Patent Publication Number: US-10778601-B1

Title: Automated assurance analysis providing feedback to orchestration of resources in virtualization infrastructure

Description:
FIELD 
     The field relates generally to information processing systems, and more particularly to techniques for implementing assurance functionality in information processing systems comprising virtualization infrastructure. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Information processing systems increasingly utilize reconfigurable virtual resources to meet changing user needs in an efficient, flexible and cost-effective manner. For example, cloud computing and storage systems implemented using virtual resources have been widely adopted. More recently, network functions virtualization techniques have been proposed for use by telecommunication system and cable system service providers. Conventional aspects of such techniques are disclosed in European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), ETSI GS NFV 001, V1.1.1, “Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV): Use Cases,” October 2013, which is incorporated by reference herein. See also the Introductory and Updated White Papers entitled “Network Functions Virtualisation,” presented at the SDN and OpenFlow World Congress, Oct. 22-24, 2012 and Oct. 15-17, 2013, respectively, which are incorporated by reference herein. However, despite these and other recent advances in virtualization techniques, a need remains for further improvements, for example, with regard to implementation of assurance functionality. 
     SUMMARY 
     Illustrative embodiments of the present invention provide automated assurance analysis and corresponding feedback to orchestration of resources in network-based information processing systems comprising virtualization infrastructure. 
     In one embodiment, at least one processing platform comprises virtualization infrastructure, an assurance module, an orchestration module, and an analytic engine coupled to the assurance module and the orchestration module. The assurance module is configured to monitor resources provided using the virtualization infrastructure under the control of the orchestration module. The analytic engine is configured to process monitoring results from the assurance module and to generate corresponding feedback to the orchestration module. The feedback to the orchestration module is utilized for at least one of adjusting one or more characteristics of the resources provided using the virtualization infrastructure, and performing one or more orchestration operations relating to the resources provided using the virtualization infrastructure. 
     A topology module may be coupled to the analytic engine and configured to generate topology information relating to the resources provided using the virtualization infrastructure. For example, the topology module may be configured to collect, store or otherwise provide real-time updated topology information. The topology information is utilized by the analytic engine in generating the feedback to the orchestration module. 
     These and other illustrative embodiments described herein include, without limitation, methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture comprising processor-readable storage media. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an information processing system implementing an analytic engine for automated assurance analysis and corresponding feedback to orchestration in an illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of an example process involving the analytic engine in the information processing system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an information processing system implementing an analytic engine for automated assurance analysis and corresponding feedback to orchestration in another illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of an example process involving the analytic engine in the information processing system of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of another illustrative embodiment of an information processing system incorporating functionality for automated assurance analysis and corresponding feedback to orchestration. 
         FIGS. 6 and 7  show examples of processing platforms that may be utilized to implement at least a portion of each of the systems of  FIGS. 1, 3 and 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Illustrative embodiments of the present invention will be described herein with reference to exemplary information processing systems and associated computers, servers, storage devices and other processing devices. It is to be appreciated, however, that embodiments of the invention are not restricted to use with the particular illustrative system and device configurations shown. Accordingly, the term “information processing system” as used herein is intended to be broadly construed, so as to encompass, for example, processing systems comprising private and public cloud computing or storage systems, as well as other types of processing systems comprising physical or virtual processing resources in any combination. 
       FIG. 1  shows an information processing system  100  configured in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. The information processing system  100  comprises virtualization infrastructure  102 , an assurance module  104 , an analytic engine  106 , and an orchestration module  108 . The analytic engine  106  in this embodiment is coupled to the assurance module  104  and the orchestration module  108 , and more particularly is arranged between the assurance module  104  and the orchestration module  108 . Each of the modules  104 ,  106  and  108  is also coupled to the virtualization infrastructure  102 . 
     The system  100  further comprises a support systems layer  110 . The support systems layer  110  illustratively comprises an operations support system (OSS) and a business support system (BSS), both of which are configured to interact with each of the assurance module  104 , the analytic engine  106  and the orchestration module  108 . The layer  110  is therefore also referred to herein as an OSS/BSS layer  110 . 
     Examples of applications provided by the OSS/BSS layer  110  in this embodiment include provisioning and configuration applications, inventory management applications, topology service applications, order management applications, fault management applications and trouble ticket system applications. These are examples only, and in other embodiments only a subset of these applications may be provided, or additional or alternative sets of applications typically associated with at least one of an OSS and a BSS may be provided. In addition, other support system layers in other embodiments may comprise only one of an OSS and a BSS, rather than both an OSS and a BSS as in the  FIG. 1  embodiment. 
