Efficient Resource Management in Cloud Environments: A Modified Feeding Birds Algorithm for VM Consolidation

Cloud data centers play a vital role in modern computing infrastructure, offering scalable resources for diverse applications. However, managing costs and resources efficiently in these centers has become a crucial concern due to the exponential growth of cloud computing. User applications exhibit complex behavior, leading to fluctuations in system performance and increased power usage. To tackle these obstacles, we introduce the Modified Feeding Birds Algorithm (ModAFBA) as an innovative solution for virtual machine (VM) consolidation in cloud environments. The primary objective is to enhance resource management and operational efficiency in cloud data centers. ModAFBA incorporates adaptive position update rules and strategies specifically designed to minimize VM migrations, addressing the unique challenges of VM consolidation. The experimental findings demonstrated substantial improvements in key performance metrics. Specifically, the ModAFBA method exhibited significant enhancements in energy usage, SLA compliance, and the number of VM migrations compared to benchmark algorithms such as TOPSIS, SVMP, and PVMP methods. Notably, the ModAFBA method achieved reductions in energy usage of 49.16%, 55.76%, and 65.13% compared to the TOPSIS, SVMP, and PVMP methods, respectively. Moreover, the ModAFBA method resulted in decreases of around 83.80%, 22.65%, and 89.82% in the quantity of VM migrations in contrast to the aforementioned benchmark techniques. The results demonstrate that ModAFBA outperforms these benchmarks by significantly reducing energy consumption, operational costs, and SLA violations. These findings highlight the effectiveness of ModAFBA in optimizing VM placement and consolidation, offering a robust and scalable approach to improving the performance and sustainability of cloud data centers.