Efficiency measurement of cloud service providers using network data envelopment analysis

An increasing number of organizations and businesses around the world use cloud computing services to improve their performance in the competitive marketplace. However, one of the biggest challenges in using cloud computing services is performance measurement and the selection of the best cloud service providers (CSPs) based on quality of service (QoS) requirements (Duan, 2017). To address this shortcoming in this article we propose a network data envelopment analysis (DEA) method in measuring the efficiency of CSPs. When network dimensions are taken into consideration, a more comprehensive analysis is enabled where divisional efficiency is reflected in overall efficiency estimates. This helps managers and decision makers in organizations to make accurate decisions in selecting cloud services. In the current study, variable returns to scale (VRS), the non-oriented network slacks-based measure (SBM) model and input-oriented and output-oriented SBM models are applied to measure the performance of 18 CSPs. The obtained results show the superiority of the network DEA model and they also demonstrate that the proposed model can evaluate and rank CSPs much better than compared to traditional DEA models

Toward a More Accurate Web Service Selection Using Modified Interval DEA Models with Undesirable Outputs

With the growing number of Web services on the internet, there is a challenge to select the best Web service which can offer more quality-of-service (QoS) values at the lowest price. Another challenge is the uncertainty of QoS values over time due to the unpredictable nature of the internet. In this paper, we modify the interval data envelopment analysis (DEA) models [Wang, Greatbanks and Yang (2005)] for QoS-aware Web service selection considering the uncertainty of QoS attributes in the presence of desirable and undesirable factors. We conduct a set of experiments using a synthesized dataset to show the capabilities of the proposed models. The experimental results show that the correlation between the proposed models and the interval DEA models is significant. Also, the proposed models provide almost robust results and represent more stable behavior than the interval DEA models against QoS variations. Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed models for QoS-aware Web service composition. Experimental results indicate that the proposed models significantly improve the fitness of the resultant compositions when they filter out unsatisfactory candidate services for each abstract service in the preprocessing phase. These models help users to select the best possible cloud service considering the dynamic internet environment and they help service providers to improve their Web services in the marke

Generic Methods for Adaptive Management of Service Level Agreements in Cloud Computing

The adoption of cloud computing to build and deliver application services has been nothing less than phenomenal. Service oriented systems are being built using disparate sources composed of web services, replicable datastores, messaging, monitoring and analytics functions and more. Clouds augment these systems with advanced features such as high availability, customer affinity and autoscaling on a fair pay-per-use cost model. The challenge lies in using the utility paradigm of cloud beyond its current exploit. Major trends show that multi-domain synergies are creating added-value service propositions. This raises two questions on autonomic behaviors, which are specifically ad- dressed by this thesis. The first question deals with mechanism design that brings the customer and provider(s) together in the procurement process. The purpose is that considering customer requirements for quality of service and other non functional properties, service dependencies need to be efficiently resolved and legally stipulated. The second question deals with effective management of cloud infrastructures such that commitments to customers are fulfilled and the infrastructure is optimally operated in accordance with provider policies. This thesis finds motivation in Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to answer these questions. The role of SLAs is explored as instruments to build and maintain trust in an economy where services are increasingly interdependent. The thesis takes a wholesome approach and develops generic methods to automate SLA lifecycle management, by identifying and solving relevant research problems. The methods afford adaptiveness in changing business landscape and can be localized through policy based controls. A thematic vision that emerges from this work is that business models, services and the delivery technology are in- dependent concepts that can be finely knitted together by SLAs. Experimental evaluations support the message of this thesis, that exploiting SLAs as foundations for market innovation and infrastructure governance indeed holds win-win opportunities for both cloud customers and cloud providers

Evolutionary algorithm-based multi-objective task scheduling optimization model in cloud environments

