Dynamic application instance placement in data center environments

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for determining placements of application instances on computing resources in a computing system such that the application instances can be executed thereon. By way of example, a method for determining an application instance placement in a set of machines under one or more resource constraints includes the following steps. An estimate is computed of a value of the first metric that can be achieved by a current application instance placement and a current application load distribution. A new application instance placement and a new application load distribution are determined, wherein the new application instance placement and the new load distribution optimize the first metric.

1 . A method for determining an application instance placement in a set of machines under one or more resource constraints, the method comprising the steps of:
 computing an estimate of a value of a first metric that can be achieved by a current application instance placement and a current application load distribution; and   determining a new application instance placement and a new application load distribution that optimizes the first metric.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining step further comprises the new application instance placement improving upon the first metric and the new load distribution improving upon a second metric. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining step further comprises shifting an application load. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the determining step further comprises changing the application instance placement without pinning to determine a first candidate placement. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the determining step further comprises changing the application instance placement with pinning to determine a second candidate placement. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the determining step further comprises selecting a best placement from the first candidate placement and the second candidate placement as the new application instance placement. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining step is performed multiple times. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of balancing an application load across the set of machines. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first metric comprises a total number of satisfied demands. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first metric comprises a total number of placement changes. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first metric comprises an extent to which an application load is balanced across the set of machines. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more resource constraints comprises a processing capacity. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more resource constraints comprises a memory capacity. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second metric comprises a degree of correlation between residual resources on each machine of the set of machines. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second metric comprises a number of underutilized application instances. 
     
     
         16 . Apparatus for determining an application instance placement in a set of machines under one or more resource constraints, the apparatus comprising:
 a memory; and   at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative to: (i) compute an estimate of a value of a first metric that can be achieved by a current application instance placement and a current application load distribution; and (ii) determine a new application instance placement and a new application load distribution that optimizes the first metric.   
     
     
         17 . An article of manufacture for determining an application instance placement in a set of machines under one or more resource constraints, comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:
 computing an estimate of a value of a first metric that can be achieved by a current application instance placement and a current application load distribution; and   determining a new application instance placement and a new application load distribution that optimizes the first metric.