A Dependability Model to Enhance Security of Cloud Environment Using System-Level Virtualization Techniques

Security of cloud computing is one of the challenges to be addressed before the novel pas-as-you-go business model is widely applied, and dependability is one of the most important means to improve security of current heterogeneous cloud platforms. Previous research on dependability in computing systems only uses qualitative approaches and there are few systematic works on dependability in cloud systems. In this paper, the definition of dependability in cloud systems is given and a series of quantitative indicators are presented to evaluate the dependability. A novel cloud dependability model CDSV is established to enhance the security of heterogeneous cloud environments. System-level virtualization techniques are used to enhance the dependability of cloud environments. Systematic analysis shows that this model can enhance the system dependability and security. Experimental results show that the dependability model CDSV can efficiently and safely construct dependability relationship in heterogeneous cloud environments.