Usage patterns in multi-tenant data centers: A large-case field study

Abstract

Data centers are nowadays ubiquitous and have become a commonplace computing platform for corporations as well as individuals, providing a diverse array of services. Data centers may be universal and prevalent, but so are their administrative challenges that include how to best use them, as well as how to optimize their power and cooling costs. The sheer diversity of customer demands (e.g., one may expect very different needs and performance expectations between individual users of cloud-based data centers versus corporate customers) make data center administration challenging and without clear solutions. Studying the workload that typical data centers experience can provide many useful insights for the better usage of data centers, for the design of autonomic management policies for various resources, even for more efficient power and/or cooling management policies.