A decentralized self-adaptation mechanism for service-based applications in the cloud

Cloud computing, with its promise of (almost) unlimited computation, storage, and bandwidth, is increasingly becoming the infrastructure of choice for many organizations. As cloud offerings mature, service-based applications need to dynamically recompose themselves to self-adapt to changing QoS requirements. In this paper, we present a decentralized mechanism for such self-adaptation, using market-based heuristics. We use a continuous double-auction to allow applications to decide which services to choose, among the many on offer. We view an application as a multi-agent system and the cloud as a marketplace where many such applications self-adapt. We show through a simulation study that our mechanism is effective for the individual application as well as from the collective perspective of all applications adapting at the same time.