http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com The latest research articles published by Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013-05-10T00:00:00Z In this paper we present a novel Code Execution Framework that can execute code of different problem solving environments (PSE), such as MATLAB, R and Octave, in parallel. In many e-Science domains different specialists are working together and need to share data or even execute calculations using programs created by other persons. Each specialist may use a different problem solving environment and therefore the collaboration can become quite difficult.Our framework supports different cloud platforms, such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Eucalyptus. Therefore it is possible to use hybrid cloud infrastructures, e.g. a private cloud based on Eucalyptus for general base-level computations using the available local resources and additionally a public Amazon EC2 for peaks and time-dependent calculations. Our approach is to provide a secure platform that supports multiple problem solving environments, execute code in parallel with different parameter sets using multiple cores or machines in a cloud environment, and support researchers in executing code, even if the required problem solving environment is not installed locally.Additionally, existing parallel resources can easily be utilized for ongoing scientific calculations.The framework has been validated by and used in our real project addressing large-scale breath analysis research. Its research-prototype version is available as a PaaS cloud service model. In the future researchers will be able to install this framework on their own cloud infrastructures. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/11 Thomas Ludescher Thomas Feilhauer Peter Brezany Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:11 2013-05-10T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-11 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-11-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 11 2013-05-10T00:00:00Z PDF Cloud computing services rely on electricity to power compute-servers, network equipment, cooling systems, and other supporting infrastructure. As such, energy costs are a substantial outgoing to public providers of cloud computing services. On-demand pricing, where consumers are not required to give advance notice of requirements, does not aid the provider in planning future demand, and therefore makes it more difficult to purchase energy at discounted rates. In this paper, we propose an advance pricing mechanism for cloud computing resources based on provision-point contracts, commonly used by deal-of-the-day websites such as Groupon. We show how our Contributory Provision Point (CPP) contracts reward consumers with reduced prices for advance reservations, while allowing providers to make accurate forecasts of energy usage. We show how CPP contracts are risk-free for the provider, guaranteeing to be at least as profitable as on-demand mechanisms where electricity is purchased ad-hoc by the provider. Through a computer simulation, we demonstrate that CPP contracts can be more profitable for the provider compared to a traditional method of hedging electricity futures using a popular forecasting algorithm. Furthermore, we show that CPP contracts encourage consumers to forecast honestly by rewarding them with discounted rates, while remaining profitable for the provider, even when forecasts are not completely accurate. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/10 Owen Rogers Dave Cliff Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:10 2013-04-30T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-10 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-10-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 10 2013-04-30T00:00:00Z XML Trust is a critical factor in cloud computing; in present practice it depends largely on perception ofreputation, and self assessment by providers of cloud services. We begin this paper with a survey ofexisting mechanisms for establishing trust, and comment on their limitations. We then address thoselimitations by proposing more rigorous mechanisms based on evidence, attribute certification, andvalidation, and conclude by suggesting a framework for integrating various trust mechanismstogether to reveal chains of trust in the cloud. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/9 Jingwei Huang David Nicol Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:9 2013-04-24T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-9 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-9-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 9 2013-04-24T00:00:00Z PDF The Architecture, Engineering \& Construction (AEC) sector is a highly fragmented, data intensive, project based industry, involving a number of very different professions and organisations. Projects carried out within this sector involve collaboration between various people, using a variety of different systems. This, along with the industry's strong data sharing and processing requirements, means that the management of building data is complex and challenging. This paper presents a solution to data sharing requirements of the AEC sector by utilising Cloud Computing. Our solution presents two key contributions, first a governance model for building data, based on extensive research and industry consultation. Second, a prototype implementation of this governance model, utilising the CometCloud autonomic cloud computing engine based on the Master/Work paradigm. we have integrated our prototype with the 3D modelling software Google Sketchup. The approach and prototype presented has applicability in a number of other eScience related applications involving multi-disciplinary, collaborative working using Cloud computing infrastructure. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/8 Thomas Beach Omer Rana Yacine Rezgui Manish Parashar Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:8 2013-04-04T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-8 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-8-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 8 2013-04-04T00:00:00Z PDF Urban flood risk modelling is a highly topical example of intensive computational processing. Such processing is increasingly required by a range of organisations including local government, engineering consultancies and the insurance industry to fulfil statutory requirements and provide professional services. As the demands for this type of work become more common, then ownership of high-end computational resources is warranted but if use is more sporadic and with tight deadlines then the use of Cloud computing could provide a cost-effective alternative. However, uptake of the Cloud by such organisations is often thwarted by the perceived technical barriers to entry. In this paper we present an architecture that helps to simplify the process of performing parameter sweep work on an Infrastructure as a Service Cloud. A parameter sweep version of the urban flood modelling, analysis and visualisation software “CityCat” was developed and deployed to estimate spatial and temporal flood risk at a whole city scale – far larger than had previously been possible. Performing this work on the Cloud allowed us access to more computing power than we would have been able to purchase locally for such a short time-frame (∼21 months of processing in a single calendar month). We go further to illustrate the considerations, both functional and non-functional, which need to be addressed if such an endeavour is to be successfully achieved. