Service level agreements-driven management of distributed applications in cloud computing environments

Advancements in cloud computing have enabled the proliferation of distributed applications, which require management and control of multiple services. However, without an efficient mechanism for scaling services in response to changing workload conditions, such as number of connected users, application performance might suffer, leading to violations of Service Level Agreements (SLA) and possible inefficient use of hardware resources. Combining dynamic application requirements with the increased use of virtualised computing resources creates a challenging resource Management context for application and cloud-infrastructure owners. In such complex environments, business entities use SLAs as a means for specifying quantitative and qualitative requirements of services. There are several challenges in running distributed enterprise applications in cloud environments, ranging from the instantiation of service VMs in the correct order using an adequate quantity of computing resources, to adapting the number of running services in response to varying external loads, such as number of users. The application owner is interested in finding the optimum amount of computing and network resources to use for ensuring that the performance requirements of all her/his applications are met. She/he is also interested in appropriately scaling the distributed services so that application performance guarantees are maintained even under dynamic workload conditions. Similarly, the infrastructure Providers are interested in optimally provisioning the virtual resources onto the available physical infrastructure so that her/his operational costs are minimized, while maximizing the performance of tenants’ applications. Motivated by the complexities associated with the management and scaling of distributed applications, while satisfying multiple objectives (related to both consumers and providers of cloud resources), this thesis proposes a cloud resource management platform able to dynamically provision and coordinate the various lifecycle actions on both virtual and physical cloud resources using semantically enriched SLAs. The system focuses on dynamic sizing (scaling) of virtual infrastructures composed of virtual machines (VM) bounded application services. We describe several algorithms for adapting the number of VMs allocated to the distributed application in response to changing workload conditions, based on SLA-defined performance guarantees. We also present a framework for dynamic composition of scaling rules for distributed service, which used benchmark-generated application Monitoring traces. We show how these scaling rules can be combined and included into semantic SLAs for controlling allocation of services. We also provide a detailed description of the multi-objective infrastructure resource allocation problem and various approaches to satisfying this problem. We present a resource management system based on a genetic algorithm, which performs allocation of virtual resources, while considering the optimization of multiple criteria. We prove that our approach significantly outperforms reactive VM-scaling algorithms as well as heuristic-based VM-allocation approaches.

The new cloud computing paradigm: the way to IT seen as a utility

In the present competitive environment, companies are wondering how to reduce their IT costs while increasing their efficiency and agility to react when changes in the business processes are required. Cloud Computing is the latest paradigm to optimize the use of IT resources considering ?everything as a service? and receiving these services from the Cloud (Internet) instead of owning and managing hardware and software assets. The benefits from the model are clear. However, there are also concerns and issues to be solved before Cloud Computing spreads across the different industries. This model will allow a pay-per-use model for the IT services and many benefits like cost savings, agility to react when business demands changes and simplicity because there will not be any infrastructure to operate and administrate. It will be comparable to the well known utilities like electricity, water or gas companies. However, this paper underlines several risk factors of the model. Leading technology companies should research on solutions to minimize the risks described in this article. Keywords - Cloud Computing, Utility Computing, Elastic Computing, Enterprise Agility

The University in the Cloud Computing.

