Improved Task Scheduling for Virtual Machines in the Cloud based on the Gravitational Search Algorithm

The rapid and convenient provision of the available computing resources is a crucial requirement in modern cloud computing environments. However, if only the execution time is taken into account when the resources are scheduled, it could lead to imbalanced workloads as well as to significant under-utilisation of the involved Virtual Machines (VMs). In the present work a novel task scheduling scheme is introduced, which is based on the proper adaptation of a modern and quite effective evolutionary optimization method, the Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA). The proposed scheme aims at optimizing the entire scheduling procedure, in terms of both the tasks execution time and the system (VMs) resource utilisation. Moreover, the fitness function was properly selected considering both the above factors in an appropriately weighted function in order to obtain better results for large inputs. Sufficient simulation experiments show the efficiency of the proposed scheme, as well as its excellence over related approaches of the bibliography, with similar objectives.Comment: 8 page

Resource management for data streaming applications

This dissertation investigates novel middleware mechanisms for building streaming applications. Developing streaming applications is a challenging task because (i) they are continuous in nature; (ii) they require fusion of data coming from multiple sources to derive higher level information; (iii) they require efficient transport of data from/to distributed sources and sinks; (iv) they need access to heterogeneous resources spanning sensor networks and high performance computing; and (v) they are time critical in nature. My thesis is that an intuitive programming abstraction will make it easier to build dynamic, distributed, and ubiquitous data streaming applications. Moreover, such an abstraction will enable an efficient allocation of shared and heterogeneous computational resources thereby making it easier for domain experts to build these applications. In support of the thesis, I present a novel programming abstraction, called DFuse, that makes it easier to develop these applications. A domain expert only needs to specify the input and output connections to fusion channels, and the fusion functions. The subsystems developed in this dissertation take care of instantiating the application, allocating resources for the application (via the scheduling heuristic developed in this dissertation) and dynamically managing the resources (via the dynamic scheduling algorithm presented in this dissertation). Through extensive performance evaluation, I demonstrate that the resources are allocated efficiently to optimize the throughput and latency constraints of an application.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Ramachandran, Umakishore; Committee Member: Chervenak, Ann; Committee Member: Cooper, Brian; Committee Member: Liu, Ling; Committee Member: Schwan, Karste

Anti load-balancing for energy-aware distributed scheduling of virtual machines

La multiplication de l'informatique en nuage (Cloud) a abouti à la création de centres de données dans le monde entier. Le Cloud contient des milliers de nœuds de calcul. Cependant, les centres de données consomment d'énorme quantités d'énergie à travers le monde estimées à plus de 1,5 % de la consommation mondiale d'électricité et devrait continuer à croître. Une problématique habituellement étudiée dans les systèmes distribués est de répartir équitablement la charge. Mais lorsque l'objectif est de réduire la consommation électrique, ce type d'algorithmes peut mener à avoir des serveurs fortement sous chargés et donc à consommer de l'énergie inutilement. Cette thèse présente de nouvelles techniques, des algorithmes et des logiciels pour la consolidation dynamique et distribuée de machines virtuelles (VM) dans le Cloud. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de proposer des stratégies d'ordonnancement tenant compte de l'énergie dans le Cloud pour les économies d'énergie. Pour atteindre cet objectif, nous utilisons des approches centralisées et décentralisées. Les contributions à ce niveau méthodologique sont présentées sur ces deux axes. L'objectif de notre démarche est de réduire la consommation de l'énergie totale du centre de données en contrôlant la consommation globale d'énergie des applications tout en assurant les contrats de service pour l'exécution des applications. La consommation d'énergie est réduite en désactivant et réactivant dynamiquement les nœuds physiques pour répondre à la demande des ressources. Les principales contributions sont les suivantes: - Ici on s'intéressera à la problématique contraire de l'équilibrage de charge. Il s'agit d'une technique appelée Anti Load-Balancing pour concentrer la charge sur un nombre minimal de nœuds. Le but est de pouvoir éteindre les nœuds libérés et donc de minimiser la consommation énergétique du système. - Ensuite une approche centralisée a été proposée et fonctionne en associant une valeur de crédit à chaque nœud. Le crédit d'un nœud dépend de son affinité pour ses tâches, sa charge de travail actuelle et sa façon d'effectuer ses communications. Les économies d'énergie sont atteintes par la consolidation continue des machines virtuelles en fonction de l'utilisation actuelle des ressources, les topologies de réseaux virtuels établis entre les machines virtuelles et l'état thermique de nœuds de calcul. Les résultats de l'expérience sur une extension de CloudSim (EnerSim) montrent que l'énergie consommée par les applications du Cloud et l'efficacité énergétique ont été améliorées. - Le troisième axe est consacré à l'examen d'une approche appelée "Cooperative scheduling Anti load-balancing Algorithm for cloud". Il s'agit d'une approche décentralisée permettant la coopération entre les différents sites. Pour valider cet algorithme, nous avons étendu le simulateur MaGateSim. Avec une large évaluation expérimentale d'un ensemble de données réelles, nous sommes arrivés à la conclusion que l'approche à la fois en utilisant des algorithmes centralisés et décentralisés peut réduire l'énergie consommée des centres de données.The multiplication of Cloud computing has resulted in the establishment of largescale data centers around the world containing thousands of compute nodes. However, Cloud consume huge amounts of energy. Energy consumption of data centers worldwide is estimated at more than 1.5% of the global electricity use and is expected to grow further. A problem usually studied in distributed systems is to evenly distribute the load. But when the goal is to reduce energy consumption, this type of algorithms can lead to have machines largely under-loaded and therefore consuming energy unnecessarily. This thesis presents novel techniques, algorithms, and software for distributed dynamic consolidation of Virtual Machines (VMs) in Cloud. The main objective of this thesis is to provide energy-aware scheduling strategies in cloud computing for energy saving. To achieve this goal, we use centralized and decentralized approaches. Contributions in this method are presented these two axes. The objective of our approach is to reduce data center's total energy consumed by controlling cloud applications' overall energy consumption while ensuring cloud applications' service level agreement. Energy consumption is reduced by dynamically deactivating and reactivating physical nodes to meet the current resource demand. The key contributions are: - First, we present an energy aware clouds scheduling using anti-load balancing algorithm : concentrate the load on a minimum number of severs. The goal is to turn off the machines released and therefore minimize the energy consumption of the system. - The second axis proposed an algorithm which works by associating a credit value with each node. The credit of a node depends on its affinity to its jobs, its current workload and its communication behavior. Energy savings are achieved by continuous consolidation of VMs according to current utilization of resources, virtual network topologies established between VMs, and thermal state of computing nodes. The experiment results, obtained with a simulator which extends CloudSim (EnerSim), show that the cloud application energy consumption and energy efficiency are being improved. - The third axis is dedicated to the consideration of a decentralized dynamic scheduling approach entitled Cooperative scheduling Anti-load balancing Algorithm for cloud. It is a decentralized approach that allows cooperation between different sites. To validate this algorithm, we have extended the simulator MaGateSim. With an extensive experimental evaluation with a real workload dataset, we got the conclusion that both the approach using centralized and decentralized algorithms can reduce energy consumed by data centers

