Methods and systems for regulating service layer agreements for multiple cloud service requests

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for providing cloud services to multiple customers in a cloud. One embodiment includes receiving a number of requests for the cloud services from the multiple customers simultaneously or substantially simultaneously; prioritizing the requests based on a probability distribution of actually deploying a service, a budget of the customers, and an expected demand of the requested service based on the probability distribution; generating a number of cloud configurations along with a number of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the customers based on prioritization of the requests, a class & past behavior of the customers, and a current demand of the cloud services, the SLAs of the customers include differentiated price offering; recommending the cloud configurations and the SLAs to the customers; allowing the customers to negotiate terms of the SLAs; and providing the cloud services based on the negotiated SLAs to the customers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for providing one or more cloud services to a plurality of customers that are categorized into one or more categories in a computing cloud, the method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of requests for requesting one or more cloud services from the plurality of customers simultaneously or substantially simultaneously, wherein the plurality of customers are categorized into one or more classes;   prioritizing the plurality of requests based on at least one of a probability distribution of actually deploying a requested service, a budget of each of the plurality of customers, and an expected demand of the requested service based on the probability distribution;   generating a plurality of cloud configurations along with a plurality of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that include differentiated price offering for each of the plurality of customers based on at least one of the prioritization of the requests, the class of each of the plurality of customers, past behavior of each of the plurality of customers, and a current demand of the cloud services in the computing cloud, the SLA for each of the plurality of customers being generated to enhance at least one of service provider revenue, customer satisfaction and quality of recommendation;   recommending the generated cloud configurations and the SLAs to each of the plurality of customers, wherein the price offering in the SLA is provided as a range including an upper limit and a lower limit for deploying the one or more cloud services such that each of the plurality of customers can negotiate terms of its associated SLA; and   providing the one or more cloud services based on the negotiated SLAs to the plurality of customers.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of customers may request the one or more services by entering one or more high-level parameters through a service input interface including one or more input fields, wherein the high-level parameters includes at least one of a performance level, Green Point, budget, and location. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of customers selects the high-level parameters from a value set associated with one or more high-level parameter fields of each of the plurality of service input interfaces. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein allowing each of the plurality of customers to negotiate the terms of the SLA further includes receiving, generating and recommending until the customer is satisfied with the SLA, wherein each of the plurality of customers negotiates the terms of the SLA based on a trade-off between the one or more high-level parameters at a service layer of the cloud. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising modifying the SLAs of the plurality of customers based on the service level SLA negotiation. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising determining, for each of the plurality of requests, a probability of deployment of the one or more services corresponding to the price offering. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of requests is prioritized in a queue based on a descending order of the probability of deployment of the requested one or more cloud services and the price offering. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising reducing, for each of the plurality of requests, an availability of resource(s) based on an expected demand of the one or more cloud services by previous requests in the queue. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising searching for an enhanced cloud configuration for each of the plurality of requests based on at least one of the prioritization of requests, a class of each of the customers, past behavior of each customer, and a current demand of the one or more cloud services in the computing cloud. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising determining a price offering for each of the plurality of requests based on a posterior distribution of demand after observing the customers' current demand and the prior distribution of resources for deploying the requested one or more services to the plurality of customers. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the price offering in the generated SLA is provided such that a potential revenue for the service provider is enhanced while taking into account the probability distribution of the customer actually deploying the services with one or more of the high-level parameters. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the cloud configuration and the SLA are recommended to each of the plurality of customers based on an expected availability of resources required for deploying the requested one or more cloud services in the computing cloud. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein generating the recommendation further includes assigning a priority to the one or more services, such that a service with highest probability of acceptance is given a higher preference to get the resources. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the price for the one or more cloud services is low if a performance level entered by a customer of the plurality of customers is low. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein generating the cloud configuration along with the SLA further includes: estimating at least one of a budget, a Green Point, a performance level, and energy consumption for each possible cloud configuration based on the received high-level parameters. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein allowing to negotiate the terms of the SLA further includes at least one of deploying and cancelling terms of the SLA by the customer by selecting one or more buttons of an output interface. 
