Workload Distribution in Virtualized Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
In scalable computing environments, the variability in booting and initializing virtual machines leads to instability and revenue loss due to inefficient workload management, particularly in handling heterogeneous workloads and services with stringent Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Innovation Solution
A method and system that orchestrate resources by decoupling services from virtual instances, combining multiple workloads to reduce reconfigurations through normalization, smoothing, workload categorization, and intelligent distribution, using a Reconfiguration Manager to instantiate or delete VMs, thereby minimizing reconfiguration costs and improving server utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If virtual machines are instantiated or deleted to accommodate workloads, then workload management flexibility is improved, but system stability deteriorates due to variability in booting and initializing times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-booting virtual machines before workloads are assigned to them. The system identifies workloads that need to be moved and proactively boots target virtual machines in advance, so they are ready when the workload migration is needed. This eliminates the variability and delay associated with booting virtual machines at the moment of workload assignment, thereby maintaining system stability while preserving workload management flexibility.
2Ease of operation
If multiple workloads are handled individually, then workload-specific management is improved, but reconfiguration costs increase due to frequent VM instantiations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies merging by combining multiple workloads and assigning them to the same virtual machine when possible. The system evaluates whether workloads can be co-located on shared virtual machines, reducing the total number of virtual machine instantiations and deletions required. This approach maintains individual workload management capabilities while significantly reducing reconfiguration time and operational overhead by handling multiple workloads collectively rather than individually.
3Reliability
If virtual machines are frequently instantiated to meet demand, then service availability is improved, but resource utilization efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by creating virtual machines that can serve multiple workloads and services simultaneously. Instead of instantiating dedicated virtual machines for each workload, the system creates multi-functional virtual machines that can be dynamically assigned to different workloads based on demand. This approach maintains high service availability by ensuring virtual machines are ready when needed, while improving resource utilization efficiency by avoiding the overhead of frequently creating and destroying single-purpose virtual machines.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for managing workload distribution in a system, the method comprising for a set of services executed in the system, categorising workloads to generate at least one workload group comprising a set of workloads with a combined reconfiguration cost less than the sum of individual reconfiguration costs of the selected workloads and distributing workloads of the generated workload group to the set of services according to the type of respective ones of the set of services.