Uniform and Non-Uniform Zoning for Load Balancing in Virtual Environments

1. Uniform and Non-Uniform Zoning for Load Balancing in Virtual Environments Ahmed, D.T.; Shirmohammadi, S. Embedded and Multimedia Computing (EMC), 2010 5th International Conference on

2. Outline • Introduction • Load Balancing for Non-Uniform Zones • Load Balancing for Uniform Zones • Load Balancing • Load Handling • Evaluations • Conclusions • Reference

3. Introduction In large-scale applications, resources are usually concentrated on a small number of nodes, which must apply sophisticated load-balancing algorithm to provide continuous and reliable resource access. For easy state administration, the virtual space is divided into multiple adjacent areas, technically called zones. At its simplest, a zone can be represented by a square or a triangle.

4. Introduction (Cont.) • The workload on a server changes regularly due to the dynamic nature of players and their frequent movements across zones. • Hence, a partitioning policy that works well for a static environment or for a slowly-changing environment may not be efficient for a highly dynamic application such as MMOGs.

5. Introduction (Cont.) Because of flocking behavior, this could lead to a serious problem called crowding in the virtual worlds - where a large number of players stay in a small area, for example during a battle. A load-balancing algorithm attempts to assign equal numbers of players to partitions while minimizing communication costs between partitions.

6. Load Balancing for Non-Uniform Zones In this adaptive zone-shaping approach, the game field is partitioned dynamically based on players’ logical position and interaction pattern. The bisection procedure is used to partition a zone into two sub-zones of nearly equal load while attempting to minimize the communication cost.

7. Load Balancing for Non-Uniform Zones (Cont.)

8. Load Balancing for Non-Uniform Zones (Cont.) • Zone Merging • One of the corresponding zone masters is capable of handling the total load • The lengths of the zone names are equal– say l be the length of the zone names • prefix( ZA) = prefix( ZB), and both prefix have length l − 1

9. Load Balancing for Non-Uniform Zones (Cont.) Dynamic Cut Movement

10. Load Balancing for Uniform Zones Message generation rate, Rm(t), a better way to define the load of a zone.

11. Load Balancing for Uniform Zones (Cont.) • The proposed Multilevel Multiphase Load Balancing(MMLB) method is designed for fixed-size zones. • It works in two phases. • The first phase works for the top level microcells and takes care of the inter-server communication while regulating the load among the servers. • The second phase decomposes the top-level microcells into the deep-level microcells and sheds load with the help of enclosing zone masters.

12. Load Balancing for Uniform Zones (Cont.)

13. Evaluations

14. Evaluations (Cont.)

15. Conclusions • MMLB is designed for fixed-size zones which works in phases that can reduce load in a step-by-step manner and avoid problems associated with the current load balancing schemes. • We also have presented another load balancing scheme for non-uniform zones using a bisection procedure that does not adhere to any predefined zone size. • According to the simulation results, MMLB performs better than adaptive scheme especially for a series of hotspots.

16. Reference Ahmed, D.T.; Shirmohammadi, S.; , "Uniform and Non-Uniform Zoning for Load Balancing in Virtual Environments," Embedded and Multimedia Computing (EMC), 2010 5th International Conference on , vol., no., pp.1-6, 11-13 Aug. 2010