CSR-PSCE,SM: Virtual Watts: Energy Management in Virtual Environments

这个研究项目的重点是能源管理和虚拟机环境的交叉。现代能源管理算法在操作系统中实现，并依赖于详细的应用程序，系统和设备监控来管理设备并提高能源效率。虚拟机在几个方面使能源管理更加复杂。首先，虚拟机缺乏应用程序上下文。第二，客户机操作系统缺乏全局信息。第三，虚拟机通常将虚拟设备呈现给客户操作系统，这样客户操作系统就不再拥有详细的设备能量配置文件。这个项目研究客户操作系统、虚拟机和底层虚拟机监视器之间功能的适当分布，从而提高整个系统的能源效率。所有客户机操作系统必须与虚拟机监视器协作，以交换有关当前上下文和设备状态的信息。系统范围的能源效率需要全球信息，这在非虚拟化系统中是可用的。挑战在于提供所需的信息流，同时保留虚拟化提供的抽象。解决这一挑战至关重要，因为未来的系统将严重依赖能源效率来延长电池寿命和降低能源成本，并依赖虚拟化来提供隔离、可移植性和许多其他好处。本项目开发的工具和技术将为未来的研究提供一个平台。此外，这个项目的目标是通过课堂作业和独立研究，让学生参与设计和评估各种设备的节能虚拟机。这些项目和作业将使学生更好地了解他们在未来的职业生涯中将面临的挑战。

This research project focuses on the intersection of energy management and virtual machine environments. Contemporary energy management algorithms are implemented in operating systems and rely on detailed application, system, and device monitoring to manage devices and improve energy efficiency. Virtual machines make energy management more complicated in several ways. First, virtual machines are lacking application context. Second, guest operating systems lack global information. Third, virtual machines typically present virtualized devices to the guest operating systems, so that a guest operating system no longer has detailed device energy profiles. This project investigates the proper distribution of functionality between the guest operating system, virtual machine, and underlying virtual machine monitor so as to improve overall system energy efficiency. All guest operating systems must collaborate with the virtual machine monitor to exchange information about current context and the device state. System-wide energy efficiency requires global information, as is available in non-virtualized systems. The challenge is to provide the desired information flow while preserving the abstraction provided by the virtualization. Solving this challenge is critical since future systems will rely heavily both on energy efficiency to prolong battery life and reduce energy costs, and on virtualization to provide isolation, portability, and many other benefits. The tools and techniques developed in this project will provide a platform for future research. Furthermore, the goal of this project is to involve students in designing and evaluating energy-efficient virtual machines for various devices through in class assignments as well as independent studies. The projects and assignments will provide students with better understanding of the challenges that they will face in their future careers.