SMIO: I/O similarity aware virtual machine management invirtual desktop environments

Abstract

Virtual desktop environments (VDEs) typically employ shared storage with the goal to benefit from the I/O optimizations therein. However, the Virtual Machine (VM) management that enables VDEs is typically agnostic of VM I/O characteristics. Thus, the opportunities for I/O reduction techniques, e.g., deduplication, which improve storage scalability and efficiency are constrained. We present SMIO, a VM management system that detects VM I/O similarities, and places the VMs such that the effectiveness of I/O reduction techniques is enhanced - as much as 4.9× compared to the standard approach. © 2013 Authors.