Joint Cooling and Server Control in Data Centers: A Cross-Layer Framework for Holistic Energy Minimization

In this paper, we try to address the issue of holistic energy minimization in data centers by designing a cross-layer optimization framework. We formulate a mixed integer nonLinear programming problem named data center holistic energy minimization problem, and develop an efficient JOINT algorithm to solve it. JOINT cuts energy consumption via collaboration of system components across different control layers, and dynamically configures system parameters according to the current workload. To evaluate the performance of the proposed framework, we conduct extensive simulations against synthetic and real-world workload traces. Experimental results suggest that our cross-layer framework is effective in data center holistic energy reduction.