With the advancement of Information and Communication Technology ICT which favors increasingly fast, easy, and accessible communication for all and which can reach large groups of people, there have been changes, in recent years in our society that have modified the way we interact, communicate and transmit information. Access to this, it is possible, not only through computers situated in a fixed location, but new mobile devices make it available, wherever the user happens to be located. Now, information "travels" with the user. These forms of communication, transmission and access to information, have also affected the way to conceive and manage business. To these new forms of business that the Internet has brought, is now added the concept of companies in the Cloud Computing ClC. The ClC technology is based on the supply and consumption of services on demand and pay per use, and it gives a 180 degree turn to the business management concept. Small and large businesses may use the latest developments in ICT, to manage their organizations without the need for expensive investments in them. This will enable enterprises to focus more specifically within the scope of their business, leaving the ICT control to the experts. We believe that education can also and should benefit from these new philosophies. ?Due to the global economic crisis in general and each country in particular, economic cutbacks have come to most universities. These are seen in the need to raise tuition rates, which makes increasingly fewer students have the opportunity to pursue higher education?. In this paper we propose using ClC technologies in universities and we make a dissertation on the advantages that it can provide to both: universities and students. For the universities, we expose two focuses, one: ?to reorganize university ICT structures with the ClC philosophy? and the other one, ?to extend the offer of the university education with education on demand?. Regarding the former we propose to use public or private Clouds, to reuse resources across the education community, to save costs on infrastructure investment, in upgrades and in maintenance of ICT, and paying only for what you use and with the ability to scale according to needs. Regarding the latter, we propose an educational model in the ClC, to increase the current university offerings, using educational units in the form of low-cost services and where students pay only for the units consumed on demand. For the students, they could study at any university in the world (virtually), from anywhere, without travel costs: money and time, and what is most important paying only for what they consume. We think that this proposal of education on demand may represent a great change in the current educational model, because strict registration deadlines disappear, and also the problem of economically disadvantaged students, who will not have to raise large amounts of money for an annual tuition. Also it will decrease the problem of loss of the money invested in an enrollment when the student dropout. In summary we think that this proposal is interesting for both, universities and students, we aim for "Higher education from anywhere, with access from any mobile device, at any time, without requiring large investments for students, and with reuse and optimization of resources by universities. Cost by consumption and consumption by service?. We argue for a Universal University "wisdom and knowledge accessible to all?

Disruptive Marketing Strategy - ribaltare i classici modelli di approccio al mercato

Viviamo in un epoca di cambiamenti. Continuamente, giorno dopo giorno, il vecchio scompare per fare spazio al nuovo. La tecnologia permea sempre più in ogni aspetto della vita, conquistando le nostre abitudini, cambiando il nostro modo di vedere il mondo, e, in maniera inevitabile, il nostro modo di agire. L’essere umano ha da sempre cercato di concepire cose che ancora non ci sono, per cambiare la realtà e modellarla a suo piacimento. Si parte, quindi, da qualcosa che fin dalla nascita è dentro ognuno di noi, un desiderio che arde nell'animo umano, che si alimenta grazie al soffio dell’immaginazione e che non c’è modo di spegnere. L’innovazione porta novità. Resistere al cambiamento non è sempre facile, e se si cerca di ostacolarlo esso ti travolgerà. “Affrontare il cambiamento è come scalare una colata di fango giù per una collina” - esordisce in “The Innovator Dilemma”, Clayton M. Christensen - “Bisogna affrontare qualsiasi cosa per rimanere su di essa, e non appena ci si ferma per prendere fiato si viene seppelliti”. Si intuisce come il cambiamento tecnologico non solo sia di fondamentale evidenza nella vita di ognuno, ma come esso abbia cambiato e stia cambiando il modo di fare business. In questo umile lavoro si è voluto analizzare come certi tipi di innovazione abbiano il potere di cambiare tutto un sistema di riferimento sul quale prima l’impresa faceva affidamento. Sono le Disruptive Innovation – le innovazioni dirompenti – quelle innovazioni che ribaltano un modello di business, il modo di vedere un prodotto, la logica dietro a certe operations aziendali, che seppur sembrassero solide, si sgretolano scontrandosi con innovazioni così forti. Vi è poi una domanda critica a cui si è cercato di rispondere. Si può fare Disruptive Marketing? Alcuni esempi virtuosi ci mostrano come si possa attuare una strategia di questo genere, e come si possa “comprendere, creare, comunicare e distribuire valore” in modo innovativo.

