A virtual machine placement algorithm for balanced resource utilization in cloud data centers

Abstract

Virtual machine (VM) placement is the process of selecting the most suitable server in large cloud data centers to deploy newly-created VMs. Several approaches have been proposed to find a solution to this problem. However, most of the existing solutions only consider a limited number of resource types, thus resulting in unbalanced load or in the unnecessary activation of physical servers. In this article, we propose an algorithm, called Max-BRU, that maximizes the resource utilization and balances the usage of resources across multiple dimensions. Our algorithm is based on multiple resource-constraint metrics that help to find the most suitable server for deploying VMs in large cloud data centers. The proposed Max-BRU algorithm is evaluated by simulations based on synthetic datasets. Experimental results show two major improvements over the existing approaches for VM placement. First, Max-BRU increases the resource utilization by minimizing the amount of physical servers used. Second, Max-BRU effectively balances the utilization of multiple types of resources.