     
     
         17 . A system for providing one or more cloud services to a plurality of customers in a computing cloud, the system comprising:
 a service level agreement regulation (SLA) system at a service layer of the computing cloud, the SLA regulation system including:   a request processor configured to:   receive a plurality of requests for requesting the one or more cloud services from the plurality of customers simultaneously or substantially simultaneously; and   process the plurality of requests based on at least one of a probability distribution of actually deploying a requested service, a budget of each of the plurality of customers, and an expected demand of the requested service based on the probability distribution;   a cloud configuration generator configured to generate a plurality of cloud configurations along with a plurality of service level agreements (SLAs) that include differentiated price offerings for each of the plurality customers based on at least one of the prioritization of the requests, a class of each customer, past behavior of each of the plurality of customers, and a current demand of the cloud services in the computing cloud, the SLA for each of the plurality of customers being generated to enhance at least one of service provider revenue, customer satisfaction and quality of recommendation;   a recommender system configured to recommend the generated cloud configurations and the SLAs through a plurality of output interfaces, wherein the price offering in the SLA is provided as a range including an upper limit and a lower limit for deploying the one or more cloud services; and   an SLA negotiator configured to allow each of the customers to negotiate terms of its associated SLA, wherein the computing cloud provides the one or more cloud services based on the negotiated plurality of SLAs to the plurality customers.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising a plurality of service input interfaces for receiving one or more high-level parameters through one or more input fields, wherein the high-level parameters include at least one of a performance level, Green Point, budget, and location. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein each of the plurality of service input interfaces also allows the customers to enter one or more service inputs, wherein the service inputs include at least one of a service name and one or more service specific parameters. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein each of the plurality of customers selects the high-level parameters from a value set associated with one or more high-level parameter fields of each of the plurality of service input interfaces. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , further comprising a differentiated pricing module configured to determine price offering for each of the plurality of requests based on a posterior distribution of demand after observing the customers' current demand and the prior distribution of resources for deploying the requested one or more services to the plurality of customers. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the differentiated pricing module is further configured to generate a low price for the one or more cloud services if a performance level entered by the customer is low. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the SLA negotiator is further configured to perform receiving, generating and recommending until the customer is satisfied with the SLA, wherein each of the plurality of customers negotiates the terms of the SLA based on a trade-off between the one or more high-level parameters at a service layer of the computing cloud. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the SLA negotiator is further configured to modify the SLAs of the plurality of customers based on the service level SLA negotiation. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the request processor is further configured to determine, for each of the plurality of requests, a probability of deployment of the one or more services corresponding to the price offering. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the request processor is configured to prioritize the plurality of requests in a queue based on a descending order of the probability of the requested one or more cloud services and the price offering. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the request processor is further configured to reduce, for each of the plurality of requests, an availability of resource(s) based on an expected demand of the one or more cloud services by previous requests in the queue. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the recommender system is further configured to search for an enhanced cloud configuration for each of the plurality of requests based on at least one of the prioritization of requests, a class of each of the customers, past behavior of each of the customers, and a current demand of the one or more cloud services in the computing cloud. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the recommender system recommends the cloud configuration and the SLA to each of the plurality of customers based on an expected availability of resources required for deploying the requested one or more cloud services in the computing cloud. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the recommender system is further configured to assign a priority to the one or more cloud services, such that a cloud service with a highest probability of acceptance is given a higher preference to get the resources. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the cloud configuration generator is further configured to estimate at least one of a budget, a Green Point, a performance level, and energy consumption for each possible cloud configuration based on the received high-level parameters. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein each of the output interfaces includes one or more buttons having at least one of a deploy button and a cancel button, wherein each of the customers initiates a negotiation of the SLA by selecting the cancel button. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 32 , wherein the cloud further comprises a middleware layer and an infrastructure layer.