COOPERATIVE CLOUD I/O SCHEDULER

This disclosure describes a system and method for providing I/O scheduling capabilities to a host server executing one or more virtual machine clients and communicating with a cloud-based storage array. An I/O scheduler executing on a virtual machine can identify priority tags associated with requests or commands on the virtual machine. The I/O scheduler can create one or more queues based upon the priority of each request, and can then transmit requests in order of priority. The I/O scheduler can also use information about the storage array, such as layout information or cache information, and can accordingly optimize the transmission of requests to the storage array.