Bipartite electronic SLA as a business framework to support cross-organization load management of real-time online applications

Online applications such as games and e-learning applications fall within the broader category of real-time online interactive applications (ROIA), a new class of ‘killer’ application for the Grid that is being investigated in the edutain@grid project. The two case studies in edutain@grid are an online game and an e-learning training application. We present a novel Grid-based business framework that makes use of bipartite service level agreements (SLAs) and dynamic invoice models to model complex business relationships in a massively scalable and flexible way. We support cross-organization load management at the business level, through zone migration. For evaluation we look at existing and extended value chains, the quality of service (QoS) metrics measured and the dynamic invoice models that support this work. We examine the causal links from customer quality of experience (QoE) and service provider quality of business (QoBiz) through to measured quality of service. Finally we discuss a shared reward business ecosystem and suggest how extended service level agreements and invoice models can support this

Quality of Service improvements for real time multimedia applications using next generation network architectures and blockchain in Internet Service Provider cooperative scenario

Real time communications are becoming part of our daily life, requiring constrained requisites with the purpose of being enjoyed in harmony by end users. The factors ruling these requisites are Quality of Service parameters of the users' Internet connections. Achieving a satisfactory QoS level for real time communications depends on parameters that are strongly influenced by the quality of the network connections among the Internet Service Providers, which are located in the path between final users and Over The Top service providers that are supplying them with real time services. Final users can be: business people having real time videoconferences, or adopting crytpocurrencies in their exchanges, videogamers playing online games together with others residing in other countries, migrants talking with their relatives or watching their children growing up in their home countries, people with disabilities adopting tecnologies to help them, doctors performing remote surgeries, manufacturers adopting augmented reality devices to perform dangerous tasks. Each of them performing their daily activities are requiring specific QoS parameters to their ISPs, that nowadays seem to be unable to provide them with a satisfactory QoS level for these kinds of real time services. Through the adoption of next generation networks, such as the Information Centric Networking, it would be possible to overcome the QoS problems that nowadays are experienced. By adopting Blockchain technologies, in several use cases, it would be possible to improve those security aspects related to the non-temperability of information and privacy. I started this thesis analyzing next generation architectures enabling real time multimedia communications. In Software Defined Networking, Named Data Networking and Community Information Centric Networking, I highlighted potential approaches to solve QoS problems that are affecting real time multimedia applications. During my experiments I found that applications able to transmit high quality videos, such as 4k or 8k videos, or to directly interact with devices AR/VR enabled are missing for both ICN approaches. Then I proposed a REST interface for the enforcing of a specific QoS parameter, the round trip time (RTT) taking into consideration the specific use case of a game company that connects with the same telecommunication company of the final user. Supposing that the proposed REST APIs have been deployed in the game company and in the ISP, when one or more users are experiencing lag, the game company will try to ask the ISP to reduce the RTT for that specific user or that group of users. This request can be done by performing a call to a method where IP address(es) and the maximum RTT desired are passed. I also proposed other methods, through which it would be possible to retrieve information about the QoS parameters, and exchange, if necessary, an exceeding parameter in change of another one. The proposed REST APIs can also be used in more complex scenarios, where ISPs along the path are chained together, in order to improve the end to end QoS among Over The Top service provider and final users. To store the information exchanged by using the proposed REST APIs, I proposed to adopt a permissioned blockchain, analizying the ISPs cooperative use case with Hyperledger Fabric, where I proposed the adoption of the Proof of Authority consensus algorithm, to increase the throughput in terms of transactions per second. In a specific case that I examined, I am proposing a combination of Information Centric Networking and Blockchain, in an architecture where ISPs are exchanging valuable information regarding final Users, to improve their QoS parameters. I also proposed my smart contract for the gaming delay use case, that can be used to rule the communication among those ISPs that are along the path among OTT and final users. An extension of this work can be done, by defining billing costs for the QoS improvements