     The OSS/BSS layer  110  is generally associated with one or more service providers, with the OSS comprising applications that support back-office activities of the service providers such as provisioning, operation and maintenance of a service provider network and associated network services, and the BSS comprising applications that support customer-facing activities of the service providers such as billing, order management, customer relationship management, and call center automation. 
     It is to be appreciated, however, that embodiments of the invention are not limited to use in conjunction with service provider environments. For example, information processing systems of the type described herein can be adapted for implementation in enterprise environments as well as other types of information technology environments. 
     The assurance module  104  is configured to monitor resources  112  provided using the virtualization infrastructure  102  under the control of the orchestration module  108 . The resources  112  provided using the virtualization infrastructure  102  in this embodiment illustratively include physical, logical, virtual, container, cluster, network, application and service resources. The container and cluster resources are collectively referred to herein as container/cluster resources. Again, these particular resources  112  are only examples, and other embodiments may involve only a subset of these resources, or additional or alternative sets of resources, as appropriate for a given system implementation. 
     The resources  112  may be viewed as examples of what are also referred to herein as “provisioned resources.” Such resources may be provisioned for use in conjunction with orchestration operations by the above-noted provisioning and configuration application of the OSS/BSS layer  110 . 
     The monitoring of the resources  112  by the assurance module  104  illustratively includes monitoring in accordance with the ISO-OSI FCAPS network management model, where FCAPS denotes fault, configuration, accounting, performance and security. Other types of monitoring models may be used in addition to or in place of the FCAPS model, including the FAB model, where FAB denotes fulfillment, assurance and billing. The monitoring in other embodiments need not be in accordance with any particular model or models, but could instead involve other types of resource monitoring. Also, different types of monitoring could be applied by the assurance module  104  for different types of resources. The term “monitoring” as used herein is therefore intended to be broadly construed. 
     The analytic engine  106  is configured to process monitoring results from the assurance module  104  and to generate corresponding feedback to the orchestration module  108 . This feedback generated by the analytic engine can be used, for example, to adjust one or more characteristics of the resources  112  provided using the virtualization infrastructure  102 , and additionally or alternatively to perform one or more orchestration operations relating to the resources  112  provided using the virtualization infrastructure  102 . By way of example, the feedback can be used to adjust one or more service level agreement (SLA) characteristics of the resources  112 . The feedback provided to the orchestration module  108  by the analytic engine  106  can be used in other ways in other embodiments. 
     The virtualization infrastructure  102  in some embodiments comprises network functions virtualization (NFV) infrastructure and the resources  112  provided using the virtualization infrastructure comprise one or more virtual network functions (VNFs) of the NFV infrastructure. Such VNFs illustratively comprise one or more applications with each application implemented utilizing at least one of a virtual machine running on the NFV infrastructure and a container running on the NFV infrastructure. These VNF applications are illustratively part of the application resources of resources  112 . 
     The modules  104 ,  106  and  108  and other components of the system  100  illustratively communicate with one another over one or more operator networks or other service provider networks. At least parts of one or more of such service provider networks, or other networks utilized in other embodiments, may illustratively comprise, for example, a global computer network such as the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a satellite network, a telephone or cable network, a cellular network, a wireless network implemented using a wireless protocol such as WiFi or WiMAX, or various portions or combinations of these and other types of communication networks. 
     At least portions of the information processing system  100  are implemented using one or more processing platforms, examples of which will be described in greater detail below in conjunction with  FIGS. 6 and 7 . A given such processing platform comprises at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory, and the processing device may be implemented at least in part utilizing one or more virtual machines, containers or other virtualization infrastructure. 
     A given processing platform utilized to implement at least a portion of the information processing system  100  illustratively comprises one or more storage systems such as VNX® and Symmetrix VMAX®, both commercially available from EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. Other types of storage elements can be used in implementing an information processing system or portions thereof, including scale-out network attached storage (NAS) clusters implemented, for example, using Isilon® storage platforms, such as storage platforms comprising Isilon® platform nodes and associated accelerators in the S-Series, X-Series and NL-Series product lines, also commercially available from EMC Corporation. A wide variety of other storage products can be used to implement at least portions of an information processing system as disclosed herein. 
