Investigations of an SLA Support System for Cloud Computing (SLACC)

Cloud Providers (CP) and Cloud Users (CU) need to agree on a set of parameters expressed through Service Level Agreements (SLA) for a given Cloud service. However, even with the existence of many CPs in the market, it is still impossible today to see CPs who guarantee, or at least offer, an SLA specification tailored to CU's interests: not just offering percentage of availability, but also guaranteeing, for example, specific performance parameters for a certain Cloud application. Due to (1) the huge size of CPs' IT infrastructures and (2) the high complexity with multiple inter-dependencies of resources (physical or virtual), the estimation of specific SLA parameters to compose Service Level Objectives (SLOs) with trustful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) tends to be inaccurate. This paper investigates an SLA Support System for CC (SLACC) which aims to estimate in a formalized methodology - based on available Cloud Computing infrastructure parameters - what CPs will be able to offer/accept as SLOs or KPIs and, as a consequence, which increasing levels of SLA specificity for their customers can be reache

Service level agreement em cloud computing : um estudo de caso

Mestrado em Ciências EmpresariaisO cloud computing é um novo modelo de negócio, que pressupõe a utilização de recursos tecnológicos em regime pay-as-you-go, permitindo que as empresas se foquem no seu core business, transformando as despesas de capital em despesas operacionais. Num ambiente cloud computing, o Service Level Agreement (SLA) é um documento que pretende gerir as expectativas do fornecedor de serviços e do cliente, relativamente à qualidade do serviço entregue, medindo e validando se os parâmetros previamente acordados são cumpridos. Com a elaboração deste trabalho pretende-se responder à questão de investigação: "Como negociar um Service Level Agreement para um ambiente cloud computing"?. Desta forma, realizou-se um estudo de caso numa empresa portuguesa, de média dimensão, fornecedora de soluções cloud. Procedeu-se a uma recolha de dados quantitativa e qualitativa, por meio de inquérito aos clientes da empresa, e posteriores entrevistas a um administrador (e responsável estratégico da cloud), e à responsável do serviço de suporte a clientes. Este trabalho contribui com uma reflexão sobre como um SLA deve ser estruturado e qual deverá ser o seu conteúdo; indica o conhecimento que as empresas possuem sobre os SLAs, bem como quais os parâmetros que consideram mais relevantes para a sua organização; e de que forma um SLA deve ser negociado, em regime cloud computing.Cloud computing is a new business model which assumes that technological resources are used under a pay-as-you-go manner, allowing companies to focus on their core business, turning capital expenditures into operational expenditures. Service Level Agreement (SLA) in cloud computing is a document that aims to manage service provider's and customer's expectations regarding the quality of service, by measuring and validating the parameters previously negotiated. This case study focus on answering the following question of investigation: "How to negotiate a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in a cloud computing environment"?. Therefore, it was performed a case study in a Portuguese mid-sized company, and cloud services provider. Thus, there has been collected a certain amount of quantitative data - through a survey to the company's customers. Next step was an interview with an administrator - and cloud manager - and an interview with the Service Desk manager. This study contributes to a reflection on how an SLA framework should be and what should be its content; tries to show what companies think about SLAs as well as which parameters are considered the most relevant to their organizations; and how should an SLA be negotiated in a cloud computing environment

Planning and Optimization During the Life-Cycle of Service Level Agreements for Cloud Computing

Ein Service Level Agreement (SLA) ist ein elektronischer Vertrag zwischen dem Kunden und dem Anbieter eines Services. Die beteiligten Partner kl aren ihre Erwartungen und Verp ichtungen in Bezug auf den Dienst und dessen Qualit at. SLAs werden bereits f ur die Beschreibung von Cloud-Computing-Diensten eingesetzt. Der Diensteanbieter stellt sicher, dass die Dienstqualit at erf ullt wird und mit den Anforderungen des Kunden bis zum Ende der vereinbarten Laufzeit ubereinstimmt. Die Durchf uhrung der SLAs erfordert einen erheblichen Aufwand, um Autonomie, Wirtschaftlichkeit und E zienz zu erreichen. Der gegenw artige Stand der Technik im SLA-Management begegnet Herausforderungen wie SLA-Darstellung f ur Cloud- Dienste, gesch aftsbezogene SLA-Optimierungen, Dienste-Outsourcing und Ressourcenmanagement. Diese Gebiete scha en zentrale und aktuelle Forschungsthemen. Das Management von SLAs in unterschiedlichen Phasen w ahrend ihrer Laufzeit erfordert eine daf ur entwickelte Methodik. Dadurch wird die Realisierung von Cloud SLAManagement vereinfacht. Ich pr asentiere ein breit gef achertes Modell im SLA-Laufzeitmanagement, das die genannten Herausforderungen adressiert. Diese Herangehensweise erm oglicht eine automatische Dienstemodellierung, sowie Aushandlung, Bereitstellung und Monitoring von SLAs. W ahrend der Erstellungsphase skizziere ich, wie die Modellierungsstrukturen verbessert und vereinfacht werden k onnen. Ein weiteres Ziel von meinem Ansatz ist die Minimierung von Implementierungs- und Outsourcingkosten zugunsten von Wettbewerbsf ahigkeit. In der SLA-Monitoringphase entwickle ich Strategien f ur die Auswahl und Zuweisung von virtuellen Cloud Ressourcen in Migrationsphasen. Anschlie end pr ufe ich mittels Monitoring eine gr o ere Zusammenstellung von SLAs, ob die vereinbarten Fehlertoleranzen eingehalten werden. Die vorliegende Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zu einem Entwurf der GWDG und deren wissenschaftlichen Communities. Die Forschung, die zu dieser Doktorarbeit gef uhrt hat, wurde als Teil von dem SLA@SOI EU/FP7 integriertem Projekt durchgef uhrt (contract No. 216556)

Investigations of an SLA Support System for Cloud Computing (SLACC)

Cloud Providers (CP) and Cloud Users (CU) need to agree on a set of parameters expressed through Service Level Agreements (SLA) for a given Cloud service. However, even with the existence of many CPs in the market, it is still impossible today to see CPs who guarantee, or at least offer, an SLA specification tailored to CU's interests: not just offering percentage of availability, but also guaranteeing, for example, specific performance parameters for a certain Cloud application. Due to (1) the huge size of CPs' IT infrastructures and (2) the high complexity with multiple inter-dependencies of resources (physical or virtual), the estimation of specific SLA parameters to compose Service Level Objectives (SLOs) with trustful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) tends to be inaccurate. This paper investigates an SLA Support System for CC (SLACC) which aims to estimate in a formalized methodology – based on available Cloud Computing infrastructure parameters – what CPs will be able to offer/accept as SLOs or KPIs and, as a consequence, which increasing levels of SLA specificity for their customers can be reached