Maximum migration time guarantees in dynamic server consolidation for virtualized data centers

Abstract

Server consolidation is a vital mechanism in modern data centers in order to minimize expenses with infrastructure. In most cases, server consolidation may require migrating virtual machines between different physical servers. Although the downtime of live-migration is negligible, the amount of time to migrate all virtual machines can be substantial, delaying the completion of the consolidation process. This paper proposes a new server consolidation algorithm, which guarantees that migrations are completed in a given maximum time. The migration time is estimated using the max-min fairness model, in order to consider the competition of migration flows for the network infrastructure. The algorithm was simulated using a real workload and shows a good consolidation ratio in comparison to other algorithms, while also guaranteeing a maximum migration time. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.