An Autonomic Framework for Mobile Cloud Computing

This thesis presents the formal definition of a novel Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) extension of the Networked Autonomic Machine (NAM) framework, a general-purpose conceptual tool which describes large-scale distributed autonomic systems. The introduction of autonomic policies in the MCC paradigm has proved to be an effective technique to increase the robustness and flexibility of MCC systems. In particular, autonomic policies based on continuous resource and connectivity monitoring help automate context-aware decisions for computation offloading. We have also provided NAM with a formalization in terms of a transformational operational semantics in order to fill the gap between its existing Java implementation NAM4J and its conceptual definition. Moreover, we have extended NAM4J by adding several components with the purpose of managing large scale autonomic distributed environments. In particular, the middleware allows for the implementation of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks of NAM nodes. Moreover, NAM mobility actions have been implemented to enable the migration of code, execution state and data. Within NAM4J, we have designed and developed a component, denoted as context bus, which is particularly useful in collaborative applications in that, if replicated on each peer, it instantiates a virtual shared channel allowing nodes to notify and get notified about context events. Regarding the autonomic policies management, we have provided NAM4J with a rule engine, whose purpose is to allow a system to autonomously determine when offloading is convenient. We have also provided NAM4J with trust and reputation management mechanisms to make the middleware suitable for applications in which such aspects are of great interest. To this purpose, we have designed and implemented a distributed framework, denoted as DARTSense, where no central server is required, as reputation values are stored and updated by participants in a subjective fashion. We have also investigated the literature regarding MCC systems. The analysis pointed out that all MCC models focus on mobile devices, and consider the Cloud as a system with unlimited resources. To contribute in filling this gap, we defined a modeling and simulation framework for the design and analysis of MCC systems, encompassing both their sides. We have also implemented a modular and reusable simulator of the model. We have applied the NAM principles to two different application scenarios. First, we have defined a hybrid P2P/cloud approach where components and protocols are autonomically configured according to specific target goals, such as cost-effectiveness, reliability and availability. Merging P2P and cloud paradigms brings together the advantages of both: high availability, provided by the Cloud presence, and low cost, by exploiting inexpensive peers resources. As an example, we have shown how the proposed approach can be used to design NAM-based collaborative storage systems based on an autonomic policy to decide how to distribute data chunks among peers and Cloud, according to cost minimization and data availability goals. As a second application, we have defined an autonomic architecture for decentralized urban participatory sensing (UPS) which bridges sensor networks and mobile systems to improve effectiveness and efficiency. The developed application allows users to retrieve and publish different types of sensed information by using the features provided by NAM4J's context bus. Trust and reputation is managed through the application of DARTSense mechanisms. Also, the application includes an autonomic policy that detects areas characterized by few contributors, and tries to recruit new providers by migrating code necessary to sensing, through NAM mobility actions.

A számítási felhő az Európai Unió egén (Cloud computing on the sky of European Union)

Napjaink informatikai világának talán legkeresettebb hívó szava a cloud computing, vagy magyar fordításban, a számítási felhő. A fordítás forrása az EU-s (Digitális Menetrend magyar változata, 2010) A számítási felhő üzleti modelljének részletes leírását adja (Bőgel, 2009). Bőgel György ismerteti az új, közműszerű informatikai szolgáltatás kialakulását és gazdasági előnyeit, nagy jövőt jósolva a számítási felhőnek az üzleti modellek versenyében. A szerző – a számítási felhő üzleti előnyei mellett – nagyobb hangsúlyt fektet dolgozatában a gyors elterjedést gátló tényezőkre, és arra, hogy mit jelentenek az előnyök és a hátrányok egy üzleti, informatikai vagy megfelelőségi vezető számára. Nem csökkentve a cloud modell gazdasági jelentőségét, fontosnak tartja, hogy a problémákról és a kockázatokról is szóljon. Kiemeli, hogy a kockázatokban – különösen a biztonsági és adatvédelmi kockázatokban – lényeges különbségek vannak az Európai Gazdasági Térség és a világ többi része, pl. az Amerikai Egyesült Államok között. A cikkben rámutat ezekre a különbségekre, és az olvasó magyarázatot kap arra is, hogy miért várható a számítási felhő lassabb terjedése Európában, mint a világ más részein. Bemutatja az EU erőfeszítéseit is a számítási felhő európai terjedésének elősegítésére, tekintettel a modell versenyképességet növelő hatására. / === / One of the most popular concept of the recent web searches is cloud computing. Several authors present detailed description of the new service model and it's business benefits and cite the optimistic prognoses of the cloud experts regarding the competition of information system service models. The author analyses the operational benefits of the cloud application and give a detailed description of the inhibitors of the fast expansion of the service modell. He also analyses the pros and cons of the cloud for a business manager, an information and a compliance officer. When understanding the advantages of the cloud, it is equally important to review the problems and risks associated with the model. The paper gives a list of the expected cloud-specific risks. It also explains the differences in security and data protection approach between the European Economic Area and the rest of the world, including the USA. The explains why slower expansion of the cloud modell is expected in Europe than in the rest of the world. The efforts of the EU Committee in helping to spread the cloud model is also presented, as the EU's officers consider the model as an important element of competitiveness.