     It should be understood that the particular sets of modules and other components implemented in the system  100  as illustrated in  FIG. 1  are presented by way of example only. In other embodiments, only subsets of these components, or additional or alternative sets of components, may be used, and such components may exhibit alternative functionality and configurations. 
     The operation of the information processing system  100  will now be described in further detail with reference to the flow diagram of  FIG. 2 . The process as shown includes steps  200  through  206 , and is described with reference to components of the system  100  but is more generally applicable to other systems comprising an assurance module, analytic engine and orchestration module arranged as disclosed herein. 
     In step  200 , resources of virtualization infrastructure  102  are provisioned for use by the orchestration module  108 . For example, a provisioning and configuration application of the OSS/BSS layer  110  may be operative to provision particular resources  112  of the virtualization infrastructure  102  for use by the orchestration module  108 . Other techniques for provisioning resources of the virtualization infrastructure  102  for use in subsequent orchestration by the orchestration module  108  may be used. 
     In step  202 , the orchestration module  108  controls orchestration of the provisioned resources  112  of the virtualization infrastructure  102 . For example, the orchestration module  108  may combine or otherwise arrange particular ones of the resources  112  to provide a particular service to an end user within the system  100 . Portions of the provisioned resources that are utilized by the orchestration module  108  to orchestrate services within the system  100  are also referred to herein as “orchestrated resources.” The orchestrated resources may comprise all or only a subset of the provisioned resources  112 . All such resources in the present embodiment, whether unprovisioned, provisioned or orchestrated, are assumed to be provided by the virtualization infrastructure  102 . 
     The term “orchestration” as used herein is intended to be broadly construed so as to encompass such arrangements as well as alternative techniques for controlling initiation of services utilizing combinations or other arrangements of selected ones of a plurality of provisioned resources. 
     Also, the term “end user” may refer, for example, to respective human users of the system  100 , such as customers of one or more telecommunication system or cable system service providers, although the term “end user” as utilized herein is intended to be more broadly construed so as to encompass numerous other arrangements of human, hardware, software or firmware entities, as well as combinations of such entities. 
     In step  204 , the assurance module  104  monitors the orchestrated resources provided using the virtualization infrastructure  102 . This illustratively involves monitoring characteristics of at least a portion of the resources  112  in accordance with the FCAPS network management model, although as indicated previously other models or various types of custom monitoring of particular resources may be used. Results of this monitoring are provided by the assurance module to the analytic engine  106 . 
     In step  206 , the analytic engine  106  processes the results of the monitoring by the assurance module  104  to generate corresponding feedback to the orchestration module  108 . This feedback generated by the analytic engine  106  is used, for example, to adjust one or more SLA characteristics or other characteristics of the resources  112  provided using the virtualization infrastructure  102 , and additionally or alternatively to perform one or more orchestration operations relating to the resources  112 . Again, the feedback provided to the orchestration module  108  by the analytic engine  106  can be used in other ways in other embodiments. Moreover, the particular resources  112  adjusted or subject to orchestration operations based at least in part on the feedback from the analytic engine  106  are not limited to orchestrated resources. 
     By way of example, the analytic engine  106  in some embodiments is configured to generate the feedback to the orchestration module  108  responsive to monitoring results indicative of at least one of an availability failure in a specified resource and a performance failure in a specified resource. Numerous other types of monitoring results may be processed by the analytic engine  106  in generating the feedback to the orchestration module  108 . 
     As another example, the analytic engine  106  in some embodiments is configured to generate the feedback to the orchestration module  108  at least in part in the form of information specifying one or more corrective actions to be taken by the orchestration module  108  to recover from at least one SLA violation. 
     Such corrective actions may relate, for example, to SLA violations that are due to availability failures in physical resources such as compute, storage or network resources, availability failures in a virtualization layer that overlies the physical resources, and performance failures such as degradation in available network bandwidth or in available processor or memory resources on a virtual machine or other compute node. 
     It should be noted, however, that the feedback is not limited to specifying corrective actions to be taken by the orchestration module  108 . For example, the feedback can be used by the orchestration module  108  solely for orchestration of new services, instead of correcting or otherwise adjusting previously-orchestrated services. 
     In the present embodiment, the analytic engine  106  may be configured to determine actual resource state relative to a desired resource state and to generate the feedback to the orchestration module  108  such that the actual resource state is automatically driven toward the desired resource state by the orchestration module  108 . The system  100  in such an arrangement illustratively implements a feedback path from resources  112  to orchestration module  108  involving automated assurance analysis provided by analytic engine  106  based at least in part on monitoring results provided by assurance module  104 . 
