Apparatus for and method for real-time optimization of virtual machine input/output performance

A method of allocating input/output (I/O) mechanisms to one or more virtual machines operating on one or more virtualization platforms, said one or more virtualization platforms operating on a computer, said method comprising the steps of:

• discovering physical I/O devices available to said one or more virtual machines;
• evaluating an I/O mechanism requirements of each said one or more virtual machines and associated one or more hypervisors by monitoring I/O performance based on one or more factors of each said one or more virtual machines and their associated one or more hypervisors running on a current I/O mechanism;
• determining, based on a plurality of factors, including the workload of each said one or more virtual machines and the I/O resources available, an optimal I/O mechanism for each said one or more virtual machines by evaluating the current I/O mechanism and anticipated I/O mechanism requirements of said one or more virtualization platforms and said one or more virtual machines operating on said one or more virtualization platforms;
• hot-removing the current I/O mechanism previously coupled to each said one or more virtual machines;
• and
• hot-plugging the optimal I/O mechanisms to each said one or more virtual machines in accordance with said optimal allocation determination, wherein said I/O mechanism comprises emulation and direct access.

A method of real-time input/output (I/O) performance optimization of one or more virtual machines operating on one or more virtualization platforms, said one or more virtualization platforms operating on one or more computers, said method comprising the steps of:

• discovering physical I/O devices available to said one or more virtual machines;
• evaluating an I/O mechanism requirements of each said one or more virtual machines and associated one or more hypervisors by monitoring I/O performance based on one or more factors of each said one or more virtual machines and their associated one or more hypervisors running on a current I/O mechanism;
• determining, based on one or more factors comprising the number of virtual machines per physical host, an optimal I/O mechanism for each virtual machine by evaluating the current I/O mechanism and anticipated I/O mechanism requirements of said one or more virtualization platforms and said one or more virtual machines running on said one or more virtualization platforms;
• hot-removing the current I/O mechanism previously coupled to each said virtual machine;
• and
• hot-plugging said optimal I/O mechanism to each said virtual machine in accordance with said optimal allocation determination, wherein said I/O mechanism comprises emulation and direct access.

A computer program stored in a non-transitory computer storage medium having computer usable program code for real-time input/output (I/O) performance optimization of one or more virtual machines operating on one or more virtualization platforms, said one or more virtualization platforms operating on one or more computers, said computer program product when executed by a process to perform a method, including:

• discovering physical I/O devices available to said one or more virtual machines;
• evaluating an I/O mechanism requirements of each said one or more virtual machines and their associated one or more hypervisors by monitoring I/O performance based on one or more factors of each said one or more virtual machines and their associated one or more hypervisors running on a current I/O mechanism;
• determining, based on one or more factors comprising workload of each of said one or more virtual machines, an optimal I/O mechanism for each virtual machine by evaluating the current I/O mechanism and anticipated I/O mechanism requirements of said one or more virtualization platforms and said one or more virtual machines running on said one or more virtualization platforms;
• hot-removing the current I/O mechanism previously coupled to each said virtual machine;
• and
• hot-plugging said optimal I/O mechanism to each said virtual machine in accordance with said optimal allocation determination, wherein said I/O mechanism comprises emulation and direct access.