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/7 Vassilis Glenis Andrew McGough Vedrana Kutija Chris Kilsby Simon Woodman Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:7 2013-03-22T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-7 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-7-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 7 2013-03-22T00:00:00Z XML The performance of Cloud systems is a key concern, but has typically been assessed by the comparison of relatively few Cloud systems, and often on the basis of just one or two features of performance. In this paper, we discuss the evaluation of four different Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Cloud systems -- from Amazon, Rackspace, and IBM -- alongside a private Cloud installation of OpenStack, using a set of five so-called micro-benchmarks to address key aspects of such systems. The results from our evaluation are offered on a web portal with dynamic data visualization. We find that there is not only variability in performance by provider, but also variability, which can be substantial, in the performance of virtual resources that are apparently of the same specification. On this basis, we can suggest that performance-based pricing schemes would seem to be more appropriate than fixed-price schemes, and this would offer much greater potential for the Cloud Economy. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/6 Lee Gillam Bin Li John O¿Loughlin Anuz Tomar Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:6 2013-03-07T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-6 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-6-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 6 2013-03-07T00:00:00Z PDF Data management and sharing is the challenge being faced by all the IT majors today. Adds over it, is the challenge faced by the cloud service providers in terms of multi-tenancy of data and its efficient retrieval. It becomes more complex in a heterogeneous computing environment to provide cloud services. A simple, robust, query efficient, scalable and space saving multi-tenant database architecture is proposed along with an ad hoc cloud architecture where organizations can collaborate to create a cloud, that doesnt harm their existence or profitability. An ad hoc cloud fits very well to the scenario where one wants to venture into remote areas for providing education services using a cloud. The results of the proposed multi-tenant database show 20% to 230% improvement for insertion, deletion and updation-queries. The response of the proposed approach is stable as compared to other system which degrades in terms of response time by 384% for increased number of attributes up to 50. The proposed approach is also space efficient by almost 86%. Dynamically changing cloud configurations requires adaptable database and mechanism to persist and manage data and exploit heterogeneous resources. The proposed ad hoc cloud handles heterogeneity of the involved nodes and deals with node specific granularity while decomposing workloads for efficient utilization of resources. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/5 Sanjeev Pippal Dharmender Kushwaha Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:5 2013-03-04T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-5 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-5-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 5 2013-03-04T00:00:00Z XML The aim of this paper is to propose the use of a cloud-based integrity management service coupled with a trustworthy client component – in the form of the Trust Extension Device (TED) platform – as a means to to increase the quality of the security evaluation of a client. Thus, in addition to performing authentication of the client (e.g. as part of Single Sign-On), the Identity Provider asks that the integrity of the client platform be computed and then be evaluated by a trustworthy and independent Cloud-based Integrity Measurement Service (cIMS). The TED platform has been previously developed based on the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and allows the integrity measurement of the client environment to be conducted and reported in a secure manner. Within the SSO flow, the portable TED device performs an integrity measurement of the client platform, and sends an integrity report to the cIMS as part of the client authentication process. The cIMS validates the measurements performed by the TED device, and reports a trust score to the Identity Provider (IdP). The IdP takes into account the reported trust score when the IdP computes and issues a Level of Assurance (LOA) value to the client platform. In this way the Service Provider obtains a greater degree of assurance that the client’s computing environment is relatively free of unrecognized and/or unauthorized components. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/4 John Zic Thomas Hardjono Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:4 2013-02-13T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-4 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-4-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 4 2013-02-13T00:00:00Z XML We describe the research undertaken in the six month JISC/EPSRC funded My Private Cloud project, in which we built a demonstration cloud file storage service that allows users to login to it, by using their existing credentials from a configured trusted identity provider. Once authenticated, users are shown a set of accounts that they are the owners of, based on their identity attributes. Once users open one of their accounts, they can upload and download files to it. Not only that, but they can then grant access to their file resources to anyone else in the federated system, regardless of whether their chosen delegate has used the cloud service before or not. The system uses standard identity management protocols, attribute based access controls, and a delegation service. A set of APIs have been defined for the authentication, authorisation and delegation processes, and the software has been released as open source to the community. A public demonstration of the system is available online. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/3 David Chadwick Matteo Casenove Kristy Siu Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:3 2013-02-13T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-3 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-3-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 3 2013-02-13T00:00:00Z XML In this paper we report upon the cloud-based solution that we designed and implemented for space situational awareness. We begin by introducing the background to the work and to the area of space situational awareness. This concerns tracking the hundreds of thousands of known objects in near-Earth orbits, and determining where it is necessary for satellite operators to conduct collision-avoidance manoeuvres to protect their satellites. We also discuss active debris removal, which would be necessary to stabilise the debris population at current levels. We examine the strengths that cloud-based solutions offer in general and how these specifically fit to the challenges of space situational awareness, before describing the architecture we designed for this problem. We demonstrate the feasibility of solving the space situational awareness problem with a cloud-based architecture and note that as time goes on and debris levels rise due to future collisions, the inherent scalability offered by a cloud-based solution will be invaluable. http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content/2/1/2 Steven Johnston Neil O'Brien Hugh Lewis Elizabeth Hart Adam White Simon Cox Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2013, null:2 2013-01-22T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2192-113X-2-2 /content/figures/2192-113X-2-2-toc.gif Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications 2192-113X ${item.volume} 2 2013-01-22T00:00:00Z XML