Gossip-based resource allocation for green computing in large clouds

We address the problem of resource allocation in a large-scale cloud environment, which we formalize as that of dynamically optimizing a cloud configuration for green computing objectives under CPU and memory constraints. We propose a generic gossip protocol for resource allocation, which can be instantiated for specific objectives. We develop an instantiation of this generic protocol which aims at minimizing power consumption through server consolidation, while satisfying a changing load pattern. This protocol, called GRMP-Q, provides an efficient heuristic solution that performs well in most cases — in special cases it is optimal. Under overload, the protocol gives a fair allocation of CPU resources to clients. Simulation results suggest that key performance metrics do not change with increasing system size, making the resource allocation process scalable to well above 100,000 servers. Generally, the effectiveness of the protocol in achieving its objective increases with increasing memory capacity in the servers.