     From step  206 , the  FIG. 2  process flow illustratively returns to step  202  for performance of additional orchestration relating to provisioned resources. These can include previously-orchestrated resources as well as other provisioned resources that have not previously been orchestrated. Other types of flows between particular process steps can be included in other embodiments. 
     The particular processing operations and other system functionality described in conjunction with the flow diagram of  FIG. 2  are presented by way of illustrative example only, and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any way. Alternative embodiments can use other types of processing operations involving automated assurance analysis and corresponding feedback to orchestration in an information processing system. For example, the ordering of the process steps may be varied in other embodiments, or certain steps may be performed concurrently with one another rather than serially. Also, one or more of the process steps may be repeated periodically for different processing applications, or performed in parallel with one another. 
     It is to be appreciated that functionality such as that described in conjunction with the flow diagram of  FIG. 2  can be implemented at least in part in the form of one or more software programs stored in memory and executed by a processor of a processing device such as a computer or server. As will be described below, a memory or other storage device having executable program code of one or more software programs embodied therein is an example of what is more generally referred to herein as a “processor-readable storage medium.” 
     An illustrative embodiment including a topology module will now be described with reference to  FIG. 3 . In this embodiment, an information processing system  300  comprises an assurance module  304 , a topology module  305 , an analytic engine  306  and an orchestration module  308 . The orchestration module  308  in this embodiment is more particularly implemented as a management and orchestration (“M &amp;  0 ”) module, which is considered an example of what is more generally referred to herein as an “orchestration module.” The modules  305 ,  306  and  308  are each coupled to an OSS/BSS layer  310 . 
     The system  300  is assumed to include virtualization infrastructure similar to that previously described in the context of system  100 , but such virtualization infrastructure is not explicitly shown in  FIG. 3 . The virtualization infrastructure in the  FIG. 3  embodiment is further assumed to comprise NFV infrastructure. 
     The assurance module  304  is coupled to both the topology module  305  and the analytic engine  306 . The assurance module  304  is configured to monitor resources  312  that illustratively include physical, logical, virtual, container/cluster, network, application and service resources. The application resources in this embodiment are assumed to more particularly comprise VNF resources implemented as respective VNF applications as described previously, each utilizing at least one of a virtual machine running on the NFV infrastructure and a container running on the NFV infrastructure. These VNF applications are illustratively part of the application resources of resources  312 . 
     The topology module  305  is configured to generate topology information relating to the resources  312  provided using the virtualization infrastructure. For example, the topology information may comprise a topological view of at least a portion of the resources  312 . The topology module  305  is coupled between the assurance module  304  and the analytic engine  306  and can generate topology information through interaction with the resources  312 . Additionally or alternatively, such topology information can be generated at least in part utilizing information provided by the assurance module  304 . The topology information generated by the topology module  305  is illustratively utilized by the analytic engine  306  in generating feedback to the orchestration module  308 . 
     In some embodiments, the topology module  305  is configured to collect, store or otherwise provide real-time updated topology information. These and similar operations are assumed to be encompassed by references to “generation” of topology information as that term is broadly utilized herein. Numerous other techniques for generation of topology information may be implemented in other embodiments. 
     The topology information in the  FIG. 3  embodiment may comprise, for example, metadata characterizing relationships between different resource types. The different resource types may comprise the individual resource types listed in the figure, as well as various combinations or subsets of these resources. For example, certain resources such as application resources and service resources may be grouped together for purposes of generating at least a portion of the topology information. 
     Also, each resource type may itself comprise multiple distinct resource categories. For example, resources falling with the physical resource type may include compute, network and storage resources. As another example, resources falling within the virtual resources category may include virtual machines, hypervisors and software-defined networks (SDNs). 
     At least portions of the metadata can be derived from one or more graph databases relating to all or a subset of the resources  312  where such graph databases are incorporated in, maintained by or otherwise accessible to the topology module  305 . Numerous other types of topology information may be used in other embodiments. 
     At least portions of the topology information generated by the topology module  305  are illustratively configured to reflect an “in-life” view provided by the assurance module  304  based on its monitoring of the resources  312  in accordance with the FCAPS model and other possible monitoring models. 
