Nonintrusive dynamically-scalable network load generation

Abstract

A method for nonintrusive network load generation may include determining available resources in a distributed computing system, where the distributed computing system includes a plurality of computing devices and a target deployment. Based on an amount of available resources between the target deployment and a plurality of source computing devices, the plurality of source computing devices may be selected to generate a network load directed from the plurality of source computing devices to the target deployment. The plurality of source computing devices may be a subset of the plurality of computing devices in the distributed computing system. A network-traffic generator service may be provided to the plurality of source computing devices in order to generate the network load directed from the plurality of source computing devices to the target deployment. The performance of the distributed computing system in response to the generated network load may be monitored.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented, the method comprising:
 communicating, via a processing interface of a service application associated with a validation server, a request to terminate a first network load in a distributed computing system,   wherein a target deployment of the distributed computing system receives the first network load from a source computing device, wherein the first network load is generated using a network-traffic generator service,   wherein the source computing device is comprised in a set of source computing devices of the distributed computing system,   wherein the set of source computing devices are spare resources that satisfy a predetermined capacity threshold for the target deployment,   wherein the predetermined capacity threshold is a threshold based on network bandwidth capacity and compute capacity associated with the spare resources; and   triggering one or more cleanup actions for the distributed computing system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first network load satisfies a predetermined threshold to test a level of service specified in a service-level agreement (SLA), wherein the target deployment is a target storage cluster and the predetermined threshold is based on the level of service included in the SLA associated with an end user of the target storage cluster. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request to terminate the first network load is based on detecting unexpected errors or failures. 
     
     
         4 . A computerized system comprising:
 one or more computer processors; and   computer memory storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by the one or more computer processors, cause the one or more computer processors to perform operations comprising:   communicating, via a processing interface of a service application associated with a validation server, a request to monitor a plurality of metrics associated with a distributed computing system,   wherein a target deployment of the distributed computing system receives a first network load from a source computing device, wherein the first network load is generated using a network-traffic generator service,   wherein the source computing device is comprised in a set of source computing devices of the distributed computing system,   wherein the set of source computing devices are spare resources that satisfy a predetermined capacity threshold for the target deployment,   wherein the predetermined capacity threshold is a threshold based on network bandwidth capacity and compute capacity associated with the spare resources; and   receiving the plurality of metrics.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the first network load satisfies a predetermined threshold to test a level of service specified in a service-level agreement (SLA), wherein the target deployment is a target storage cluster and the predetermined threshold is based on the level of service included in the SLA associated with an end user of the target storage cluster. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein monitoring the distributed computing system further comprises generating reference points at different network loads, wherein the reference points correspond to performance metrics of the distributed computing system. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein monitoring the plurality of metrics of the distributed computing system comprises monitoring network infrastructure metrics, network-traffic generator service metrics, and target deployment metrics. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein monitoring the network infrastructure metrics comprises receiving an alert that the first network load should be redistributed. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 4 , the operations further comprising communicating performance metrics in the plurality of metrics, wherein the performance metrics include an indication of whether the performance metrics are satisfied. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the performance metrics are communicated to cause monitoring of the performance metrics associated with the first network load, wherein the performance metrics are associated with scaling up or scaling down network loads generated via the network-traffic generator. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 4 , the operations further comprising dynamically scaling the first network load from the source computing device. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein dynamically scaling the first network load comprises:
 configuring an initial minimal load to be generated by the source computing device, wherein the initial minimal load is directed from the source computing device to the target deployment;
 determining the initial minimal load is stable; 
 monitoring performance metrics of the distributed computing system; and 
 based on the performance metrics satisfying a predetermined performance standard, scaling up the network-traffic generator service in order to generate an increased network load directed from the source computing device to the target deployment, wherein the increased network load is greater than the initial minimal load. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein dynamically scaling the first network load comprises:
 configuring an initial minimal load to be generated by the source computing device, wherein the initial minimal load is directed from the source computing device to the target deployment;   determining the initial minimal load is stable;   monitoring performance metrics for the distributed computing system; and   based on the performance metrics satisfying a predetermined performance standard, providing the network-traffic generator service to additional source computing devices in order to generate an additional network load directed from the additional source computing devices to the target deployment.   
     
     
         14 . One or more computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by a computing system having a processor and memory, cause the processor to:
 communicate, via a processing interface of a service application associated with a validation server, a request to verify settings associated with a distributed computing system, wherein based on verifying the settings associated with the distributed computing system, a source computing device is selected from a set of computing devices of the distributed computing system to generate a first network load,   wherein a target deployment of the distributed computing system is configured to receive the first network load from the source computing device, wherein the first network load is generated using a network-traffic generator service,   wherein the set of source computing devices are spare resources that satisfy a predetermined capacity threshold for the target deployment,   wherein the predetermined capacity threshold is a threshold based on network bandwidth capacity and compute capacity associated with the spare resources; and   cause display, via a dashboard, information associated with the source computing device and the first network load.   
     
     
         15 . The media of  claim 14 , wherein the first network load satisfies a predetermined threshold to test a level of service specified in a service-level agreement (SLA), wherein the target deployment is a target storage cluster and the predetermined threshold is based on the level of service included in the SLA associated with an end user of the target storage cluster. 
     
     
         16 . The media of  claim 14 , the instructions further comprising communicating performance metrics of the plurality of metrics, wherein the performance metrics include an indication of whether the performance metrics are satisfied. 
     
     
         17 . The media of  claim 14 , wherein the performance metrics are communicated to cause monitoring of the performance metrics associated with the first network load, wherein the performance metrics are associated with scaling up or scaling down network loads generated via the network-traffic generator. 
     
     
         18 . The media of  claim 17 , the instructions further comprising dynamically scaling the first network load from the source computing device. 
     
     
         19 . The media of  claim 18 , wherein dynamically scaling the first network load comprises:
 configuring an initial minimal load to be generated by the source computing device, wherein the initial minimal load is directed from the source computing device to the target deployment;
 determining the initial minimal load is stable; 
 monitoring performance metrics of the distributed computing system; and 
 based on the performance metrics satisfying a predetermined performance standard, scaling up the network-traffic generator service in order to generate an increased network load directed from the source computing device to the target deployment, wherein the increased network load is greater than the initial minimal load. 
   
     
     
         20 . The media of  claim 18 , wherein dynamically scaling the first network load comprises:
 configuring an initial minimal load to be generated by the source computing device, wherein the initial minimal load is directed from the source computing device to the target deployment;   determining the initial minimal load is stable;   monitoring performance metrics for the distributed computing system; and   based on the performance metrics satisfying a predetermined performance standard, providing the network-traffic generator service to additional source computing devices in order to generate an additional network load directed from the additional source computing devices to the target deployment.