A Hybrid Optimization Model for Green Cloud Computing

This paper presents a hybrid optimization model that allows a cloud service provider to establish virtual machine (VM) placement strategies for its data centers in such a way that energy efficiency and network quality of service are jointly optimized. Usually, VM placement is an activity not fully integrated with network operations. As such, the VM placement strategy does not take into account the impact it produces on the network performance in terms of quality of service parameters such as packet losses and traffic delays. The proposed strategy allows cloud providers to reach a balance between the energy efficiency of their infrastructures and the network quality of service they offer to their customers. The proposed strategy has high potential for parallelism making it feasible for the energetic optimization of large cloud infrastructures. In addition, the strategy allows network operations practices such as constraint-based routing be incorporated into the VM placement process.