Architecture and Business Logic Specification for Dynamic Cloud Federations

Abstract

Cloud federations have been seen as a possible solution for the volatility in the number of user requests and for the anti-competitive externalities of the economies of scale in the cloud service sector. In order for a federation to exist in the commercial market, an efficient mechanism for resource and revenue sharing is of paramount importance. In this paper, we design the architecture and specify the business logic for the dynamic operation of such federation platforms. The architecture and federation business logic specification include components, a federation SLA management framework, and revenue sharing mechanisms. It can also offer appropriate incentives to cloud providers for joining a federation. With such dynamism in the platform, cloud providers have the ability to automatically form and dissolve federations, to maintain resource compatibility, and to self-adapt to policies for managing contractual and economic relationships between federation members. This helps in streamlining the overall business process without being dependent on existing business relationships between service providers, between service providers of a federation, and between service providers and customers. This can encourage cloud providers to join in and be benefitted from the federation, thereby contributing to moving cloud computing to the next level.