Self-governed contention-aware approach to scheduling file defragmentation

A computer system for self-governed, contention-aware scheduling of file defragmentation, comprising:

• a computer processor to execute a set of program code instructions;
• and
• a memory to hold the program code instructions, in which the program code instructions comprises program code to perform,
• selecting a plurality of files of a storage volume using a score, at least some of the files to initiate a defragmentation operation, the score based at least in part on a fragmentation severity value of a respective candidate file;
• executing a process to determine an amount of contention of access to a candidate file;
• initiating a first defragmentation operation on the candidate file when the contention is determined to be below a contention threshold value;
• and
• delaying, for a calculated wait time, a second defragmentation operation on the candidate file upon occurrence of at least one of:
• determination that a second contention amount is above a contention threshold value or
• determination that a system utilization value is above a headroom threshold value.

A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute self-governed, contention-aware scheduling of file defragmentation, the process comprising:

• selecting a plurality of files of a storage volume using a score, at least some of the files to initiate a defragmentation operation, the score based at least in part on a fragmentation severity value of a respective candidate file;
• executing a process to determine an amount of contention of access to a candidate file;
• initiating a first defragmentation operation on the candidate file when the contention is determined to be below a contention threshold value;
• and
• delaying, for a calculated wait time, a second defragmentation operation on the candidate file upon occurrence of at least one of:
• determination that a second contention amount is above a contention threshold value or
• determination that a system utilization value is above a headroom threshold value.

A computer implemented method for self-governed, contention-aware scheduling of file defragmentation, comprising:

• selecting a plurality of files suitable to initiate at least one defragmentation operation;
• initiating a first defragmentation operation on a candidate file, the candidate file selected from plurality of files,
• delaying, for a calculated wait time, a second defragmentation operation on the candidate file upon occurrence of at least one of:
• determination that a second contention amount is above a contention threshold value or
• determination that a system utilization value is above a headroom threshold value.