MultiPaaS - PaaS on Multiple Clouds

Abstract

Current PaaS solutions use an underlying IaaS provider and restrict themselves to a few geographical regions. They operate in one/two zones only and use others for failover or disaster recovery. In this paper, we present the design of MultiPaaS, a PaaS solution which runs on multiple cloud/IaaS providers and leverages the combined global span. Unlike traditional scaling techniques where app servers are scaled up or down in a specific region or data center, we present a design to perform it on a global scale. Origin of the request burst is identified and instances are booted in a data center closest to it. It ensures database persistence and cross-region scalability via a combination of replication techniques. We identify common features available across all IaaS providers and use that as a provider interface to ensure interoperability, but use provider specific extensions to leverage unique offerings and benefits.