Dynamic resource management using virtual machine migrations

TLDR

Virtualization enables cloud computing by allowing flexible resource provisioning, isolation, and live migration of virtual machines, which improves resource efficiency and supports dynamic provisioning. This article presents virtual machine migration techniques for dynamic resource management in virtualized environments. The authors describe the necessary components for using VM migration in the cloud and categorize heuristics that reduce server sprawl, lower power consumption, and balance load across physical hosts. The paper concludes by outlining open research problems in this area.

Abstract

Virtualization is a key concept in enabling the "computing-as-a-service" vision of cloud-based solutions. Virtual machine related features such as flexible resource provisioning, and isolation and migration of machine state have improved efficiency of resource usage and dynamic resource provisioning capabilities. Live virtual machine migration transfers "state" of a virtual machine from one physical machine to another, and can mitigate overload conditions and enables uninterrupted maintenance activities. The focus of this article is to present the details of virtual machine migration techniques and their usage toward dynamic resource management in virtualized environments. We outline the components required to use virtual machine migration for dynamic resource management in the virtualized cloud environment. We present categorization and details of migration heuristics aimed at reducing server sprawl, minimizing power consumption, balancing load across physical machines, and so on. We conclude with a discussion of open research problems in the area.