ERP-rendszerek a számítási felhőben (cloud computing) - A felhőtechnikával összefüggő új ERP-kiválasztási kritériumok elemzése (ERP systems within cloud – Criteria for selection of ERP systems in a cloud environment)

Néhány éve vonult be a köztudatba a cloud computing fogalom, mely ma már a szakirodalomban és az informatikai alkalmazásokban is egyre nagyobb teret foglal el. Ez az új IT-technológia a számítási felhő számítástechnikai szolgáltatásaihoz kapcsolódó ERP-rendszerek szabványosítását, elterjedését eredményezi. A szerzők cikkükben áttekintést adnak a cloud computing mai helyzetéről és a számítási felhőben működő adatfeldolgozó rendszerekkel (kiemelten ERP) kapcsolatos felhasználói elvárásokról, illetve kezdeti, németországi alkalmazási tapasztalatokról. Külön tárgyalják az ERP-rendszerek új kiválasztási céljait és kritériumait, melyek a felhőkörnyezet speciális lehetőségei miatt alakultak ki. _____ The concept of ‘Cloud’ as an IT notion emerged in the past years and proliferated within the business and IT professional community. The concept of cloud gained awareness both in the professional and scientific literature and in the practice of IT/IS world. The cloud has a profound impact on the Business Information Systems, especially on ERP systems. Indirectly, the cloud leads to a massive standardization on ERP systems and their services. In this paper, the authors provide a literature overview about the current situation of Cloud Computing and the requirements established by end-users against the other data processing facilities and systems, outstandingly the ERP systems. The majority of investigated cases are based on samples from Germany. Furthermore, the initial experiences of application are discussed. Separately, the recent selection objectives and criteria for ERP systems are investigated that came into existence because the appearance of Cloud in the IT environment.

Progettazione di un sistema di business intelligence per offerwall incentivati

Lo scopo del presente elaborato è ottenere dati grezzi dai maggiori offerwalls affinché si renda possibile elaborarli ed analizzarli per metterli a disposizione delle figure che si occupano di account management di un potenziale Ad Network quale è MyAppFree. Il primo Ad Network competitor a venire integrato nel presente tool di Business Intelligence è OfferToro, seguito da AdGem, il quale è attualmente in fase di integrazione. Prima di presentare i risultati del tool, a cui è stato dedicato l’ultimo capitolo dell’elaborato, sono stati approfonditi ed analizzati ampiamente i concetti fondamentali per la comprensione del progetto insieme agli strumenti utilizzati per la costituzione dell’architettura software. Successivamente, viene presentata l'architettura dei singoli microservizi oltre a quella sistemistica generale, la quale tratta come le parti che compongono iBiT, interagiscono tra loro. Infine, l’ultima parte della trattazione è dedicata al funzionamento del Front End Side per la figura account manager, che rappresenta l’utente finale del progetto. Unita alle analisi dei risultati ottenuti tramite una fase di benchmark testing, metrica che misura un insieme ripetibile di risultati quantificabili che serve come punto di riferimento perché prodotti e servizi possano essere confrontati. Lo scopo dei risultati dei test di benchmark è quello di confrontare le versioni presenti e future del software tramite i rispettivi benchmark.

Estudo de adoção de tecnologias de cloud computing no contexto das PMES portuguesas

A sociedade atual é marcada por uma crescente competição entre as organizações, as quais para garantirem a sua sobrevivência têm que evoluir e utilizar a tecnologia de informação mais adequada. Num período em que as PMES portuguesas necessitam de reduzir custos e concentrarem-se mais no seu processo de negócio surge um novo paradigma tecnológico, a Computação na Nuvem, esta ainda é um paradigma bastante recente, onde os recursos de TI que apresentam características de elasticidade e dinâmicas são oferecidos ao cliente como um serviço, no qual este paga apenas o que consome (pagamento por utilização). A Cloud Computing com o seu novo paradigma permite às organizações, principalmente às PMES reduzirem custos, concentrarem-se no seu processo de negócio sem se preocuparem com a parte informática (cópias de segurança, assistência e perda de dados) e obter um retorno mais rápido do seu investimento. Este trabalho consiste no Estudo da Adoção Individual da Cloud Computing no contexto das PMEs Portuguesas, o qual apresenta como principais objetivos obter uma melhor compreensão do conceito Cloud Computing, entender a sua importância para os indivíduos das PMES, identificar os seus fatores de sucesso e insucesso e identificar as limitações sentidas de uma forma generalizada e de uma forma específica para as PMES Portuguesas. Para cumprir os objetivos mencionados anteriormente, efetuou-se uma extensa revisão de literatura, propôs-se um modelo conceptual de investigação com adaptações à Teoria Unificada de Aceitação e Uso de Tecnologia (UTAUT) e utilizou-se como instrumento de recolha de dados um questionário que foi enviado às PMES Portuguesas.

