Efficient execution of jobs in a shared pool of resources

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to a shared group of resource and efficient processing of one or more jobs in the share group of resources. Tools are provided in the shared group of resource to assess and organize a topology of the shared resources, including physical and virtual machines, as well as storage devices. The topology is stored in a known location and utilized for efficient assignment of one or more jobs responsive to the hierarchy.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 in a shared pool of resources, including a physical host in communication with at least one physical machine supporting one or more virtual machines, collecting virtual machine status from one or more of the virtual machines;   gathering local topology information of the shared pool of resources, including periodically communicating with an embedded monitor of the physical machine;   organizing the gathered local topology information, including a storage topology underlying a virtual topology and associated resource utilization information;   leveraging the organized topology information, including responsively assigning a job to a select virtual machine in the shared pool, including the job assignment supporting efficient performance of job associated I/O.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising returning a virtual topological distance associated with the job, the virtual topological distance selected from the group consisting of: a distance between two virtual machines, and a distance between a virtual machine and a block of data. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising creating a shared memory channel to support the job, the channel supporting inter-virtual machine data communication between a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine sitting on a same physical machine. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the shared memory channel supports efficient data transfer for both the first and second virtual machines. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of leveraging the organized storage topology information includes returning a physical location of one or more data blocks to support the job in the shared pool. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising returning utilization information of a processing unit and network utilization information of the physical machine local to the virtual machine. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the step of assigning the job to a virtual machine includes selecting a virtual machine having sufficient bandwidth and a close topological distance to the physical location of the one or more data blocks to support the job. 
     
     
         8 . A computer implemented method comprising:
 in a shared pool of resources, including a physical host in communication with at least one physical machine supporting one or more virtual machines, collecting virtual machine status from one or more of the virtual machines;   periodically gathering local topology information of a hierarchical organization of resources represented by the physical and virtual machines;   organizing the topology information;   assessing utilization of storage resources and virtual machines represented in the topology; and   assigning a job to one or more select virtual machines in the shared pool, with the job assignment supporting efficient performance responsive to the topology and resource utilization assessment.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising ascertaining a topological distance associated with the job, the topological distance selected from the group consisting of: a distance between two virtual machines, and a distance between a virtual machine and a block of data. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising creating a shared memory channel to support the job between a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine sitting on a same physical machine.