IP Library Granted Patent US 9,983,900
Granted Patent B2
US 9,983,900 · App. 15/335,349 · Granted May 29, 2018

Capacity risk management for virtual machines

Inventors: Jeyashree Sivasubramanian (Wayland, MA); Sudheer Apte (Walpole, MA)
Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.
G06F9/45558G06F9/5061G06F9/5077G06F11/30G06F11/301G06F11/3065G06F11/3433G06F11/3442G06F11/3452G06F2009/45591G06F2201/81G06F2201/815
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,983,900
App. No.
15/335,349
Granted
May 29, 2018
Kind
B2
Abstract

An access data collector collects access assignment data characterizing active access assignment operations of a hypervisor in assigning host computing resources among virtual machines for use in execution of the virtual machines. Then, a capacity risk indicator calculator calculates a capacity risk indicator characterizing a capacity risk of the host computing resources with respect to meeting a prospective capacity demand of the virtual machines, based on the access assignment data.

Claims (40)

1. A system including instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and executable by at least one processor, the system comprising:

a data collector configured to cause the at least one processor to, collect data about active operations of a hypervisor in assigning hardware resources to a plurality of queued virtual machines for use in execution of the plurality of virtual machines, and

collect pressure data pertaining to maintaining a plurality of resource access queues implemented by the hypervisor, each resource access queue representing an ordered list for assigning one or more of the hardware resources to one or more of the plurality of virtual machines; and

a monitor configured to cause the at least one processor to,

determine, for the hypervisor assigning the hardware resources, whether the pressure data indicates a pressure above a predefined threshold pertaining to one or more of the plurality of hardware resources, and

indicate an increase in a capacity risk for the hypervisor according to a determined amount of the pressure data above the predefined threshold, the pressure data being based on maintaining the plurality of resource access queues and on a rate of assignment of one or more of the hardware resources being assigned by the hypervisor,

wherein the capacity risk includes a saturation level pertaining to at least one of the plurality of resource access queues associated with virtual machines contributing to memory pressure and at least one of the plurality of resource access queues associated with virtual machines contributing to processing pressure, the saturation level indicating that at least one of the memory pressure or the processing pressure is increasing, and

wherein the system uses at least two pressure indexes for determining the capacity risk using a weighted combination of the at least two pressure indexes, each pressure index being a calculated degree of hardware resource usage experienced by the hypervisor during active assignment operations of the hardware resources.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pressure data includes information about how the hypervisor assigns and provides memory resources, processing resources, and storage resources for each of the plurality of queued virtual machines.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is further configured to:

determine, for a portion of hardware resources within a cluster of virtual machines, a combined summary risk, the combined summary risk representing combined data for two or more virtual machines in the cluster;

determine, that the combined summary risk is above a threshold indicated for pressure data pertaining to at least one calculated pressure index; and

report, with a report generator and for the cluster of virtual machines, a saturation risk assessment.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the saturation risk assessment includes a description of steps to alleviate saturation for the cluster of virtual machines.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the capacity risk indicator includes generating, for each hardware resource, a days-to-saturation metric based on a rate of usage for the respective hardware resource.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein determining the capacity risk includes combining the days-to-saturation metric and an associated pressure index for a respective hardware resource.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

collecting data about active operations of a hypervisor in assigning hardware resources to a plurality of queued virtual machines for use in execution of the plurality of virtual machines,

collecting pressure data pertaining to maintaining a plurality of resource access queues implemented by the hypervisor, each resource access queue representing an ordered list for assigning one or more of the plurality of hardware resources to one or more of the plurality of virtual machines; and

in response to determining, for the hypervisor that the pressure data indicates a pressure above a predefined threshold pertaining to one or more of the plurality of hardware resources, increasing a capacity risk indicator for the hypervisor based on the determined amount of the pressure data above the predefined threshold, the pressure data being based on maintaining the plurality of resource access queues and on a rate of assignment of one or more of the plurality of hardware resources being assigned by the hypervisor,

wherein the capacity risk includes a saturation level pertaining to at least one of the plurality of resource access queues associated with virtual machines contributing to memory pressure and at least one of the plurality of resource access queues associated with virtual machines contributing to processing pressure, the saturation level indicating that at least one of the memory pressure or the processing pressure is increasing, and

wherein at least two pressure indexes are used for determining the capacity risk using a weighted combination of the at least two pressure indexes, each pressure index being a calculated degree of hardware resource usage experienced by the hypervisor during active assignment operations of the hardware resources.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the pressure data includes information about how the hypervisor assigns and provides memory resources, processing resources, and storage resources for each of the plurality of queued virtual machines.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining, for a portion of hardware resources within a cluster of virtual machines, a combined summary risk, the combined summary risk representing combined data for two or more virtual machines in the cluster;

determining, that the combined summary risk is above a threshold indicated for pressure data pertaining to at least one calculated pressure index; and

reporting, with a report generator and for the cluster of virtual machines, a saturation risk assessment.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the capacity risk includes a saturation level pertaining to at least a portion of the hardware resources.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the capacity risk includes combining the days-to-saturation metric and an associated pressure index for a respective hardware resource.