A New Dynamic Load Balancing Algorithm for Multi-ROIA

Real-time Online Interactive Application (ROIA) is an emerging class of large-scale distributed application which can support millions of concurrent users around the world. Due to the dynamic changes in the number of concurrent users as well as the uncertainty of user operations, the dynamic load balancing is a key issue for ROIA. However, most of previous works are dedicated to the load balancing in a single ROIA without considering the variety of different type ROIAs. We take the advantage of differences between ROIAs and propose a new load balancing algorithm for multi-ROIA to improve the scalability of ROIA and increase the resource utilization of system. This paper firstly describes the motivation of the new load balancing algorithm, then presents the dynamic load balancing algorithm for multi-ROIA. Finally, the simulation results are also presented to show the efficiency and feasibility of the new algorithm

Quality of Service in Software Defined Networking

Software Defined Networking SDN promises to provide a powerful way to introduce Quality of Service QoS concepts in today s communication networks SDN programmatically modifies the functionality and behavior of network devices using single high level program Software Defined Networking SDN instantiation OpenFlow has been designed according to these properties The realization of Quality of Service QoS concepts becomes possible in a flexible and dynamic manner with SDN This paper focuses on the existing architectures parameter such as response time switch capacity and bandwidth isolation that is calculated here Although concepts of QoS are well researched they were not realized in communication networks due to high implementation complexity and realization costs OpenFlow as the best-known SDN standard so far defines a standard protocol for network control These observations of switch variety may provide SDN application developer s insights when realizing QoS concepts in an SDN-based networ

Load Balancing for Resource Optimization in Internet of Things (IoT) Systems

Internet of Things (IoT) has been recognised as a promising area for automating numerous processes, however, the major problem with IoT is its potential for rising complexities. Several approaches have moved attention to the edge nodes associated with IoT, hence concepts of edge-computing, resource allocation and load balancing are tantamount to a more robust heterogeneous IoT. The resource optimization terrain comes with several complications for the resource allocation and scheduling algorithms. Load balancing, one of the key strategies for improving system performance and resource utilization in distributed and parallel computing, generally views an effective load balancer as a 'traffic controller' of resources by directing tasks to available and capable resources. In this paper, a framework appropriate for modelling and reasoning about IoT resource optimization is developed. Further, implementation of an optimized resource allocation algorithm taking into consideration the users' quality of experience (QoE) and the quality of service (QoS) is made available. Simulation results authenticate analysis and validate the improved performance over existing work

A Game-Theoretic Approach for Elastic Distributed Data Stream Processing

Distributed data stream processing applications are structured as graphs of interconnected modules able to ingest high-speed data and to transform them in order to generate results of interest. Elasticity is one of the most appealing features of stream processing applications. It makes it possible to scale up/down the allocated computing resources on demand in response to fluctuations of the workload. On clouds, this represents a necessary feature to keep the operating cost at affordable levels while accommodating user-defined QoS requirements. In this article, we study this problem from a game-theoretic perspective. The control logic driving elasticity is distributed among local control agents capable of choosing the right amount of resources to use by each module. In a first step, we model the problem as a noncooperative game in which agents pursue their self-interest. We identify the Nash equilibria and we design a distributed procedure to reach the best equilibrium in the Pareto sense. As a second step, we extend the noncooperative formulation with a decentralized incentive-based mechanism in order to promote cooperation by moving the agreement point closer to the system optimum. Simulations confirm the results of our theoretical analysis and the quality of our strategies

