Automatically optimizing network traffic

A computer implemented method of optimizing network traffic in a network environment comprising at least one host computer having virtual machines (VMs) and a virtual machine placement of the VMs with respect to the at least one host computer, the method comprising:

• collecting by a monitoring module network traffic data from the VMs;
• receiving by an analysis engine the network traffic data from the monitoring module;
• calculating by the analysis engine predetermined metric values pertaining to the network traffic data;
• storing in a pattern module network traffic patterns having predetermined metric values;
• retrieving by the pattern module a matched network traffic pattern having the predetermined metric values matching the calculated predetermined metric values;
• providing by the pattern module the matched network traffic patterns to the analysis engine;
• comparing by the analysis engine the calculated predetermined metric values to the matched network traffic pattern predetermined metric values and providing an output of a result of the comparing of the calculated predetermined metric values to the matched network pattern predetermined metric values;
• and
• responsive to receiving by an optimization module the output from the analysis engine, providing by the optimization module an optimization action to the VMs to improve the flow of the network traffic between the VMs.

A computer program product for optimizing network traffic in a network environment, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instruction embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer environment comprising at least one host computer having virtual machines (VMs) and a virtual machine placement of the VMs with respect to the at least one host computer to cause the computer environment to perform a method comprising:

• collecting by a monitoring module network traffic data from the VMs;
• receiving by an analysis engine the network traffic data from the monitoring module;
• calculating by the analysis engine predetermined metric values pertaining to the network traffic data;
• storing in a pattern module network traffic patterns having predetermined metric values;
• retrieving by the pattern module a matched network traffic pattern having the predetermined metric values matching the calculated predetermined metric values;
• providing by the pattern module the matched network traffic patterns to the analysis engine;
• comparing by the analysis engine the calculated predetermined metric values to the matched network traffic pattern predetermined metric values and providing an output of a result of the comparing of the calculated predetermined metric values to the matched network pattern predetermined metric values;
• and
• responsive to receiving by an optimization module the output from the analysis engine, providing by the optimization module an optimization action to the VMs to improve the flow of the network traffic between the VMs.