12. A computer program product including instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and configured, when executed by at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to:

collect data about active operations of a hypervisor in assigning hardware resources to a plurality of queued virtual machines for use in execution of the plurality of virtual machines,

collect pressure data pertaining to maintaining a plurality of resource access queues implemented by the hypervisor, each resource access queue representing an ordered list for assigning one or more of the plurality of hardware resources to one or more of the plurality of virtual machines; and in response to determining, for the hypervisor that the pressure data indicates a pressure above a predefined threshold pertaining to one or more of the plurality of hardware resources, increase a capacity risk indicator for the hypervisor based on the determined amount of the pressure data above the predefined threshold, the pressure data being based on maintaining the plurality of resource access queues and on a rate of assignment of one or more of the hardware resources being assigned by the hypervisor,

wherein the capacity risk includes a saturation level pertaining to at least one of the plurality of resource access queues associated with virtual machines contributing to memory pressure and at least one of the plurality of resource access queues associated with virtual machines contributing to processing pressure, the saturation level indicating that at least one of the memory pressure or the processing pressure is increasing, and

wherein at least two pressure indexes are used for determining the capacity risk using a weighted combination of the at least two pressure indexes, each pressure index being a calculated degree of hardware resource usage experienced by the hypervisor during active assignment operations of the hardware resources.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the pressure data includes information about how the hypervisor assigns and provides memory resources, processing resources, and storage resources for each of the plurality of queued virtual machines.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 , further comprising instructions that cause the at least one processor to:

determine, for a portion of hardware resources within a cluster of virtual machines, a combined summary risk, the combined summary risk representing combined data for two or more virtual machines in the cluster;

determine, that the combined summary risk is above a threshold indicated for pressure data pertaining to at least one calculated pressure index; and

report, with a report generator and for the cluster of virtual machines, a saturation risk assessment.

15. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein determining the capacity risk includes combining the days-to-saturation metric and an associated pressure index for a respective hardware resource.

Assignments (16)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 7, 2025
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.
To: BMC HELIX, INC.
Reel/Frame 070442/0197 →
GRANT OF FIRST LIEN SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT RIGHTS Recorded Nov 13, 2024
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
To: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 069352/0628 →
GRANT OF SECOND LIEN SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT RIGHTS Recorded Nov 13, 2024
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
To: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 069352/0568 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (052854/0139) Recorded Aug 6, 2024
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
Reel/Frame 068339/0617 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (052844/0646) Recorded Aug 6, 2024
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
Reel/Frame 068339/0408 →
OMNIBUS ASSIGNMENT OF SECURITY INTERESTS IN PATENT COLLATERAL Recorded Mar 4, 2024
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS RESIGNING COLLATERAL AGENT
To: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA, AS SUCCESSOR COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 066729/0889 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS Recorded Feb 1, 2024
From: ALTER DOMUS (US) LLC
To: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
Reel/Frame 066567/0283 →
GRANT OF SECOND LIEN SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT RIGHTS Recorded Sep 30, 2021
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
To: ALTER DOMUS (US) LLC
Reel/Frame 057683/0582 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 4, 2020
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 052844/0646 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 4, 2020
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 052854/0139 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 3, 2019
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.
To: CAPLAN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT S.R.L.
Reel/Frame 048782/0213 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 3, 2019
From: CAPLAN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT S.R.L.
To: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 048782/0245 →
RELEASE OF PATENTS Recorded Oct 5, 2018
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
To: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.; BMC ACQUISITION L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 047198/0468 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Oct 2, 2018
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
To: CREDIT SUISSE, AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 047185/0744 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 5, 2017
From: SIVASUBRAMANIAN, JEYASHREE; APTE, SUDHEER
To: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 044292/0690 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Aug 10, 2017
From: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.; BLADELOGIC, INC.
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 043514/0845 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 14319918 · Jun 30, 2014
Related Publication 20170046191A1 · Feb 16, 2017