Selection of hosts for virtual machines based on current virtual machine requirements and headroom availability

A computing apparatus comprising:

• a storage system;
• a processing system operatively coupled to the storage system;
• and
• program instructions stored on the storage system that, when executed by the processing system, direct the processing system to:
• identify a first virtual machine to migrate in a cluster of hosts;
• identify current resource availability associated with each host in the cluster of hosts;
• identify current resource requirements associated with the first virtual machine;
• determine that two or more hosts in the cluster of hosts are associated with current resource availability that satisfies the current resource requirements of the first virtual machine;
• identify available headroom resources on each of the two or more hosts;
• select a host from the two or more hosts based on the available headroom resources;
• and
• initiate a migration of the first virtual machine to the selected host.

A system comprising:

• a cluster of hosts;
• a management computer communicatively coupled to the cluster of hosts and configured to:
• identify a first virtual machine to migrate in the cluster of hosts;
• identify current resource availability associated with each host in the cluster of hosts;
• identify current resource requirements associated with the first virtual machine;
• determine whether two or more hosts in the cluster of hosts are associated with current resource availability that satisfies the current resource requirements of the first virtual machine;
• in response to determining that two or more hosts in the cluster of hosts are not associated with current resource availability that satisfies the current resource requirements of the first virtual machine:
• determine whether a new host in the cluster of hosts or a current host in the cluster of hosts provides a higher quality of service for the first virtual machine based on the current resource requirements associated with the first virtual machine and the current resource availability associated with each host in the cluster of hosts;
• when the current host provides a higher quality of service, continue execution of the first virtual machine on the current host;
• and
• when a new host provides a higher quality of service, initiate a migration of the first virtual machine from the current host to the new host;
• in response determining that two or more hosts in the cluster of hosts are associated with current resource availability that satisfies the current resource requirements of the first virtual machine:
• identify available headroom on each of the two or more hosts;
• select a host from the two or more hosts based on the available headroom resources;
• and
• initiate a migration of the first virtual machine to the selected host.