A comparison of two-level and multi-level modelling for cloud-based applications

Abstract

The Cloud Modelling Framework (CloudMF) is an approach to apply model-driven engineering principles to the specification and execution of cloud-based applications. It comprises a domain-specific language to model the deployment topology of multi-cloud applications, along with a models@run-time environment to facilitate reasoning and adaptation of these applications at run-time. This paper reports on some challenges encountered during the design of CloudMF, related to the adoption of the two-level modelling approach and especially the typeinstance pattern. Moreover, it proposes the adoption of an alternative, multi-level modelling approach to tackle these challenges, and provides a set of criteria to compare both approaches.