Cloud Computing Reliability, Availability and Serviceability (RAS): Issues and Challenges

Abstract

Cloud computing is one of today's most exciting technologies because of its capacity to lessen costs associated with computing while increasing flexibility and scalability for computer processes. During the past few years, cloud computing has grown from being a promising business idea to one of the fastest growing sectors of the IT industry. But on the other hand, IT organizations have expressed concerns about critical issues such as security that accompany the widespread implementation of cloud computing. Security, in particular, is one of the most debated issues in the field of cloud computing and several enterprises look at cloud computing warily due to projected security risks. Also, there are two other issues. They are the reliability and availability of the cloud which are as important as security. Although each of those three issues is associated with usage of the cloud, they will have different degrees of importance. Examination of the benefits and risks of cloud computing is necessary for a full evaluation of the viability of cloud computing. This article reviews issues and challenges of cloud computing's reliability, availability and security (RAS). Beginning with a brief discussion on virtualization technology, a key element of cloud infrastructure, it examines issues facing in cloud RAS fields. Then, it addresses the challenges and problems in cloud computing RAS. It also examines intrusion detection methods and outlines counter measures to improve cloud RAS.

Key Factors Increasing Trust in Cloud Computing Applications in the Kingdom of Bahrain

“…Reference [4] claimed that users require their data to be viable for a long time, so they cannot afford the service going down or anything happening to their data. Reference [3] confirmed that long-term viability is an important issue that affects security. Reference [30] agreed that security is related to the long-term viability of cloud computing, stressing that there should be a guarantee of data availability in the event of the service provider's bankruptcy or acquisition.…”

“…A mental state comprising: (1) expectancy -the trustor expects a specific behavior from the trustee (such as providing valid information or effectively performing cooperative actions); (2) belief -the trustor believes that the expected behavior occurs, based on the evidence of the trustee's competence, integrity, and goodwill; (3) willingness to take risk -the trustor is willing to take risk for that belief.…”

“…Therefore, they proposed that the cloud provider must have techniques to recover data following a disaster or any circumstances leading to data loss. Reference [3] stressed that if a failure does occur with the cloud, it is critical to completely restore clients' data. As clients prefer not to let a third party control their data, this will cause an impasse in security policy in these challenging situations.…”

“…Reference [3] also claims that the cloud is a style of computing where massively scalable and flexible ITrelated capabilities are provided "as services" to external customers using Internet technologies.…”

Reliability Analysis of Multi-Node SDDC Using Fault Tree

“…The introduction of an abstraction layer allows systems and services above and below the abstraction layer to operate and innovate independently, while maintaining agreed-upon communication paths and exposing services between layers through well-defined interfaces. An SDDC approach applies the principles of abstraction to deliver an entire data center construct in software, decoupling service delivery from the underlying physical infrastructure.Though the SDDC is blooming, such as VMware, with qualified partners, delivers the EVO:RAIL hyper converged infrastructure appliance via a new business model [5], the price of data loss is even higher. Thus, a reliable cloud computing system is a key to keep computing and data storage service running [6,7].…”