System and method for providing preferential I/O treatment to devices that host a critical virtual machine

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions executable to perform a method comprising:

• periodically calculating and assigning a current quality rating to a shared computing resource, wherein the current quality rating of the shared computing resource relates to a quality of service the shared computing resource can provide at the time the current quality rating is assigned, and wherein the current quality rating is calculated based on values that represent a plurality of factors, respectively, at the time the current quality rating is assigned, wherein the plurality of factors includes at least one of memory, storage capacity, latency, and input/output (I/O) bandwidth, and wherein the shared computing resource is accessible by a plurality of virtual machines;
• receiving first and second requests for the shared computing resource
• from a first virtual machine (VM) and a second VM, respectively, from among the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the first VM is associated with a first priority rating, and wherein the second VM is associated with a second priority rating;
• assigning first and second quality ratings to the first and second requests, respectively, based on the first and second priority ratings, respectively;
• comparing the first and second quality ratings to the current quality rating for the shared resource;
• assigning the shared computing resource to the first VM based on the comparison, of the first and second quality ratings to the current quality rating for the shared resource, producing a closer correspondence between the first VM and the current quality rating.

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the memory stores program instructions executable to perform a method comprising:
• periodically calculating and assigning a current quality rating to a shared computing resource, wherein the current quality rating of the shared computing resource relates to the quality of service the shared computing resource can provide at the time the current quality rating is assigned, and wherein the current quality rating is calculated based on values that represent a plurality of factors, respectively, at the time the current quality rating is assigned, wherein the plurality of factors includes at least one of memory, storage capacity, latency, and input/output (I/O) bandwidth, and wherein the shared computing resource is accessible by a plurality of virtual machines;
• receiving first and second requests for the shared computing resource
• from a first virtual machine (VM) and a second VM, respectively, from among the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the first VM is associated with a first priority rating, and wherein the second VM is associated with a second priority rating;
• assigning first and second quality ratings to the first and second requests, respectively, based on the first and second priority ratings, respectively;
• comparing the first and second quality ratings to the current quality rating for the shared resource;
• assigning the shared computing resource to the first VM based on the comparison, of the first and second quality ratings to the current quality rating for the shared resource, producing a closer correspondence between the first VM and the current quality rating.