As long as virtualization has been introduced in data centers, it has been opening new chances for resource management. Nowadays, it is not just used as a tool for consolidating underused nodes and save power; it also allows new solutions to well-known challenges, such as heterogeneity management. Virtualization helps to encapsulate Web-based applications or HPC jobs in virtual machines (VMs) and see them as a single entity which can be managed in an easier and more efficient way. We propose a new scheduling policy that models and manages a virtualized data center. It focuses on the allocation of VMs in data center nodes according to multiple facets to optimize the provider’s profit. In particular, it considers energy efficiency, virtualization overheads, and SLA violation penalties, and supports the outsourcing to external providers. The proposed approach is compared to other common scheduling policies, demonstrating that a provider can improve its benefit by 30% and save power while handling other challenges, such as resource outsourcing, in a better and more intuitive way than other typical approaches do.

Peer Reviewed