- 11.1 Workload Distribution Architecture
- 11.2 Resource Pooling Architecture
- 11.3 Dynamic Scalability Architecture
- 11.4 Elastic Resource Capacity Architecture
- 11.5 Service Load Balancing Architecture
- 11.6 Cloud Bursting Architecture
- 11.7 Elastic Disk Provisioning Architecture
- 11.8 Redundant Storage Architecture
- 11.9 Case Study Example
11.4 Elastic Resource Capacity Architecture
The elastic resource capacity architecture is primarily related to the dynamic provisioning of virtual servers, using a system that allocates and reclaims CPUs and RAM in immediate response to the fluctuating processing requirements of hosted IT resources (Figures 11.8 and 11.9).
Figure 11.8 Cloud service consumers are actively sending requests to a cloud service (1), which are monitored by an automated scaling listener (2). An intelligent automation engine script is deployed with workflow logic (3) that is capable of notifying the resource pool using allocation requests (4).
Figure 11.9 Cloud service consumer requests increase (5), causing the automated scaling listener to signal the intelligent automation engine to execute the script (6). The script runs the workflow logic that signals the hypervisor to allocate more IT resources from the resource pools (7). The hypervisor allocates additional CPU and RAM to the virtual server, enabling the increased workload to be handled (8).
Resource pools are used by scaling technology that interacts with the hypervisor and/or VIM to retrieve and return CPU and RAM resources at runtime. The runtime processing of the virtual server is monitored so that additional processing power can be leveraged from the resource pool via dynamic allocation, before capacity thresholds are met. The virtual server and its hosted applications and IT resources are vertically scaled in response.
This type of cloud architecture can be designed so that the intelligent automation engine script sends its scaling request via the VIM instead of to the hypervisor directly. Virtual servers that participate in elastic resource allocation systems may require rebooting in order for the dynamic resource allocation to take effect.
Some additional mechanisms that can be included in this cloud architecture are the following:
- Cloud Usage Monitor – Specialized cloud usage monitors collect resource usage information on IT resources before, during, and after scaling, to help define the future processing capacity thresholds of the virtual servers.
- Pay-Per-Use Monitor – The pay-per-use monitor is responsible for collecting resource usage cost information as it fluctuates with the elastic provisioning.
- Resource Replication – Resource replication is used by this architectural model to generate new instances of the scaled IT resources.