Method and system for selection of cloud-computing services

Abstract

An engine for allocation of cloud computing resources to clients of cloud computing facilities (simply referenced as “clouds”) collects data relevant to resource availability and characteristics of several clouds and determines for each sought service a cloud of highest service-specific appraisal. Data corresponding to each characteristic is canonicalized to produce corresponding merits for each cloud where each merit is dimensionless, bounded within a predefined interval, and oriented so that a merit increment increases an overall appraisal of a respective cloud. Consequently, a merit vector is created for each cloud. Upon receiving a service request from a client, requisite resources as well as a significance vector indicating significance of each characteristic to the requested service are determined. An appraisal of a cloud is determined as a dot product of the significance vector and the merit vector of the cloud. The cloud of highest appraisal is allocated to the service.

1 . A method of allocating cloud computing resources comprising:
 configuring an engine employing a processor to perform processes of:
 acquiring from each cloud of a plurality of clouds data defining:
 available resources; 
 individual valuations of characteristics of a set of predefined characteristics; 
 
 for each characteristic of the set of predefined characteristics canonicalizing respective valuations to determine corresponding merits of said each cloud where each merit is:
 dimensionless; 
 bounded within a predefined interval; and 
 oriented so that an increment of said each merit increases an appraisal of a respective cloud; 
 
 receiving from a client a service request specifying a service type of a set of predefined service types; 
 acquiring for said service type data defining:
 requisite resources; and 
 a significance vector comprising a significance indicator of said each characteristic; 
 
 determining an appraisal of each cloud having available resources to provide said requisite resources as a function of respective merits and said significance vector and 
 instructing said client to direct said service request to a cloud of highest appraisal. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 organizing all merits determined according to said canonicalizing into a plurality of merit vectors, each merit vector comprising merits corresponding to a respective cloud and each of the predefined characteristics considered in a predetermined order; and 
 selecting said function as a dot product of a merit vector of said each cloud and said significance vector. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising determining for said each characteristic over all clouds of the plurality of clouds:
 a respective minimum valuation X min ; and 
 a respective maximum valuation X max . 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein:
 said set of predefined characteristics comprises at least one type-1 characteristic where increasing a respective valuation increases a respective cloud appraisal; and 
 a merit corresponding to a specific type-1 characteristic for a specific cloud having a valuation x is determined as:
   μ x =( x−X   min )/( X   max   −X   min ).
 
 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3  wherein:
 said set of predefined characteristics comprises at least one type-2 characteristic where decreasing a respective valuation increases a respective cloud appraisal; and 
 a merit corresponding to a specific type-2 characteristic for a specific cloud having a valuation x is determined as:
   μ x =( X   max   −x )/( X   max   −X   min ).
 
 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising acquiring for said each characteristic a respective predefined reference valuation X ref . 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein:
 said set of predefined characteristics comprises at least one type-1 characteristic where increasing a respective valuation increases a respective cloud appraisal; and 
 a merit corresponding to a specific type-1 characteristic for a specific cloud having a valuation x is determined as:
   μ x   =x /( x+X   ref ).
 
 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6  wherein:
 said set of predefined characteristics comprises at least one type-2 characteristic where decreasing a respective valuation increases a respective cloud appraisal; and 
 a merit corresponding to a specific type-1 characteristic for a specific cloud having a valuation x is determined as:
   μ x   =X   ref /( x+X   ref ).
 
 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising determining for said each characteristic:
 a respective valuation lower bound V min  corresponding to a predefined value a 1  of a cumulative distribution of valuations of said each characteristic over all clouds of the plurality of clouds; and 
 a respective valuation upper bound V max  corresponding to a predefined value a 2  of the cumulative distribution, 0.0<a 1 <a 2 <1.0. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein:
 said set of predefined characteristics comprises at least one type-1 characteristic where increasing a respective valuation increases a respective cloud appraisal; and 
 a merit corresponding to a specific type-1 characteristic for a specific cloud having a valuation x is determined as:
   μ x =0.0 for  x<V   min ;
 
   μ x =( x−V   min )/( V   max   −V   min ), for  V   min   ≤x≤V   max  
 
   μ x =1.0for  x>V   max .
 
 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  wherein:
 said set of predefined characteristics comprises at least one type-2 characteristic where decreasing a respective valuation increases a respective cloud appraisal; and 
 a merit corresponding to a specific type-2 characteristic for a specific cloud having a valuation x is determined as:
   μ x =1.0 for  x<V   min ;
 
   μ x =( V   max   −x )/( V   max   −V   min ), for  V   min   ≤x≤V   max  
 
   μ x =0.0for  x>V   max .