Patent ID: 8311032

Claim:
A method, comprising: routing traffic within an Ethernet network through a network switch according to IP addresses identified within Ethernet frames, wherein the Ethernet network includes a plurality of compute nodes, and each compute node is coupled to the network switch via a separate Ethernet link; determining a response time for each of a plurality of virtual machines running on the plurality of compute nodes, wherein the response time for a particular one of the virtual machines is calculated as the difference between a time stamp in a TCP/IP Request message and a time stamp in a TCP/IP Response message for an IP address assigned to the particular one of the virtual machines; and in response to a particular one of the virtual machines on a particular one of the compute nodes having a response time that exceeds a response time setpoint, migrating the particular virtual machine from the particular compute node to a target one of the compute nodes that is determined to be currently providing a lower response time than the specified compute node.