A systematic study of double auction mechanisms in cloud computing

Abstract

The cloud system is designed, implemented and conceptualized as a marketplace where resources are traded. This demands efficient allocation of resources to benefit both the cloud users and the cloud service providers. Accordingly, market based resource allocation models for cloud computing have been proposed. These models apply economy based approaches e.g. auction, negotiation etc. This work makes a detailed study of the double auction mechanisms and their applicability for the cloud markets. A framework for a future cloud market using double auction is also proposed. As most of the existing works in double auction confines only resource allocation, therefore, a Truthful Multi-Unit Double Auction mechanism (TMDA) is proposed that would help researchers to understand how a truthful double auction mechanism can be designed. TMDA is proven to be asymptotically efficient, individual rational, truthful and budget-balanced. TMDA would also encourage researchers to contribute in this emerging area. The performance of TMDA, which addresses the interests of both the cloud user and the provider, has been validated through simulation study. Various challenges in the realization of double auction mechanisms in cloud computing along-with the future possibilities are also presented.