A hybrid algorithm to reduce energy consumption management in cloud data centers

Abstract

There are several physical data centers in cloud environment with hundreds or thousands of computers. Virtualization is the key technology to make cloud computing feasible. It separates virtual machines in a way that each of these so-called virtualized machines can be configured on a number of hosts according to the type of user application. It is also possible to dynamically alter the allocated resources of a virtual machine. Different methods of energy saving in data centers can be divided into three general categories: 1) methods based on load balancing of resources; 2) using hardware facilities for scheduling; 3) considering thermal characteristics of the environment. This paper focuses on load balancing methods as they act dynamically because of their dependence on the current behavior of system. By taking a detailed look on previous methods, we provide a hybrid method which enables us to save energy through finding a suitable configuration for virtual machines placement and considering special features of virtual environments for scheduling and balancing dynamic loads by live migration method.