Methodologies for Cloud Portability and Interoperability

Abstract

The OMG model-driven architecture (MDA) [1] is a model-based approach for the development of software systems that aims at separating the platform-independent design of a software application from its implementation on a given platform. The main feature and benefits of MDA from the cloud perspective are the enablement of portability, interoperability, and reusability of (parts of) the system, as well as its easy maintenance, through human-readable and reusable specifications at various levels of abstraction. In the context of cloud computing, model-driven development allows developers to design software systems in a cloud-agnostic way, and to be supported by model transformation techniques into the process of instantiating the system into specific and multiple clouds. This approach, which is commonly summarized as "model once, generate anywhere", is particularly relevant when it comes to designing and managing applications across multiple clouds, as well as migrating them from one cloud to another. Combining model-driven application engineering and the cloud computing domain is currently the focus of several research groups and projects, among others, MODAClouds MDA in MODACloudsMODAClouds-MOdel-Driven Approach for design and execution of applications on multiple Clouds [6] is an EC-funded research project that proposes a model-driven approach aimed at supporting system developers and operators in utilizing multiple clouds and in migrating parts of their systems from cloud to cloud as needed. The MODACloudML platform relies on a domain-specific language for the design and execution of applications on multiple clouds. The model-driven engineering approach adopted by the MODACloudML platform allows developers

Development of Mobile Applications with Functions in the Cloud through the Model Driven Approach: A Systematic Mapping Study

“…Di Martino et al [26] describe a set of projects which consider MDD to give support to portability and interoperability in the cloud. The set of projects includes MODAClouds 14 , ARTIST 15 , REMICS 16 and PaaSage 17 .…”

“…Some of these patterns are independent of the provider and consequently, platform independent. The platform independent patterns were extracted from CloudPatterns.org 18 , which is a community dedicated to the documentation of a catalog of patterns that includes a set of design solutions for the modularization of the relevant technological solutions for the configuration of clouds [26]. This information is relevant to our area of research since it considers platform independent design aspects that could be used to enrich and to improve the portability of cloud mobile applications developed under the MDD process.…”

“…First, as a complement of modeling and generation in the cloud, there are particular configurations and functions that are peculiar of the clouds. In Di Martino et al [26], those configurations and functions are presented as patterns. In their analysis, they summarize patterns independently of providers and platforms.…”

“…Some of these patterns are about sharing, scaling and elasticity patterns, data management and storage, network security, identity and access management. As we can see, they are not related to the design of applications specifically, but they are closely related and they contribute to alleviate the vendor lock-in problem [26]. This could be an interesting option to enrich the modeling of applications since, it should contribute to improve the portability of the models.…”

A rule-based procedure for automatic recognition of design patterns in UML diagrams

“…Nothing is said regarding the format of the exchanged messages; in this way, the developer can build her monitoring agent, or choose an existing one, in order to analyse different message formats, eventually exchanged among services exposed by several cloud vendors. Using a semantic‐based description of patterns can ease and, in some case, automatize the service selection process, thus enhancing software portability and interoperability .…”