Abstract
In this paper, we study the formation of endogenous social storage cloud in a dynamic setting, where rational agents build their data backup connections strategically. We propose a degree-distance-based utility model, which is a combination of benefit and cost functions. The benefit function of an agent captures the expected benefit that the agent obtains by placing its data on others’ storage devices, given the prevailing data loss rate in the network. The cost function of an agent captures the cost that the agent incurs to maintain links in the network. With this utility function, we analyze what network is likely to evolve when agents themselves decide with whom they want to form links and with whom they do not. Further, we analyze which networks are pairwise stable and efficient. We show that for the proposed utility function, there always exists a pairwise stable network, which is also efficient. We show that all pairwise stable networks are efficient, and hence, the price of anarchy is the best that is possible. We also study the effect of link addition and deletion between a pair of agents on their, and others’, closeness and storage availability.
Highlights
Online data backup services such as BuddyBackup1 and CrashPlan2 allow agents to share their under-utilized storage space with others as well as backup their data on the storage space shared by other agents
The proof follows from Theorem 5 and Definition 7, the fact that network formation starts with the null network, and the fact ([32]) that price of stability (PoS) = 1 if and only if every efficient network is pairwise stable, and price of anarchy (PoA) = 1 if and only if all pairwise stable networks are efficient
We present the model of social storage cloud network formation, where agents wish to form a network strategically
Summary
Online data backup services such as BuddyBackup and CrashPlan allow agents to share their under-utilized storage (disk) space with others as well as backup their data on the storage space shared by other agents. We model social storage cloud systems as a strategic network formation game, where self-interested agents decide with whom they want to form a connection and with whom they do not. We define the utility of agents in a social storage cloud by taking into consideration the parameters data failure rate, value of data, and cost for maintaining social connections. The utility function we define in this study is degree-distance-based, where agents obtain benefits from direct and indirect neighbors, but the benefit decreases with an increase in the number of direct and indirect neighbors [25] With this utility function, we study the effect of decisions of addition and deletion of links by pairs of agents on their storage availability in the network. The surveys [19,20,21,22] explore many dimension of this topic
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