Energy-efficient virtual machine allocation using directional and boundary-aware bobcat optimization

Abstract

Cloud computing (CC) has gained significant traction due to its ability to deliver services in a scalable and adaptable manner, catering to diverse user requirements. However, in virtualization technology, one of the primary challenges is managing the energy consumption required to maintain service quality, as it directly impacts the operational expenses of data centers. To address this challenge, this research proposes a directional movement and boundary-aware strategy-based bobcat optimization algorithm (DMBABOA) for energy-efficient virtual machine (VM) allocation aimed at minimizing energy consumption in cloud environments. The directional search and boundary-aware correction enhance convergence and ensure feasible resource distribution. This ensures effective utilization of resources, improved virtualization management, and substantial energy savings. The experimental findings establish that the proposed DMBABOA optimizer reaches a minimum execution time of 134.48 s when the number of VMs is equal to 1,200 with 200 users, compared to existing methods such as the metaheuristic VM allocation approach to power efficiency of sustainable cloud environment (MV-PESC).