Optimizing a virtualized data center

Abstract

Many data centers extensively use virtual machines (VMs), which provide the flexibility to move workload among physical servers. VMs can be placed to maximize application performance, power efficiency, or even fault tolerance. However, VMs are typically repositioned without considering network topology, congestion, or traffic routes. In this demo, we show a system, Virtue, which enables the comparison of different algorithms for VM placement and network routing at the scale of an entire data center. Our goal is to understand how placement and routing affect overall application performance by varying the types and mix of workloads, network topologies, and compute resources; these parameters will be available for demo attendees to explore.