Legacy Desktop Virtualization via Workload Profiling and Benchmarking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Transforming legacy desktops into a virtualized cloud environment is challenging due to differences in workload characteristics, unpredictable resource requirements, and the complexity of graphical-based desktop applications, which existing management techniques struggle to address effectively.

Innovation Solution

A method and system that involve user workload analysis, profiling, and benchmarking to determine resource usage and scaling factors, allowing for accurate capacity planning and transformation of legacy desktops into a virtualized environment, using tools like UPROF for profiling and DESKBENCH for benchmarking to simulate user workloads and estimate needed capacity.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If desktop virtualization is implemented to centralize computation in a data center, then management cost and security risk are reduced, but transformation complexity and resource provisioning difficulty increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemanagement costVSAvoidtransformation complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by collecting and analyzing profiling data from legacy desktops before virtualization transformation. This includes gathering application usage statistics, resource consumption patterns, and user behavior data to pre-determine optimal resource allocation for the virtualized environment, thereby simplifying the transformation process

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses parameter changes by transforming raw profiling data into standardized metrics such as usage frequency, resource requirements, and scaling factors. These transformed parameters enable automated capacity planning and resource provisioning in the virtualized desktop environment

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Speed

If resource capacity is over-provisioned to ensure user responsiveness, then user experience is improved, but operational cost increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveuser responsivenessVSAvoidoperational cost
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring user workload patterns and resource utilization metrics in the virtualized environment. This feedback loop enables dynamic adjustment of resource allocation to match actual demand, ensuring responsive performance while avoiding over-provisioning

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies partial action by provisioning resources based on actual measured usage patterns rather than maximum potential demand. Capacity planning is performed for the specific workload mix observed in profiling data, allocating resources proportionally to actual needs rather than providing excessive capacity for all possible scenarios

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Measurement precision

If detailed profiling and benchmarking are performed to accurately determine resource requirements, then capacity planning precision is improved, but analysis time and computational overhead increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecapacity planning precisionVSAvoidanalysis time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses partial action by focusing profiling and benchmarking efforts on the most resource-intensive applications and typical user workflows rather than analyzing every possible scenario. This targeted approach achieves sufficient precision for capacity planning while significantly reducing analysis time

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transforms detailed profiling data into condensed metrics such as usage frequency, average resource consumption, and scaling factors. These aggregated parameters maintain the essential information needed for accurate capacity planning while reducing the complexity and time required for analysis

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentUS9542232B2System and method for transforming legacy desktop environments to a virtualized desktop model
Publication Date: 2017.01.10 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION
  • US9542232B2 patent drawing
  • US9542232B2 patent drawing
  • US9542232B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A system and method for transforming a legacy device into a virtualized environment, comprising includes analyzing the profiling data for at least one application to determine usage frequency and resource requirements of the at least one application. Captured user events are benchmarked to simulate a user workload for the at least one application to determine how resource utilization and execution times scale from a legacy environment to a virtualized environment. The legacy device is transformed into the virtualized environment in accordance with a provisioning plan.