Gestió i control de qualitat de servei a xarxes SDN en temps real

Este proyecto se centra en la emergente arquitectura de Software Defined Networking (SDN) para diseñar y desarrollar una aplicación SDN (SDNApp) basada en el paradigma de Servicios de Red bajo demanda (NaaS) para proporcionar y gestionar en tiempo real la Calidad de Servicio (QoS) extremo a extremo a través de una red para aplicaciones en tiempo real, adaptando el plano de control de la red para satisfacer los requisitos de una aplicación o servicio gracias a la utilización de la interfaz estandarizada de OpenFlow, que permite separar el plano de control del de datos y soporta funciones básicas para ofrecer calidad de servicio. El núcleo de la solución es un algoritmo llamado Pathfinder que es responsable de la demanda dinámica y el aprovisionamiento bajo demanda de recursos de red según los cambios de requisitos de la aplicación. El enfoque adoptado en el algoritmo principal es utilizar un algoritmo “Less-Greedy”. Esto significa que el algoritmo, a diferencia de la mayoría de algoritmos “Greedy” de QoS, no sólo trata de encontrar un camino óptimo, sino que también tiene en cuenta la implicación de otro tráfico en la red utilizando mecanismos de supervisión del estado de enlaces y puertos. La SDNApp Pathfinder es un módulo externo en desarrollo que ha sido diseñado para ser embebido en la Capa de Control de Red (NCL) desarrollada dentro del proyecto europeo FP7 OFERTIE, que se ha implementado dentro del “framework” OpenNaaS que permite a las aplicaciones suministrarse de servicios bajo demanda, de recursos de red y capacidades dinámicamente. Sin embargo, el proyecto tiene en cuenta también el funcionamiento de la aplicación central junto con un controlador OpenFlow y utiliza sus técnicas específicas para proporcionar y mantener la Calidad de Servicio de extremo a extremo. Sin la NCL, se depende de aplicaciones paralelas como mecanismos para realizar todas sus funcionalidades junto un controlador OpenFlow en una red de un solo dominio. Actualmente, el algoritmo está en un estado funcional experimental y considera el ancho de banda disponible para evitar el enrutamiento a través de enlaces de red que podrían congestionarse fácilmente

A Systematic Mapping Study of MMOG Backend Architectures

The advent of utility computing has revolutionized almost every sector of traditional software development. Especially commercial cloud computing services, pioneered by the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft, have provided an unprecedented opportunity for the fast and sustainable development of complex distributed systems. Nevertheless, existing models and tools aim primarily for systems where resource usage—by humans and bots alike—is logically and physically quite disperse resulting in a low likelihood of conflicting resource access. However, a number of resource-intensive applications, such as Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) and large-scale simulations introduce a requirement for a very large common state with many actors accessing it simultaneously and thus a high likelihood of conflicting resource access. This paper presents a systematic mapping study of the state-of-the-art in software technology aiming explicitly to support the development of MMOGs, a class of large-scale, resource-intensive software systems.By examining the main focus of a diverse set of related publications, we identify a list of criteria that are important for MMOG development. Then, we categorize the selected studies based on the inferred criteria in order to compare their approach, unveil the challenges faced in each of them and reveal research trends that might be present. Finally we attempt to identify research directions which appear promising for enabling the use of standardized technology for this class of systems

A Systematic Mapping Study of MMOG Backend Architectures

The advent of utility computing has revolutionized almost every sector of traditional software development. Especially commercial cloud computing services, pioneered by the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft, have provided an unprecedented opportunity for the fast and sustainable development of complex distributed systems. Nevertheless, existing models and tools aim primarily for systems where resource usage—by humans and bots alike—is logically and physically quite disperse resulting in a low likelihood of conflicting resource access. However, a number of resource-intensive applications, such as Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) and large-scale simulations introduce a requirement for a very large common state with many actors accessing it simultaneously and thus a high likelihood of conflicting resource access. This paper presents a systematic mapping study of the state-of-the-art in software technology aiming explicitly to support the development of MMOGs, a class of large-scale, resource-intensive software systems.By examining the main focus of a diverse set of related publications, we identify a list of criteria that are important for MMOG development. Then, we categorize the selected studies based on the inferred criteria in order to compare their approach, unveil the challenges faced in each of them and reveal research trends that might be present. Finally we attempt to identify research directions which appear promising for enabling the use of standardized technology for this class of systems