Dynamic distribution of I/O resources in a partitioned computer system
View Patent ↗A method of dynamically allocating the amount of input/output (I/O) rate capacity to partitions in a computer system includes determining a total amount of I/O rate capacity and an economic value of each partition within the partitioned computer system. The economic value is defined as a performance-valued product established for each partition wherein the sum of all performance-value products for each partition defines a total economic value for the computer. The I/O rate to be allocated to each partition is calculated to be a portion of the total amount of I/O rate capacity where the portion allocated to each partition is proportional to the economic value of that respective partition. The calculated rate allocations are recorded in memory which is accessible to each partition. After recording, each partition regulates its I/O usage according to the recorded allocation.
1. A method of dynamically allocating the amount of input/output (I/O) rate capacity to partitions in a computer system, the method comprising:
determining a total amount of I/O rate capacity of the computer system;
determining an economic value of each partition within the partitioned computer system, the economic value for each partition comprising a product of a measure of processing performance required to perform one or more tasks on the partition and a measure of the relative value of said one or more tasks with respect to tasks performed by other partitions, wherein the sum of the economic values of each partition defines a total economic value for the computer system; and
calculating a portion of the total amount of I/O rate capacity to allocate to each partition, the allocated portion to each partition being proportional to the economic value to a respective partition.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
recording the allocation to each partition in memory accessible to each partition such that each partition is adjusted to the respective recorded allocation.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
adjusting an I/O rate in a first partition according to an allocation calculated for the first partition.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
accessing a program associated with a second partition; and
adjusting an I/O rate in the second partition according to an allocation calculated for the second partition.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
automatically adjusting an amount of I/O rate to the first partition to be commensurate with a change in economic value in the first partition.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the total amount of I/O rate capacity of the computer system and said determining the economic value of each partition within the partitioned computer system comprises: reading the total amount of I/O rate capacity and the economic value of each partition from at least one of a processor key, an I/O key and an area of memory.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said calculating the portion of the total amount of I/O rate capacity to allocate to each partition, the allocated portion to each partition being proportional to the economic value to a respective partition comprises: calculating a new I/O rate for each partition using a ratio of economic value in a partition to the total economic value of the computer system multiplied by the total I/O rate capacity of the computer system.
8. A computer system comprising:
multiple active partitions within the computer system, each active partition having at least one processor;
an allocation of economic valuation for each partition within the computer system, the economic valuation of each partition comprising a product of a measure of processing performance required to perform one or more tasks on the partition and a measure of the relative value of said one or more tasks with respect to tasks performed by other partitions, wherein the sum of the economic values of each partition defines a total economic value for the computer system;
a shared memory comprising economic valuation information for each partition and a total input/output (I/O) rate capacity for the computer system, wherein each partition has access to the shared memory;
software, executing on each partition, that allocates a portion of the total I/O rate capacity for the computer system to each partition, the portion allocated to each partition proportional to the economic valuation of each partition and the total I/O rate capacity for the computer system.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein said each active partition is designated one of a dynamic partition and a static partition, wherein said dynamic partitions have I/O rate allocations which can be reallocated based on the economic valuation of each partition.
10. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
a user interface wherein a user may alter the performance of at least one partition, the alteration causing a redistribution of I/O rate allocation among dynamic partitions of the computer system.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the software acts to execute instructions corresponding to the steps of:
determining said total amount of I/O rate capacity of the computer system and said economic valuation of each partition within the partitioned computer system; and
calculating said portion of the total amount of I/O rate capacity to allocate to each partition, the allocated portion of each partition being proportional to the economic value to a respective partition.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the software further executes instructions corresponding to the steps of:
recording the allocation of a portion of the total I/O rate capacity for the computer system which corresponds to each partition; and
adjusting each partition to function within the respective allocated portion of the total I/O rate capacity.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the allocation of economic valuation for each partition comprises a product of a million instructions per second (MIPS) rating for each partition and a relative value of each partition within the computer system.
14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the software calculates said allocated portion of the total I/O rate capacity by using a ratio of economic value in a partition to the total economic value of the computer system multiplied by the total I/O rate capacity of the computer system.
15. A computer-readable medium having instructions therein, executable by a computer system having multiple partitions to perform a method of dynamically allocating an amount of input/output (I/O) rate capacity to partitions in said computer system, the method comprising:
determining a total amount of I/O rate capacity of the computer system;
determining an economic value of each partition within the partition computer system, the economic value for each partition comprising a product of a measure of processing performance required to perform one or more tasks on the partition and a measure of the relative value of said one or more tasks with respect to tasks performed by other partitions, wherein the sum of the economic values of each partition defines a total economic value for the computer system; and
calculating a portion of the total amount of I/O rate capacity to allocate to each partition, the allocated portion to each partition being proportional to the economic value to a respective partition.
16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises:
recording the allocation to each partition in memory accessible to each partition such that each partition is adjusted to the respective recorded allocation.
17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:
adjusting an I/O rate in a first partition according to the recorded allocation for the first partition.
18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
accessing a program associated with a second partition;
recording the allocation to each partition in the memory accessible to each partition; and
adjusting an I/O rate in the second partition according to an allocation recorded for the second partition.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the method steps of determining the total amount of I/O rate capacity of the computer system and determining the economic value of each partition within the partitioned computer system comprise reading the total amount of I/O rate capacity and the economic value of each partition from one of a processor key and an area of memory.
20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the method step of calculating the portion of the total amount of I/O rate capacity to allocate to each partition, the allocated portion to each partition being proportional to the economic value to a respective partition comprises calculating a new I/O rate for each partition using a ratio of economic value in a partition to the total economic value of the computer system multiplied by the total I/O rate capacity of the computer system.