Multi-objective microservice deployment optimization via a knowledge-driven evolutionary algorithm

For the deployment and startup of microservice instances in different resource centres, we propose an optimization problem model based on the evolutionary multi-objective theory. The objective functions of the model consider the computation and storage resource utilization rate, load balancing rate, and actual microservice usage rate in resource service centres. The constraints of the model are the completeness of service, total amount of storage resources, and total number of microservices. In this study, a knowledge-driven evolutionary algorithm (named MGR-NSGA-III) is proposed to solve the problem model and seek the optimal deployment and startup strategy of microservice instances in different resource centres. The proposed model and solution have been evaluated via real data experiments. The results show that our approach is better than the traditional microservice instance deployment and startup strategy. The average computation rate, storage idle rate, and actual microservice idle rate were 13.21%, 5.2%, and 16.67% lower than those in NSGA-III, respectively. After 50, 100, and 150 evolutionary generations in serval operations, the population members in NGR-NSGA-III dominated the population members in NSGA-III 6,270, 3,581, and 7,978 times in average, respectively, which means that NGR-NSGA-III can converge to the optimal solution much quicker than NSGA-III.