Abstract: A method of reducing power consumption of a server cluster of host systems with virtual machines executing on the host systems is provided. The method includes recommending host system power-on when there is a host system whose utilization is above a target utilization, and recommending host system power-off when there is a host system whose utilization is below the target utilization. Recommending host system power-on includes calculating impact of powering on a standby host system with respect to reducing the number of highly-utilized host systems in the server cluster. Recommending host system power-off includes calculating impact of powering off a host system with respect to decreasing the number of less-utilized host systems in the server cluster.

Abstract: A method of reducing power consumption of a server cluster of host systems with virtual machines executing on the host systems is provided. The method includes recommending host system power-on when there is a host system whose utilization is above a target utilization, and recommending host system power-off when there is a host system whose utilization is below the target utilization. Recommending host system power-on includes calculating impact of powering on a standby host system with respect to reducing the number of highly-utilized host systems in the server cluster. Recommending host system power-off includes calculating impact of powering off a host system with respect to decreasing the number of less-utilized host systems in the server cluster.

Abstract: Methods and systems for cluster resource management in virtualized computing environments are described. VM spares are used to reserve (or help discover or otherwise obtain) a set of computing resources for a VM. While VM spares may be used for a variety of scenarios, particular uses of VM spares include using spares to ensure resource availability for requests to power on VMs as well as for discovering, obtaining, and defragmenting the resources and VMs on a cluster, e.g., in response to requests to reserve resources for a VM or to respond to a notification of a failure for a given VM.

Abstract: A system and method for performing a resource allocation diagnosis on a distributed computer system includes obtaining a target resource allocation and a snapshot of the distributed computer system, where the snapshot includes configurations and resource usage information of at least some components of the distributed computer system, and generating a resource allocation recommendation based on the target resource allocation and the snapshot by iteratively traversing a resource hierarchy in the distributed computer system. The resource allocation recommendation specifies at least one resource configuration action or at least one capacity expansion action for the distributed computer system to meet the target resource allocation.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method for placing virtual machines in a collection is provided. A plurality of equivalence sets of hosts is determined prior to placing virtual machines in the collection. The hosts in an equivalence set of hosts are considered similar. An equivalence set of hosts in the plurality of equivalence sets is selected to place the virtual machines in the collection. The method then places at least a portion of the virtual machines in the collection on one or more hosts in the selected equivalence set of hosts.

Abstract: A method of reducing power consumption of a server cluster of host systems with virtual machines executing on the host systems is provided. The method includes recommending host system power-on when there is a host system whose utilization is above a target utilization, and recommending host system power-off when there is a host system whose utilization is below the target utilization. Recommending host system power-on includes calculating impact of powering on a standby host system with respect to reducing the number of highly-utilized host systems in the server cluster. Recommending host system power-off includes calculating impact of powering off a host system with respect to decreasing the number of less-utilized host systems in the server cluster.

Abstract: A method of reducing power consumption of a server cluster of host systems with virtual machines executing on the host systems is disclosed. The method includes recommending host system power-on when there is a host system whose utilization is above a target utilization, and recommending host system power-off when there is a host system whose utilization is below the target utilization. Recommending host system power-on includes calculating impact of powering on a standby host system with respect to reducing the number of highly-utilized host systems in the server cluster. The impact of powering on is calculated by simulating moving some virtual machines from highly utilized host systems to the standby host system being recommended to be powered on. Recommending host system power-off includes calculating impact of powering off a host system with respect to decreasing the number of less-utilized host systems in the server cluster.

Abstract: A method for restarting a virtual machine in a virtual computing system having a plurality of hosts and a resource scheduler for the plurality of hosts includes writing a placement request for the virtual machine to a shared channel that is accessible by the resource scheduler. The method further includes reading a placement result from the shared channel, wherein the placement result is generated by the resource scheduler responsive to the placement request; and restarting the virtual machine in accordance with the placement result.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method for placing virtual machines in a collection is provided. A plurality of equivalence sets of hosts is determined prior to placing virtual machines in the collection. The hosts in an equivalence set of hosts are considered similar. An equivalence set of hosts in the plurality of equivalence sets is selected to place the virtual machines in the collection. The method then places at least a portion of the virtual machines in the collection on one or more hosts in the selected equivalence set of hosts.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method for placing virtual machines in a collection is provided. A plurality of equivalence sets of compatible hosts is determined prior to placing virtual machines in the collection. The hosts in an equivalence set of hosts are considered similar. An equivalence set of hosts in the plurality of equivalence sets is selected to place the virtual machines in the collection. The method then places at least a portion of the virtual machines in the collection on one or more hosts in the selected equivalence set of hosts.

