Custom placement policies for virtual machines

Abstract

A component of a computing service obtains respective indications of placement policies that contain host selection rules for application execution environments such as guest virtual machines. With respect to a request for a particular application execution environment, a group of applicable placement policies is identified. A candidate pool of hosts is selected using the group of placement policies, and members of the pool are ranked to identify a particular host on which the requested application execution environment is instantiated.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 establishing, at a computing service of a cloud computing environment in response to input received via one or more programmatic interfaces, a proximity-based placement group, wherein the proximity-based placement group is to include virtual machines that satisfy a proximity criterion relative to one another;   determining, at the computing service, that a particular virtual machine is to be included in the proximity-based policy group; and   causing the particular virtual machine to be run at a host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion.   
     
     
         22 . The computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 21 , wherein determining that the particular virtual machine is to be included in the proximity-based placement group comprises determining that a parameter of a launch request for the particular virtual machine indicates the proximity-based placement group. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 21 , herein determining that the particular virtual machine is to be included in the proximity-based placement group is performed after the particular virtual machine has been launched. 
     
     
         24 . The computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 21 , wherein causing the particular virtual machine to be run at the host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion comprises taking the particular virtual machine offline at another host and booting the particular virtual machine at the host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion. 
     
     
         25 . The computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 21 , wherein the input received via the one or more programmatic interfaces indicates that the placement group is associated within a particular availability zone of a plurality of availability zones among which hosts of the computing service are distributed, the computer-implemented method further comprising:
 selecting the host from the particular availability zone; and   selecting another host from the particular availability zone to run another virtual machine which is included in the proximity-based placement group.   
     
     
         26 . The computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 21 , further comprising:
 selecting the host from a particular data center of a plurality of data centers of the computing service; and   selecting another host from the particular data center to run another virtual machine which is included in the proximity-based placement group.   
     
     
         27 . The computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 21 , further comprising:
 presenting, via the one or more programmatic interfaces, a representation of the proximity-based placement group.   
     
     
         28 . A system, comprising:
 one or more computing devices;   wherein the one or more computing devices include instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices:
 establish, at a computing service of a cloud computing environment in response to input received via one or more programmatic interfaces, a proximity-based placement policy, wherein virtual machines to which the proximity-based placement policy is applied are to satisfy a proximity criterion relative to one another; 
 determine, at the computing service, that the proximity-based placement policy is to be applied to a particular virtual machine; and 
 cause the particular virtual machine to be run at a host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion. 
   
     
     
         29 . The system as recited in  claim 28 , wherein to determine that the proximity-based placement policy is to be applied to the particular virtual machine, the one or more computing devices include further instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices:
 determine that a parameter of a launch request for the particular virtual machine indicates the proximity-based placement policy.   
     
     
         30 . The system as recited in  claim 28 , wherein a determination that the proximity-based placement policy is to be applied to the particular virtual machine is performed after the particular virtual machine has been launched. 
     
     
         31 . The system as recited in  claim 28 , wherein to cause the particular virtual machine to be run at the host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion, the one or more computing devices include further instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices:
 cause the particular virtual machine to be taken offline at another host; and   cause the particular virtual machine to be booted at the host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion.   
     
     
         32 . The system as recited in  claim 28 , wherein the input received via the one or more programmatic interfaces indicates that the proximity-based placement policy is associated within a particular availability zone of a plurality of availability zones among which hosts of the computing service are distributed, and wherein the one or more computing devices include further instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices:
 select the host from the particular availability zone; and   select another host from the particular availability zone to run another virtual machine to which the proximity-based placement policy applies.   
     
     
         33 . The system as recited in  claim 28 , wherein the one or more computing devices include further instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices:
 select the host from a first availability zone of a plurality of availability zones of the computing service; and   select another host from a second availability zone of the plurality of availability zones to run another virtual machine to which the proximity-based placement policy applies.   
     
     
         34 . The system as recited in  claim 28 , wherein the one or more computing devices include further instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices:
 cause to be presented, via the one or more programmatic interfaces, a representation of the proximity-based placement policy.   
     
     
         35 . One or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media storing program instructions that when executed on or across one or more processors:
 establish, at a computing service of a cloud computing environment in response to input received via one or more programmatic interfaces, a proximity-based placement policy, wherein virtual machines to which the proximity-based placement policy is applied are to satisfy a proximity criterion relative to one another;   determine, at the computing service, that the proximity-based placement policy is to be applied to a particular virtual machine; and   cause the particular virtual machine to be run at a host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion.   
     
     
         36 . The one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media as recited in  claim 35 , wherein to determine that the proximity-based placement policy is to be applied to the particular virtual machine, the one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media store further program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors:
 determine that a parameter of a launch request for the particular virtual machine indicates the proximity-based placement policy.   
     
     
         37 . The one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media as recited in  claim 35 , wherein a determination that the proximity-based placement policy is to be applied to the particular virtual machine is performed after the particular virtual machine has been launched. 
     
     
         38 . The one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media as recited in  claim 35 , wherein to cause the particular virtual machine to be run at the host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion, the one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media store further program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors:
 cause the particular virtual machine to be taken offline at another host; and   cause the particular virtual machine to be booted at the host selected in accordance with the proximity criterion.   
     
     
         39 . The one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media as recited in  claim 35 , wherein the input received via the one or more programmatic interfaces indicates that the proximity-based placement policy is associated within a particular availability zone of a plurality of availability zones among which hosts of the computing service are distributed, and wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media store further program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors:
 select the host from the particular availability zone; and   select another host from the particular availability zone to run another virtual machine to which the proximity-based placement policy applies.   
     
     
         40 . The one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media as recited in  claim 35 , wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media store further program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors:
 select the host from a particular room within a data center of the computing service; and   select another host from the particular room to run another virtual machine to which the proximity-based placement policy applies.