Energy Aware Grid: Global Workload Placement based on Energy Efficiency

The concept of Grid, based on coordinated resource sharing and problem solving in dynamic, multiinstitutional virtual organizations, is emerging as the new paradigm in distributed and pervasive computing for scientific as well as commercial applications. We assume a global network of data centers housing an aggregation of computing, networking and storage hardware. However, increased compaction of such devices in data centers has created thermal and energy management issues that inhibit sustainability of such a global infrastructure. In this paper, we propose the blueprint of Energy Aware Grid that will provide a global utility infrastructure explicitly incorporating energy efficiency and thermal management among data centers. Designed around an energy-aware co-allocator, workload placement decisions will be made across the Grid, based on data center energy efficiency coefficients. The coefficient, evaluated by the data center’s resource allocation manager, is a complex function of the data center thermal management infrastructure and the seasonal and diurnal variations. A detailed procedure for implementation of a test case is provided with an estimate of energy savings to justify the economic viability of such a proposition.