Patent ID: 8291416

Claim:
A method for evaluating historical metrics in selecting a physical host for execution of a virtual machine, the method comprising: receiving, by a host recommendation service, an identification of a virtual machine and a request for an identification of a physical host on which to execute the virtual machine; retrieving, by an analysis engine in communication with the host recommendation service, a first plurality of metrics for each of a plurality of physical hosts available for executing the virtual machine, each of the first plurality of metrics identifying a current level of load on a respective one of the plurality of physical hosts; retrieving, by the analysis engine, a second plurality of metrics for each of the plurality of physical hosts, each of the second plurality of metrics identifying a level of load on a respective one of the plurality of physical hosts at a time period prior to the current time period; retrieving, by the analysis engine, a third plurality of metrics associated with the virtual machine, each of the third plurality of metrics identifying a level of load placed on a respective physical host by the virtual machine during a time period prior to the current time period; determining, by the analysis engine, a level of priority of at least one of the first plurality of metrics identifying a current level of load on each of the plurality of physical hosts and the second plurality of metrics identifying a level of load on each of the plurality of physical hosts during a time period prior to the current time period; assigning, by the analysis engine, a score to each of the plurality of physical hosts to maximize performance of the identified virtual machine, responsive to the retrieved first, second, and third pluralities of metrics and to the determined level of priority; and transmitting, by the host recommendation service, an identification of one of the plurality of physical hosts on which to execute the virtual machine.