Abstract: A system and method for performing a resource allocation diagnosis on a distributed computer system includes obtaining a target resource allocation and a snapshot of the distributed computer system, where the snapshot includes configurations and resource usage information of at least some components of the distributed computer system, and generating a resource allocation recommendation based on the target resource allocation and the snapshot by iteratively traversing a resource hierarchy in the distributed computer system. The resource allocation recommendation specifies at least one resource configuration action or at least one capacity expansion action for the distributed computer system to meet the target resource allocation.

Abstract: Processes are balanced among multiple computer systems. The allocation policies and resource demands of multiple processes executing on multiple computer systems are used to determine the resource imbalance of the computer systems. Resource imbalance can be used to determine whether a process should be migrated from one computer system to another. Resource imbalance of multiple resources can be combined to determine overall imbalance of the computer systems. Overall imbalance can be used to determine whether a process should be migrated from one computer system to another. Imbalance of resources can be determined for resources such as processor time, memory, network bandwidth, and storage. Virtual machines can be balanced among multiple computer systems operating in a cluster.

Abstract: Methods and systems for cluster resource management in virtualized computing environments are described. VM spares are used to reserve (or help discover or otherwise obtain) a set of computing resources for a VM. While VM spares may be used for a variety of scenarios, particular uses of VM spares include using spares to ensure resource availability for requests to power on VMs as well as for discovering, obtaining, and defragmenting the resources and VMs on a cluster, e.g., in response to requests to reserve resources for a VM or to respond to a notification of a failure for a given VM.

Abstract: Methods and systems for cluster resource management in virtualized computing environments are described. VM spares are used to reserve (or help discover or otherwise obtain) a set of computing resources for a VM. While VM spares may be used for a variety of scenarios, particular uses of VM spares include using spares to ensure resource availability for requests to power on VMs as well as for discovering, obtaining, and defragmenting the resources and VMs on a cluster, e.g., in response to requests to reserve resources for a VM or to respond to a notification of a failure for a given VM.

Abstract: A method for restarting a virtual machine in a virtual computing system having a plurality of hosts and a resource scheduler for the plurality of hosts includes writing a placement request for the virtual machine to a shared channel that is accessible by the resource scheduler. The method further includes reading a placement result from the shared channel, wherein the placement result is generated by the resource scheduler responsive to the placement request; and restarting the virtual machine in accordance with the placement result.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method for placing virtual machines in a collection is provided. A plurality of equivalence sets of hosts is determined prior to placing virtual machines in the collection. The hosts in an equivalence set of hosts are considered similar. An equivalence set of hosts in the plurality of equivalence sets is selected to place the virtual machines in the collection. The method then places at least a portion of the virtual machines in the collection on one or more hosts in the selected equivalence set of hosts.

Abstract: A cost-benefit metric for load balancing virtual machines is used to estimate a net gain in resource availability achieved by a proposed virtual machine migration. The cost-benefit metric can be used together with any other known metrics to evaluate candidate migrations. The metric takes into account stability of loads as well as migration cost, hence can protect a system from thrashing, i.e., frequently migrating virtual machines without gaining resource availability.

Abstract: Methods and systems for cluster resource management in virtualized computing environments are described. VM spares are used to reserve (or help discover or otherwise obtain) a set of computing resources for a VM. While VM spares may be used for a variety of scenarios, particular uses of VM spares include using spares to ensure resource availability for requests to power on VMs as well as for discovering, obtaining, and defragmenting the resources and VMs on a cluster, e.g., in response to requests to reserve resources for a VM or to respond to a notification of a failure for a given VM.

Abstract: A method for managing traffic flow through a multipath network and systems and apparatuses configured to employ such a method are provided. The method includes forwarding a packet along a first link of the multipath network and tracking a load of the first link subsequent to forwarding the packet. In addition, the method includes preserving the first link for a subsequent packet having the same flow address as the forwarded packet upon determining a desired load change of the first link is less than a predetermined value.

Abstract: An embodiment of a method of routing a packet between nodes of a network begins with a step of determining that a route of an external network from a source node to a network node provides an expected near minimum transmission time for transmission of the packet from the source node to a destination node. The method continues with a step of determining that a packet queue for a network link at a source node exceeds a threshold. The method concludes with a step of routing the packet to the destination node via the external network and the network node.