Configurable cost-quality optimization of cloud-based VoIP

In this paper, we formulate configurable cloud-based VoIP call allocation problem as a special case of dynamic multi-objective bin-packing. We consider voice quality influenced by CPU stress, cost contributed by the number of billing hours for Virtual Machines (VMs) provisioning, and calls placed on hold due to under-provisioning resources. We distinguish call allocation strategies by the type and amount of information used for allocation: knowledge-free, utilization-aware, rental-aware, and load-aware. We propose and study a variety of strategies with static and dynamic policies of VM provisioning. To study realistic scenarios, we consider startup delays for VM provisioning, and three configurable parameters: utilization threshold, rental threshold, and prediction interval. They can be configured and dynamically adapted to cope with different objective preferences, workloads, and cloud properties. We conduct comprehensive simulation on the real workload of the MIXvoip company and show that the proposed strategies outperform ones currently in-use. © 2018 Elsevier Inc.