Server system pool optimization
By configuring optimization on your IBM® Flex System Manager VMControl server system pool, you can specify if and when automatic optimizations occur to improve performance.
Optimization enables the analysis and periodic performance improvement
of all the virtual servers within your server system pool based on
your specified needs. With optimization, you can configure your IBM Flex System
Manager VMControl server
system pools to relocate the virtual servers within a workload to
the most efficient hosts. Before you begin, note that:
- A server system pool only benefits from optimization if there are workloads running on it.
- When optimization is run, the system pool is examined for performance hot spots, that is systems in the pool that are being heavily used. If a hot spot is identified workloads are relocated to better balance resource usage in the environment.
- The hosts in the server system pool must support the relocation of their virtual servers for workload resiliency. The panel for configuring optimization is displayed only if all the hosts in the server system pool support workload resiliency. When creating or editing your system pool, on the Pooling Criteria panel, ensure that you select Only add hosts capable of live virtual server relocation.
- The workload priority that is associated with a virtual server might impact optimization. You can specify workload priorities from 1 (highest) to 4 (lowest). If you specify a workload priority of 1, optimization settings may prevent you from moving the virtual server from the host. Also, virtual servers with a workload priority of 1 are rarely optimized. If all the virtual servers on the host specify a priority of 1, that host has high usage and you cannot move any virtual server.
- To improve the process of optimization, you can assign a workload priority to indicate which workload you prefer to optimize first. IBM Flex System Manager VMControl schedules optimization workloads for relocation by using both the priority and the number of relocation tasks that can happen at the same time. In the job log, you can see the list of virtual servers that might be processed, but not in the order of priority. During the process of optimization, IBM Flex System Manager VMControl tries to run the workload with higher priority; however, it might not succeed. For example, within a group of virtual servers that are relocated at the same time, their workload priorities might not determine the order in which they are relocated. Also, if there are two or more destination hosts, the order of recovery of the virtual servers on different hosts might not follow their workload priorities.
Use the Create Server System Pool wizard and Edit
System Pool to configure optimization. You can optimize manually whenever
you want the task to start, for example at convenient off-peak times.
Alternatively, you can configure automatic optimization based on a
combination of intervals that you define and system analysis that
determines whether a workload must be spread around. To access the
Create Server System Pool wizard, from the IBM Flex System
Manager VMControl summary
page, click the System Pools tab, ensure that the View is
set to Server system pools, and click Create. Select
one of the following optimization methods:
- To configure manual optimization, select a server system pool to optimize and from the Optimization panel, select the radio button for Manually. The default setting is manual.
- To configure automatic optimization, select a server system pool
to optimize and from the Optimization panel, select the radio button
for Automatically. Then, specify an optimization interval.
The default interval is two hours.
- You can select intervals of minutes, hours, or days.
- The interval value represents the time between the end of one optimization task and the start of another. For example, if the interval is 30 minutes and one task ends at noon, the next task begins at 12:30.
After creating your server system pool and selecting an optimization method, use Edit System Pool to change your optimization settings. Alternatively, you can edit the system pool optimization settings through the properties view. Right-click on the system pool resource and click Properties > Edit. To schedule a manual optimization, from the server system pools view, select a server system pool that is capable of optimization and from the menu select Optimize.