     The topology module  305  is also accessible to the orchestration module  308  in this embodiment, such that the topology information can be utilized by the orchestration module  308  in performing one or more orchestration operations relating to the resources  312  provided using the virtualization infrastructure. 
     The topology module  305  can also be leveraged by other system components, such as provisioning and configuration, inventory management and other applications of the OSS/BSS layer  310 . 
     The topology module  305  in the  FIG. 3  embodiment provides centralized views of the topology of the resources  312  and advantageously avoids problems associated with conventional topology database arrangements in which multiple topology databases or portions thereof as well as different types of topology views associated with different types of resources are widely distributed over numerous distinct systems, devices and other components. 
     As illustrated in the figure, the analytic engine  306  in this embodiment more particularly comprises a policy engine  314  implementing one or more policy rules, a remediation module  315  implementing add, modify and delete functionality, one or more predictive algorithms  316 , and a root cause analysis (RCA) module  317 . At least a subset of the components  314 ,  315 ,  316  and  317  are utilized by the analytic engine  306  in generating the above-noted feedback to the orchestration module  308 . 
     For example, the policy engine  314  is illustratively configured to control policies and associated policy rules relating to orchestration as well as customer characterization, SLA management, and other policy-driven analysis functions. 
     One or more of the components  314 ,  315 ,  316  and  317  of the analytic engine  306  can be utilized to determine actual resource state relative to a desired resource state and to generate the feedback to the orchestration module  308  such that the actual resource state is automatically driven toward the desired resource state by the orchestration module  308 . 
     The analytic engine  306  in the present embodiment completes a feedback loop between the assurance module  304  and the orchestration module  308  that facilitates orchestration of the resources  312  provided by the virtualization infrastructure. It can be advantageously configured to provide fully automated assurance analysis of monitoring results provided by the assurance module  304 . For example, it can utilize fault and performance monitoring results from the assurance module  304  in combination with the topology information from the topology module  305  to provide intelligent feedback to the orchestration module  308  identifying corrective actions to be taken by the orchestration module  308  in order to recover from SLA violations or other issues. 
     The orchestration module  308  of the information processing system  300  further comprises a number of distinct components, illustratively including in the present embodiment a service orchestration component  318 , a VNF manager  319 , and at least one of an infrastructure manager or a container/cluster management component, both collectively identified by reference numeral  320 . At least a subset of these components can interact with the topology module  305 , as indicated by dashed line  322 . Numerous other arrangements of one or more components can be used to implement an orchestration module as that term is broadly used herein. For example, one possible alternative implementation of orchestration module  308  can include only a subset of the service orchestration component  318 , the VNF manager  319  and the infrastructure manager and container/cluster manager component  320 . 
     The operation of the information processing system  300  is illustrated in the flow diagram of  FIG. 4 . The process as shown includes steps  400  through  406 , which are substantially the same as respective steps  200  through  206  as previously described in conjunction with  FIG. 2 , but steps  400  through  406  are illustratively performed in this embodiment by the OSS/BSS layer  310 , orchestration module  308 , assurance module  304  and analytic engine  306 , respectively. The  FIG. 4  process further comprises an additional step  408 , in which topology module  305  generates topology information relating to the orchestrated resources provided using the virtualization infrastructure. Step  408  in the flow diagram as illustrated can be entered from step  402  or step  406 , and returns back to step  406 . However, numerous alternative flows between the process steps are possible. 
     Like the  FIG. 2  process, the  FIG. 4  process is more generally applicable to other systems comprising an assurance module, analytic engine and orchestration module arranged as disclosed herein. Also, its particular processing operations and other system functionality are presented by way of illustrative example only, and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any way. Furthermore, functionality such as that described in conjunction with the flow diagram of  FIG. 4  can be implemented at least in part in the form of one or more software programs stored in memory and executed by a processor of a processing device such as a computer or server. As mentioned previously, a memory or other storage device having executable program code of one or more software programs embodied therein is an example of what is more generally referred to herein as a “processor-readable storage medium.” 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , another illustrative embodiment is shown. In this embodiment, an information processing system  500  comprises NFV infrastructure  502  and an orchestration module  508  that is more particularly implemented as an orchestration and provisioning module, which is considered an example of what is more generally referred to herein as an “orchestration module.” The orchestration module  508  orchestrates a plurality of resources provided by the NFV infrastructure  502 . These include VNF resources that include VNF applications denoted as  512 - 1  through  512 -N. 