Cloud computing sobre a plataforma Windows Azure

A utilização massiva da internet e dos serviços que oferece por parte do utilizador final potencia a evolução dos mesmos, motivando as empresas a apostarem no desenvolvimento deste tipo de soluções. Requisitos como o poder de computação, flexibilidade e escalabilidade tornam-se cada vez mais indissociáveis do desenvolvimento aplicacional, o que leva ao surgimento de paradigmas como o de Cloud Computing. É neste âmbito que surge o presente trabalho. Com o objetivo de estudar o paradigma de Cloud Computing inicia-se um estudo sobre esta temática, onde é detalhado o seu conceito, a sua evolução histórica e comparados os diferentes tipos de implementações que suporta. O estudo detalha posteriormente a plataforma Azure, sendo analisada a sua topologia e arquitetura, detalhando-se os seus componentes e a forma como esta mitiga alguns dos problemas mencionados. Com o conhecimento teórico é desenvolvido um protótipo prático sobre esta plataforma, em que se exploram algumas das particularidades da topologia e se interage com as principais redes sociais. O estudo culmina com uma análise sobre os benefícios e desvantagens do Azure e através de um levantamento das necessidades da empresa, determinam-se as oportunidades que a utilização da plataforma poderá proporcionar.

Meios de partilha de recursos educativos digitais: LMS, CMS e Cloud Computing

Para muitos, o ato de ensinar, era e continua a ser uma “arte”, em que os professores e os grandes mestres mais eficientes são aqueles que têm a capacidade e a arte de fazer passar as suas mensagens e conhecimentos, de forma simples e apelativa, independentemente da área de estudo. A informação relacionada com a aula, é cada vez mais digital, sendo importante, por parte dos docentes, o domínio de tecnologias de criação, organização e disponibilização de conteúdos. Essa partilha foi inicialmente possível pelas páginas Web e mais tarde pelas plataformas LMS (Learning Management System). Criar um Website era uma tarefa complicada quer ao nível do seu custo quer ao nível do domínio da tecnologia Web e era por vezes necessário contratar profissionais para o efeito. Surgiram então as CMS (Content Management System) que são tecnologias Open Source, que permitem a gestão de conteúdos. Neste sentido foi realizado um estudo com o objetivo de aferir sobre as competências dos professores no domínio da partilha de Gestão de Conteúdos Digitais. O presente estudo permitiu retirar conclusões sobre o potencial e aplicabilidade das CMS no ensino. O principal objetivo do presente estudo incidiu no potencial de distribuição e partilha de Recursos Educativos Digitais organizados sobre o ponto de vista pedagógico aos alunos. Foi ainda analisado e estudado o papel do Cloud Computing no processo de partilha colaborativa de documentos. Foi delineado como suporte à presente investigação um curso modelo que por sua vez foi implementado nas três principais CMS da atualidade e avaliado o potencial de cada uma neste contexto. Finalmente foram apresentadas as conclusões retiradas do presente estudo.