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York. Optimizing task scheduling in a distributed heterogeneous computing environment, which is a nonlinear multi-objective NP-hard problem, plays a critical role in decreasing service response time and cost, and boosting Quality of Service (QoS). This paper, considers four conflicting objectives, namely minimizing task transfer time, task execution cost, power consumption, and task queue length, to develop a comprehensive multi-objective optimization model for task scheduling. This model reduces costs from both the customer and provider perspectives by considering execution and power cost. We evaluate our model by applying two multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, namely Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) and Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA). To implement the proposed model, we extend the Cloudsim toolkit by using MOPSO and MOGA as its task scheduling algorithms which determine the optimal task arrangement among VMs. The simulation results show that the proposed multi-objective model finds optimal trade-off solutions amongst the four conflicting objectives, which significantly reduces the job response time and makespan. This model not only increases QoS but also decreases the cost to providers. From our experimentation results, we find that MOPSO is a faster and more accurate evolutionary algorithm than MOGA for solving such problems

Data Mining Applications in Big Data

Data mining is a process of extracting hidden, unknown, but potentially useful information from massive data. Big Data has great impacts on scientific discoveries and value creation. This paper introduces methods in data mining and technologies in Big Data. Challenges of data mining and data mining with big data are discussed. Some technology progress of data mining and data mining with big data are also presented

Self-adaptive volunteered services composition through stimulus-and time-awareness

Volunteered Service Composition (VSC) refers to the process of composing volunteered services and resources. These services are typically published to a pool of voluntary resources. Selection and composition decisions tend to encounter numerous uncertainties: service consumers and applications have little control of these services and tend to be uncertain about their level of support for the desired functionalities and non-functionalities. In this paper, we contribute to a self-awareness framework that implements two levels of awareness, Stimulus-awareness and Time-awareness. The former responds to basic changes in the environment while the latter takes into consideration the historical performance of the services. We have used volunteer service computing as an example to demonstrate the benefits that self-awareness can introduce to self-adaptation. We have compared the Stimulus-and Time-awareness approaches with a recent Ranking approach from the literature. The results show that the Time-awareness level has the advantage of satisfying higher number of requests with lower time cost

Cloud computing adoption decision modelling for SMEs: a conjoint analysis

Cloud computing is an emerging technology that promises competitive advantages, cost savings, enhanced business processes and services, and various other benefits to enterprises. Despite the rapid technological advancement, the adoption of cloud computing is still growing slowly among small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). This paper presents a model to support the decisionmaking process, using a multi-criteria decision method PAPRIKA for the socio-technical aspects influencing SMEs cloud adoption decision. Due to the multifaceted nature of the cloud computing adoption process, the evaluation of various cloud services and deployment models have become a major challenge. This paper presents a systematic approach to evaluating cloud computing services and deployment models. Subsequently, we have conducted conjoint analysis activities with five SMEs decision makers as part of the distribution process of this decision modelling based on predetermined criteria. With the help of the proposed model, cloud services and deployment models can be ranked and selected

Rethinking Routing and Peering in the era of Vertical Integration of Network Functions

Content providers typically control the digital content consumption services and are getting the most revenue by implementing an all-you-can-eat model via subscription or hyper-targeted advertisements. Revamping the existing Internet architecture and design, a vertical integration where a content provider and access ISP will act as unibody in a sugarcane form seems to be the recent trend. As this vertical integration trend is emerging in the ISP market, it is questionable if existing routing architecture will suffice in terms of sustainable economics, peering, and scalability. It is expected that the current routing will need careful modifications and smart innovations to ensure effective and reliable end-to-end packet delivery. This involves new feature developments for handling traffic with reduced latency to tackle routing scalability issues in a more secure way and to offer new services at cheaper costs. Considering the fact that prices of DRAM or TCAM in legacy routers are not necessarily decreasing at the desired pace, cloud computing can be a great solution to manage the increasing computation and memory complexity of routing functions in a centralized manner with optimized expenses. Focusing on the attributes associated with existing routing cost models and by exploring a hybrid approach to SDN, we also compare recent trends in cloud pricing (for both storage and service) to evaluate whether it would be economically beneficial to integrate cloud services with legacy routing for improved cost-efficiency. In terms of peering, using the US as a case study, we show the overlaps between access ISPs and content providers to explore the viability of a future in terms of peering between the new emerging content-dominated sugarcane ISPs and the healthiness of Internet economics. To this end, we introduce meta-peering, a term that encompasses automation efforts related to peering – from identifying a list of ISPs likely to peer, to injecting control-plane rules, to continuous monitoring and notifying any violation – one of the many outcroppings of vertical integration procedure which could be offered to the ISPs as a standalone service