     The NFV infrastructure  502  and the orchestration module  508  are part of a pod  520  that also includes a service assurance and remediation module  522 . The module  522  is considered to comprise assurance and remediation components that are viewed as respective examples of what are more generally referred to herein as an assurance module and an analytic engine. Thus, the remediation component of the module  522  is assumed to comprise an analytic engine of the type previously described herein, configured to process monitoring results from the assurance component and to generate corresponding feedback for use by the orchestration module  508 . Also associated with the pod  520  is an overlying global management layer  524  which can be configured to provide support system functionality similar to that provided by the OSS/BSS layers  110  and  310  of respective  FIGS. 1 and 3 . 
     The VNF applications  512 - 1  through  512 -N are also referred to herein as respective VNF workloads of the NFV infrastructure  502 , although other types of VNF workloads can be used in other embodiments. Each VNF application  512  can be implemented using one or more virtual machines of the NFV infrastructure  502  and additionally or alternatively one or more containers of the NFV infrastructure  502 . These virtual machines or containers are part of virtual resources  530  of the NFV infrastructure  502  and illustratively include one or more virtual compute, network or storage resources. The virtual resources  530  are controlled by a virtualization layer  532  that runs on underlying hardware  534  which illustratively comprises physical hosts/servers, physical network resources and physical storage resources. 
     The NFV infrastructure  502  comprising virtual resources  530 , virtualization layer  532  and hardware  534  may be collectively viewed as one example of what is more generally referred to herein as “virtualization infrastructure.” At least portions of the VNF workloads may also be considered to be encompassed by the term “virtualization infrastructure” as that term is broadly used herein. Other types of virtualization infrastructure can be used in other embodiments, including the example processing platform of  FIG. 6 . 
     As noted above, the VNF workloads in this embodiment are assumed to comprise respective applications  512  running on one or more virtual machines of the virtualization infrastructure or inside containers of the virtualization infrastructure. 
     The VNF workloads are controlled at least in part by orchestration module  508  responsive to feedback from the service assurance and remediation module  522 . Additional control functionality is provided by the global management layer  524 . 
     The service assurance and remediation module  522  in this embodiment provides functionality at the pod level. In a given data center, there may be multiple pods  520 , possibly geographically distributed, with each such pod incorporating functionality similar to that previously described in conjunction with the embodiments of  FIGS. 1 and 3  but at a pod scale. The global management layer  524  manages these potentially geographically distributed pods, which may be connected by different types of networks, again using functionality similar to that previously described. 
     In the  FIG. 5  embodiment, service provider customers or other end users of the system  500  leverage the orchestration module  508  to provision VNF workloads and the underlying infrastructure resources supporting those workloads. Once the VNF workloads are deployed, the assurance component of module  522  proactively monitors the provisioned resources to support the corresponding VNF services against a specified set of SLAs. If an SLA is violated, the assurance component notifies the remediation component comprising the analytic engine, which automatically generates feedback to the orchestration module to address the detected SLA violation. 
     As mentioned previously in the context of system  100 , the particular arrangements of modules and other components of the systems  300  and  500  described herein are similarly considered illustrative examples only, and should not be construed as limiting in any way. Numerous alternative arrangements of modules and other components can be used in other embodiments. 
     It was noted above that portions of the information processing system  100  may be implemented using one or more processing platforms. Illustrative embodiments of such platforms will now be described in greater detail. Although described in the context of system  100 , these platforms may also be used to implement at least portions of the information processing systems of  FIGS. 3 and 5 , as well as other information processing systems in other embodiments of the invention. 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , portions of the information processing system  100  may comprise cloud infrastructure  600 . The cloud infrastructure  600  comprises virtual machines (VMs)  602 - 1 ,  602 - 2 , . . .  602 -L implemented using a hypervisor  604 . The hypervisor  604  runs on physical infrastructure  605 . The cloud infrastructure  600  further comprises sets of applications  610 - 1 ,  610 - 2 , . . .  610 -L running on respective ones of the virtual machines  602 - 1 ,  602 - 2 , . . .  602 -L under the control of the hypervisor  604 . 
     Although only a single hypervisor  604  is shown in the embodiment of  FIG. 6 , the system  100  may of course include multiple hypervisors each providing a set of virtual machines using at least one underlying physical machine. Different sets of virtual machines provided by one or more hypervisors may be utilized in configuring multiple instances of a burst buffer appliance or other component of the system  100 . 
