset value.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions cause the machine to regularize at least one batch job with an irregular run frequency from the plurality of batch jobs to a batch job with a regular frequency.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions cause the machine to generate a batch job schedule for the first run frequency.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions cause the machine to update the current load on the computer system with loads of each batch job in the first frequency.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the machine to:

set the at least one run frequency to a second run frequency;

compute a load generated by each batch job in the second run frequency on the computer system based on each batch job'"'"'s start time; and

determine an optimized start time fir each batch job in the second run frequency that meets the one or more constraints and that distributes each batch job'"'"'s load on the computer system using each batch job'"'"'s computed load and the updated current load for the first run frequency.