MANAGING A WORKLOAD IN AN ENVIRONMENT

• US 20160077881A1
• Filed: 09/17/2014
• Published: 03/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Jason L., Boss, Gregory J., Coveyduc, Jeffrey L., Hately, Andrew D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,645,852 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3442 for planning or managing the needed capacity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals

Abstract

A system and computer-implemented method for managing a workload in an environment is disclosed. The method may include establishing a shadow workload on a shadow computer environment, wherein the shadow workload is a copy of an original workload. The method may include communicating a shadow input for the shadow workload, wherein the shadow input is a copy of an original input for the original workload. The method may also include collecting an original output from the original workload and a shadow output from the shadow workload. The method may also include determining, by comparing the original output from the original workload with the shadow output from the shadow workload, whether the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for testing a set of alternative environments for running a set of workloads including an original workload of an original computer environment, the method comprising:

establishing a shadow workload on a shadow computer environment, wherein the shadow workload includes a copy of the original workload;

communicating, for the shadow workload, a shadow input that includes a copy of an original input for the original workload;

collecting an original output from the original workload and a shadow output from the shadow workload; and

determining, by comparing the original output from the original workload with the shadow output from the shadow workload, whether the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the original computer environment is a private cloud and the shadow computing environment is a public cloud.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing another shadow workload on another shadow computer environment, wherein the another shadow workload includes the copy of the original workload;

communicating another shadow input for the another shadow workload, wherein the another shadow input includes the copy of the original input for the original workload;

collecting the original output from the original workload and another shadow output from the another shadow workload; and

determining, by comparing the original output from the original workload with the another shadow output, that the another shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the original workload is a multi-tiered workload having a virtual environment logical partition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a middleware architecture is running on the virtual environment logical partition, the middleware infrastructure configured to receive the original input and transmit the original output.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the shadow workload on the shadow computer environment includes:

assigning, to a set of cloud nodes of the shadow computer environment, a workload resource usage estimation;

allocating, based on the workload resource estimation, a portion of system resources of the set of cloud nodes for the shadow workload; and

processing, by the set of cloud nodes, a set of original workload instructions for the portion of system resources for the shadow workload.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload further comprises performing one or more integrity tests on the shadow computer environment, the integrity tests selected from a group consisting of scalability, load balancing, resource usage, latency, and port isolation.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the integrity tests are performed in response to detecting that a network activity value has decreased below a network activity threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload further comprises matching a first result feature of the original output with a second result feature of the shadow output.

10. A system for testing a set of alternative environments for running a set of workloads including an original workload of an original computer environment, the system comprising:

an establishing module configured to establish a shadow workload on a shadow computer environment, wherein the shadow workload includes a copy of the original workload;

a communicating module configured to communicate a shadow input for the shadow workload, wherein the shadow input includes a copy of an original input for the original workload;

a collecting module configured to collect an original output from the original workload and a shadow output from the shadow workload; and

a determining module configured to determine, by comparing the original output from the original workload with the shadow output from the shadow workload, whether the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the original workload is a multi-tiered workload having a virtual environment logical partition configured to operate a middleware infrastructure for receiving the original input and transmitting the original output.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the establishing module establishes a second shadow workload on a second shadow computer environment and a third shadow workload on a third shadow computer environment, wherein the second shadow workload and the third shadow workload are copies of the original workload;

the communicating module communicates a second shadow input for the second shadow workload and a third shadow input for the third shadow workload, wherein the second shadow input and the third shadow input include the copy of the original input for the original workload;

the collecting module collects an original output from the original workload, a second shadow output from the second shadow workload, and a third shadow output from the third shadow workload; and

the determining module determines, by comparing the original output from the original workload with the second shadow output and the third shadow output, that the second shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the establishing module includes:

an assigning module configured to assign, to a set of cloud nodes of the shadow computer environment, a workload resource usage estimation;

an allocating module configured to allocate, based on the workload resource estimation, a portion of system resources of the set of cloud nodes for the shadow workload; and

a processing module configured to process, by the set of cloud nodes, a set of original workload instructions for the portion of system resources for the shadow workload.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein determining whether the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload further comprises performing one or more integrity tests on the shadow computer environment, the integrity tests selected from a group consisting of scalability, load balancing, resource usage, latency, and port isolation.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the integrity tests are performed in response to detecting that a network activity value has decreased below a network activity threshold.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein determining whether the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload further comprises matching a first result feature of the original output with a second result feature of the shadow output.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a first computing device, causes the first computing device to:

establish a shadow workload on a shadow computer environment, wherein the shadow workload includes a copy of an original workload;

communicate a shadow input for the shadow workload, wherein the shadow input includes a copy of an original input for the original workload;

collect an original output from the original workload and a shadow output from the shadow workload; and

determine, by comparing the original output from the original workload with the shadow output from the shadow workload, whether the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the original workload is a multi-tiered workload having a virtual environment logical partition configured to operate a middleware infrastructure for receiving the original input and transmitting the original output.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising computer readable program code configured to:

assign, to a set of cloud nodes of the shadow computer environment, a workload resource usage estimation;

allocate, based on the workload resource estimation, a portion of system resources of the set of cloud nodes for the shadow workload; and

process, by the set of cloud nodes, a set of original workload instructions for the portion of system resources for the shadow workload.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising computer readable program code configured to:

detect that a network activity value has decreased below a network activity threshold;

perform, in response to determining that the network activity value has decreased below the network activity threshold, one or more integrity tests on the shadow computer environment, the integrity tests selected from a group consisting of scalability, load balancing, resource usage, latency, and port isolation;

match a first result feature of the original output with a second result feature of the shadow output; and

determine that the shadow computer environment is configured to operate the original workload.