System and method for deploying virtual machines in a computing environment

A system for dynamically managing placement of virtual machines VMs and associated resources in a networked computing environment comprising a set of physical hosting machines HMs, said system comprising:

• memory storage device accessible by a server device for storing configuration of host machines and virtual machines in said computing environment and storing a set of policies and resource constraints associated therewith, and storing a current placement function cp(v) representing a current placement of each virtual machine VM v in one hosting machines HM h;
• a management server, receiving information from said memory storage device and including a processing device executing logic for:
• defining a modifiable copy of said current placement function, mcp( );
• defining a target placement function tp(v) representing a target placement of the virtual machines VMs in said HMs, one or more said VMs and HMs having a set of policies and resource constraints associated therewith;
• and,
• constructing a graph comprising VM v nodes interconnecting HM h nodes via edges for modeling a current and target deployment states of said VMs;
• iterating over HM and VM nodes of said graph and gradually modifying said mcp( ) placement function to resemble a target placement function tp(v);
• and
• generating, from said iterating, an ordered sequence of VM placement change instructions comprising a plan for achieving said target placement function tp(v) without violating said associated set of policies and resource constraints, after the completion of each iteration;
• and,
• means for communicating, over a network, to said set of physical hosting machines HMs in said computing environment, said plan for placing said virtual machines VM v at said host machines HM in said computing environment.

A computer program product for planning placement of virtual machines VMs in a computing environment comprising a set of hosting machines HMs, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:
• computer usable program code configured to provide, at a computing device, a current placement function cp(v) representing a current placement of each virtual machine VM v in one hosting machines HM h;
• computer usable program code configured to define, at said computer device, a modifiable copy of said current placement function, mcp( );
• computer usable program code configured to define, at a computing device, a target placement function tp(v) representing a target placement of the virtual machines VMs in said HMs, one or more said VMs and HMs having a set of policies and resource constraints associated therewith;
• and,
• computer usable program code configured to construct, at said computer device, a graph comprising VM v nodes interconnecting HM h nodes via edges for modeling a current and target deployment states of said VMs;
• computer usable program code configured to iterate over KM and VM nodes of said graph and gradually modifying said mcp( ) placement function to resemble the target placement function;
• and
• computer usable program code configured to generate, from said iterating, an ordered sequence of VM placement change instructions comprising a plan for changing the current placement of said virtual machines VM v according to said target placement function tp(v) without violating said associated set of policies and resource constraints, after the completion of each iteration;
• and,
• computer usable program code configured to generate, for output at said computing device, said plan for placing said virtual machines VM v at said host machines HM.