A model for collecting virtual machine usage in cloud computing environment

The paper proposes a virtual machine usage collection model (VMUCM) to collect virtual machine performance information in cloud environment. The components and the workflow are introduced. In the model, data compression is utilized to save the disk spaces, as well as a real-time monitoring mechanism to oversee the working status of the system. The collected data can be used to help the cloud service providers to develop accounting policies, or improve the quality of real-time services.