Integrated Management of Cloud Computing Resources

Lunacloud is a cloud service provider with offices in Portugal, Spain, France and UK that focus on delivering reliable, elastic and low cost cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions. The company currently relies on a proprietary IaaS platform - the Parallels Automation for Cloud Infrastructure (PACI) - and wishes to expand and integrate other IaaS solutions seamlessly, namely open source solutions. This is the challenge addressed in this thesis. This proposal, which was fostered by Eurocloud Portugal Association, contributes to the promotion of interoperability and standardisation in Cloud Computing. The goal is to investigate, propose and develop an interoperable open source solution with standard interfaces for the integrated management of IaaS Cloud Computing resources based on new as well as existing abstraction libraries or frameworks. The solution should provide bothWeb and application programming interfaces. The research conducted consisted of two surveys covering existing open source IaaS platforms and PACI (features and API) and open source IaaS abstraction solutions. The first study was focussed on the characteristics of most popular open source IaaS platforms, namely OpenNebula, OpenStack, CloudStack and Eucalyptus, as well as PACI and included a thorough inventory of the provided Application Programming Interfaces (API), i.e., offered operations, followed by a comparison of these platforms in order to establish their similarities and dissimilarities. The second study on existing open source interoperability solutions included the analysis of existing abstraction libraries and frameworks and their comparison. The approach proposed and adopted, which was supported on the conclusions of the carried surveys, reuses an existing open source abstraction solution – the Apache Deltacloud framework. Deltacloud relies on the development of software driver modules to interface with different IaaS platforms, officially provides and supports drivers to sixteen IaaS platform, including OpenNebula and OpenStack, and allows the development of new provider drivers. The latter functionality was used to develop a new Deltacloud driver for PACI. Furthermore, Deltacloud provides a Web dashboard and REpresentational State Transfer (REST) API interfaces. To evaluate the adopted solution, a test bed integrating OpenNebula, Open- Stack and PACI nodes was assembled and deployed. The tests conducted involved time elapsed and data payload measurements via the Deltacloud framework as well as via the pre-existing IaaS platform API. The Deltacloud framework behaved as expected, i.e., introduced additional delays, but no substantial overheads. Both the Web and the REST interfaces were tested and showed identical measurements. The developed interoperable solution for the seamless integration and provision of IaaS resources from PACI, OpenNebula and OpenStack IaaS platforms fulfils the specified requirements, i.e., provides Lunacloud with the ability to expand the range of adopted IaaS platforms and offers a Web dashboard and REST API for the integrated management. The contributions of this work include the surveys and comparisons made, the selection of the abstraction framework and, last, but not the least, the PACI driver developed.

The adoption of cloud computing by SMEs: identifying and coping with external factors.

Comunicação apresentada na CAPSI 2011 - 11ª Conferência da Associação Portuguesa de Sistemas de Informação – A Gestão de Informação na era da Cloud Computing, Lisboa, ISEG/IUL-ISCTE/, 19 a 21 de Outubro de 2011.

Sistema para a monitorização ativa com recurso ao cloud computing

O desenvolvimento de aplicações para dispositivos móveis já não é uma área recente, contudo continua a crescer a um ritmo veloz. É notório o avanço tecnológico dos últimos anos e a crescente popularidade destes dispositivos. Este avanço deve-se não só à grande evolução no que diz respeito às características destes dispositivos, mas também à possibilidade de criar aplicações inovadoras, práticas e passíveis de solucionar os problemas dos utilizadores em geral. Nesse sentido, as necessidades do quotidiano obrigam à implementação de soluções que satisfaçam os utilizadores, e nos dias de hoje, essa satisfação muitas vezes passa pelos dispositivos móveis, que já tem um papel fundamental na vida das pessoas. Atendendo ao aumento do número de raptos de crianças e à insegurança que se verifica nos dias de hoje, as quais dificultam a tarefa de todos os pais/cuidadores que procuraram manter as suas crianças a salvo, é relevante criar uma nova ferramenta capaz de os auxiliar nesta árdua tarefa. A partir desta realidade, e com vista a cumprir os aspetos acima mencionados, surge assim esta dissertação de mestrado. Esta aborda o estudo e implementação efetuados no sentido de desenvolver um sistema de monitorização de crianças. Assim, o objetivo deste projeto passa por desenvolver uma aplicação nativa para Android e um back-end, utilizando um servidor de base de dados NoSQL para o armazenamento da informação, aplicando os conceitos estudados e as tecnologias existentes. A solução tem como principais premissas: ser o mais user-friendly possível, a otimização, a escalabilidade para outras situações (outros tipos de monitorizações) e a aplicação das mais recentes tecnologias. Assim sendo, um dos estudos mais aprofundados nesta dissertação de mestrado está relacionado com as bases de dados NoSQL, dada a sua importância no projeto.