Automated resource management using perceptron prediction

• US 7,191,329 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2003
• Issued: 03/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Murphy, Richard C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perveen; Rehana
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rahman; Fahmida
• Application Number:
  US10/382,723
• Publication Number:
  US 20040177245A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,469 Days
• Field of Search: 713/100
• US Class Current: 713/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

A system and method for automatically identifying a desirable reconfiguration of computer system resources, using a perceptron to determine whether one resource configuration will likely be more efficient or more effective than a second configuration. An iterative solver identifies possible configurations or reconfigurations of the resources. A possible configuration is applied to the perceptron, which determines whether the new configuration is more attractive than an existing or baseline configuration, in terms of a predetermined objective function (e.g., cost, performance, resource utilization, throughput). If the new configuration improves the objective function, the new configuration may be automatically or manually applied through a dynamic reconfiguration operation.

Claims

1. A method of using a perceptron to facilitate dynamic reconfiguration of computer system resources that include a plurality of physical resources and one or more logical resources constructed upon the physical resources, the method comprising:

operating a graph module to assemble a resource dependency graph representing a first distribution of the computer system resources among one or more containers configured to comprise resources allocated to tasks, wherein said resource dependency graph comprises;

vertices representing the computer system resources; and

edges, wherein each edge represents a dependency between a first physical or logical resource and a second physical or logical resource; and

executing a partitioner configured to identify a second distribution of the computer system resources among the one or more containers that provides greater value than the first distribution as measured by an objective function for evaluating a configuration of the computer system resources, said partitioner comprising;

an iterative solver configured to identify one or more possible distributions of the computer system resources different than said first distribution; and

the perceptron, wherein the perceptron is configured to predict the impact of each of said possible distributions on the objective function; and

if the perceptron predicts that one or more of said possible distributions would improve the objective function, initiating a reconfiguration of the computer system resources to implement one of the one or more said possible distributions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the perceptron an indication of whether the objective function would be improved if a given possible distribution was applied.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the perceptron an indication of the extent to which the objective function would be improved if a given possible distribution was applied.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the perceptron an indication of whether the objective function would be maximized if a given possible distribution was applied.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a given possible distribution if the perceptron predicts that said given possible distribution would improve the objective function.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the objective function is the cost of operating the set of resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the objective function is the performance of the set of resources.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the objective function is throughput.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the objective function is resource utilization.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising

training the perceptron by:

inputting to the perceptron a previous distribution of the set of resources;

receiving a corresponding output; and

adjusting weights of the perceptron based on a difference between the corresponding output and a measure of the objective function at the time of the previous distribution of the set of resources.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each of the one or more possible distributions, determining whether said distribution would violate any constraints on the resources.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a constraint comprises a limitation or requirement upon a possible distribution of the computer system resources.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein each said container is one of:

a domain of resources operating under one instance of an operating system; and

a subset of resources operating under multiple instances of one or more operating systems, wherein the subset of resources cooperate to provide a service.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining which of the one or more possible distributions is optimal.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the perceptron comprises a neural network including one or more artificial neurons comprising:

one or more data inputs;

for each data input, an associated weight; and

an output.

16. An apparatus for identifying a desirable reconfiguration of computer system resources, comprising:

one or more platforms comprising physical computer system resources, wherein one or more logical resources may be constructed upon each of the physical resources;

a graph module configured to facilitate the assembly of a resource dependency graph representing a first configuration of the physical resources and the logical resources, wherein the resource dependency graph comprises;

vertices representing each of the physical resources and each of the logical resources; and

edges, wherein each edge represents a dependency between a first physical or logical resource and a second physical or logical resource; and

a partitioner configured to identify a second configuration of the physical resources and the logical resources providing greater value than the first configuration as measured by an objective function, said partitioner comprising;

an iterative solver configured to identify a possible configuration of the physical resources and the logical resources different from the first configuration; and

a perceptron configured to evaluate said possible configuration in terms of the objective function.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the objective function comprises one of:

a cost associated with the physical computer system resources; and

a performance of the physical computer system resources.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the objective function comprises one of:

a utilization of physical computer system resources; and

a throughput of the physical computer system resources.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said partitioner is further configured to determine whether said possible configuration violates any of a set of constraints placed upon the physical resources and the logical resources.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said partitioner further comprises:

a controller configured to identify the first configuration of the physical resources and the logical resources to said iterative solver.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said partitioner identifies the first configuration to said iterative solver by providing the resource dependency graph to said iterative solver.

22. A tangible computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of using a perceptron to facilitate dynamic reconfiguration of computer system resources that include a plurality of physical resources and one or more logical resources constructed upon the physical resources, the method comprising:

operating a graph module to assemble a resource dependency graph representing a first distribution of the computer system resources among one or more containers configured to comprise resources allocated to tasks, wherein said resource dependency graph comprises;

vertices representing the computer system resources; and

edges, wherein each edge represents a dependency between a first physical or logical resource and a second physical or logical resource; and

executing a partitioner configured to identify a second distribution of the computer system resources among the one or more containers that provides greater value than the first distribution as measured by an objective function for evaluating a configuration of the computer system resources, said partitioner comprising;

an iterative solver configured to identify one or more possible distributions of the computer system resources different than said first distribution; and

the perceptron, wherein the perceptron is configured to predict the impact of each of said possible distributions on the objective function; and

if the perceptron predicts that one or more of said possible distributions would improve the objective function, initiating a reconfiguration of the computer system resources to implement one of the one or more said possible distributions.