Smart scheduler

• US 8,387,051 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2011
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Narayan, Hari S., Padisetty, Sivaprasad V., Remany, Venkata S. S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Adam
• Application Number:
  US13/047,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20110167426A1
• Time in Patent Office: 715 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/101
• 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 comprising:

identifying one or more machines that are suitable to perform a particular computing job;

determining that the one or more identified machines are missing one or more dimensions for performing the particular computing job;

selecting, by a smart scheduler, the one or more identified machines to perform the particular computing job based, at least in part, on the determining;

locating a group of config jobs to be performed on the one or more selected machines to cause the one or more selected machines to be configured to include the one or more dimensions, wherein locating the group of config jobs comprises only grouping config jobs together that do not cause any unresolved constraint conflicts with any other config jobs within the group; and

causing, automatically and without user intervention, the located group of config jobs to be performed on the one or more selected machines.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more identified machines are part of a group of machines that are grouped according to machine dimensions configured on the group of machines by one or more different config jobs.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more machines are part of a group of machines, and wherein identifying one or more machines that are suitable to perform a particular computing job comprises determining that, among the group of machines, the one or more machines are missing the least number of dimensions for performing the particular computing job.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more machines that are suitable to perform a particular computing job comprises determining that two or more machines are to be used to perform the particular computing job.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more dimensions are associated with a schema that describes one or more attributes of the one or more identified machines.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more dimensions are associated with a software attribute associated with the particular computing job.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more dimensions are associated with an update to software that resides on one or more of the identified machines.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more dimensions are associated with an operating system, and wherein causing the group of config jobs to be performed on the one or more selected machines causes the operating system to be installed on the one or more selected machines.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining that the one or more identified machines are missing one or more dimensions comprises inspecting a table that stores one or more machine identifiers for the one or more identified machines and dimension values for the one or more identified machines.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that one of the config jobs within the located group of config jobs failed; and

causing a notification of a config job failure to be presented.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising creating a link to the located group of config jobs, the link being selectable to access the located group of config jobs.

12. A system comprising:

a storage entity configured to store;

configuration information for a plurality of machines; and

indications of config jobs that can be performed on one or more of the plurality of machines, one or more of the config jobs being configured to set or delete dimensions of the one or more of the plurality of machines; and

one or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, are configured to;

identify, via the configuration information, one or more of the plurality of machines that are suitable to perform a particular computing job;

determine one or more dimensions to be set on or deleted from the one or more of the identified plurality of machines to configure the one or more of the identified plurality of machines to perform the particular computing job;

select one or more of the identified plurality of machines to perform the particular computing job based, at least in part, on the determining; and

locate a group of the config jobs that, when performed, are configured to, automatically and without user intervention, cause the one or more dimensions to be set on or deleted from the one or more of the selected plurality of machines, wherein locating the group of config jobs comprises only grouping config jobs together that do not cause any unresolved constraint conflicts with any other config jobs within the group.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more dimensions to be set on or deleted from the one or more of the identified plurality of machines comprises software associated with the particular computing job, and wherein one or more of the config jobs are configured to cause the software to be installed on the one or more of the selected plurality of machines.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a computing device, are further configured to create a link to the group of config jobs, the link being selectable to access the group of config jobs.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the computing device, are further configured to identify one or more of the plurality of machines that are suitable for a particular computing job by determining that, among the plurality of machines, the one or more of the plurality of machines are missing the least number of dimensions for performing the particular computing job.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the storage entity is further configured to store indications of relationships between the group of config jobs and the dimensions of the one or more of the plurality of machines, and wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a computing device, are further configured to locate the group of config jobs based on one or more of the relationships.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the computing device, are further configured to:

receive an indication that the group of config jobs was performed to change a configuration of the one or more of the selected plurality of machines; and

cause the configuration information stored on the storage entity to be updated to reflect the change in the configuration of the one or more of the selected plurality of machines.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

identifying one or more machines that are suitable to perform a particular computing job;

determining that the one or more identified machines are missing one or more dimensions for performing the particular computing job;

selecting one or more machines to perform the particular computing job based, at least in part, on the determining;

determining a first set of config jobs by selecting, from a group of config jobs, config jobs that are each configured to delete the one or more machine dimensions that are not requested by the particular computing job;

determining a second set of config jobs by selecting, from the group of config jobs, config jobs that are each configured to set the one or more machine dimensions that are requested by the particular computing job, wherein the group of config jobs comprises only config jobs grouped together that do not cause any unresolved constraint conflicts with any other config jobs within the group; and

automatically and without user intervention, scheduling the first set of config jobs and the second set of config jobs to be executed on the one or more selected machines.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the one or more of the machine dimensions includes an indication of software associated with the particular computing job, and wherein one or more of the second set of config jobs are configured to cause the software to be installed on the one or more selected machines.

20. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises creating a link to the first set of config jobs or the second set of config jobs, the link being selectable to access the first set of config jobs or the second set of config jobs.