Simulation Modelling of Distributed-Shared Memory Multiprocessors

Institute for Computing Systems ArchitectureDistributed shared memory (DSM) systems have been recognised as a compelling platform for parallel computing due to the programming advantages and scalability. DSM systems allow applications to access data in a logically shared address space by abstracting away the distinction of physical memory location. As the location of data is transparent, the sources of overhead caused by accessing the distant memories are difficult to analyse. This memory locality problem has been identified as crucial to DSM performance. Many researchers have investigated the problem using simulation as a tool for conducting experiments resulting in the progressive evolution of DSM systems. Nevertheless, both the diversity of architectural configurations and the rapid advance of DSM implementations impose constraints on simulation model designs in two issues: the limitation of the simulation framework on model extensibility and the lack of verification applicability during a simulation run causing the delay in verification process. This thesis studies simulation modelling techniques for memory locality analysis of various DSM systems implemented on top of a cluster of symmetric multiprocessors. The thesis presents a simulation technique to promote model extensibility and proposes a technique for verification applicability, called a Specification-based Parameter Model Interaction (SPMI). The proposed techniques have been implemented in a new interpretation-driven simulation called DSiMCLUSTER on top of a discrete event simulation (DES) engine known as HASE. Experiments have been conducted to determine which factors are most influential on the degree of locality and to determine the possibility to maximise the stability of performance. DSiMCLUSTER has been validated against a SunFire 15K server and has achieved similarity of cache miss results, an average of +-6% with the worst case less than 15% of difference. These results confirm that the techniques used in developing the DSiMCLUSTER can contribute ways to achieve both (a) a highly extensible simulation framework to keep up with the ongoing innovation of the DSM architecture, and (b) the verification applicability resulting in an efficient framework for memory analysis experiments on DSM architecture

Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Sustainable Ultrascale Computing Systems (NESUS 2015) Krakow, Poland

Proceedings of: Second International Workshop on Sustainable Ultrascale Computing Systems (NESUS 2015). Krakow (Poland), September 10-11, 2015

Scalable Storage for Digital Libraries

I propose a storage system optimised for digital libraries. Its key features are its heterogeneous scalability; its integration and exploitation of rich semantic metadata associated with digital objects; its use of a name space; and its aggressive performance optimisation in the digital library domain

Heterogeneity, High Performance Computing, Self-Organization and the Cloud

application; blueprints; self-management; self-organisation; resource management; supply chain; big data; PaaS; Saas; HPCaa

Heterogeneity, High Performance Computing, Self-Organization and the Cloud

application; blueprints; self-management; self-organisation; resource management; supply chain; big data; PaaS; Saas; HPCaa