     An example of a commercially available hypervisor platform that may be used to implement hypervisor  604  and possibly other portions of the information processing system  100  in one or more embodiments of the invention is the VMware® vSphere® which may have an associated virtual infrastructure management system such as the VMware® vCenter™. The underlying physical machines may comprise one or more distributed processing platforms that include storage products, such as the above-noted VNX® and Symmetrix VMAX®. A variety of other storage products may be utilized to implement at least a portion of the system  100 . 
     One or more of the processing modules or other components of system  100  may therefore each run on a computer, server, storage device or other processing platform element. A given such element may be viewed as an example of what is more generally referred to herein as a “processing device.” The cloud infrastructure  600  shown in  FIG. 6  may represent at least a portion of one processing platform. Another example of such a processing platform is processing platform  700  shown in  FIG. 7 . 
     The processing platform  700  in this embodiment comprises a portion of system  100  and includes a plurality of processing devices, denoted  702 - 1 ,  702 - 2 ,  702 - 3 , . . .  702 -K, which communicate with one another over a network  704 . 
     The network  704  may comprise any type of network, including by way of example an operator network or other service provider network. At least parts of these or other networks utilized in embodiments of the invention may comprise, for example, a global computer network such as the Internet, a WAN, a LAN, a satellite network, a telephone or cable network, a cellular network, a wireless network such as a WiFi or WiMAX network, or various portions or combinations of these and other types of networks. 
     The processing device  702 - 1  in the processing platform  700  comprises a processor  710  coupled to a memory  712 . 
     The processor  710  may comprise a microprocessor, a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other type of processing circuitry, as well as portions or combinations of such circuitry elements. Such hardware elements in some embodiments may illustratively comprise commodity hardware elements utilized in a processing platform comprising virtualization infrastructure. 
     The memory  712  may comprise random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM) or other types of memory, in any combination. The memory  712  and other memories disclosed herein should be viewed as illustrative examples of what are more generally referred to as “processor-readable storage media” storing executable program code of one or more software programs. 
     Articles of manufacture comprising such processor-readable storage media are considered embodiments of the present invention. A given such article of manufacture may comprise, for example, a storage device such as a storage disk, a storage array or an integrated circuit containing memory. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein should be understood to exclude transitory, propagating signals. 
     Also included in the processing device  702 - 1  is network interface circuitry  714 , which is used to interface the processing device with the network  704  and other system components, and may comprise conventional transceivers. 
     The other processing devices  702  of the processing platform  700  are assumed to be configured in a manner similar to that shown for processing device  702 - 1  in the figure. 
     Again, the particular processing platform  700  shown in the figure is presented by way of example only, and system  100  may include additional or alternative processing platforms, as well as numerous distinct processing platforms in any combination, with each such platform comprising one or more computers, servers, storage devices or other processing devices. 
     It should therefore be understood that in other embodiments different arrangements of additional or alternative elements may be used. At least a subset of these elements may be collectively implemented on a common processing platform, or each such element may be implemented on a separate processing platform. 
     Also, numerous other arrangements of computers, servers, storage devices or other components are possible in the information processing system  100 . Such components can communicate with other elements of the information processing system  100  over any type of network or other communication media. 
     As indicated previously, components of an information processing system as disclosed herein can be implemented at least in part in the form of one or more software programs stored in memory and executed by a processor of a processing device such as one of the virtual machines  602  or one of the processing devices  702 . For example, one or more of the assurance module  104 , analytic engine  106  and orchestration module  108  in the  FIG. 1  embodiment are illustratively implemented at least in part in the form of software. 
     It should again be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the invention are presented for purposes of illustration only. Many variations and other alternative embodiments may be used. For example, the disclosed techniques are applicable to a wide variety of other types of information processing systems, modules and components that can benefit from functionality for automated assurance analysis and corresponding feedback to orchestration of provisioned resources. Also, the particular configurations of system and device elements shown in  FIGS. 1, 3 and 5-7  and the particular process operations of  FIGS. 2 and 4  can be varied in other embodiments. Thus, for example, the particular types and arrangements of modules and other components deployed in a given embodiment and their respective configurations may be varied. Moreover, the various assumptions made above in the course of describing the illustrative embodiments should also be viewed as exemplary rather than as requirements or limitations of the invention. Numerous other alternative embodiments within the scope of the appended claims will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.