Workflow Scheduling Issues and Techniques in Cloud Computing: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

One of the most challenging issues in cloud computing is workflow scheduling. Workflow applications have a complex structure and many discrete tasks. Each task may include entering data, processing, accessing software, or storage functions. For these reasons, the workflow scheduling is considered to be an NP-hard problem. Then, efficient scheduling algorithms are required for selection of best suitable resources for workflow execution. In this paper, we conduct a SLR (Systematic literature review) of workflow scheduling strategies that have been proposed for cloud computing platforms to help researchers systematically and objectively gather and aggregate research evidences about this topic. Then, we present a comparative analysis of the studied strategies. Finally, we highlight workflow scheduling issues for further research. The findings of this review provide a roadmap for developing workflow scheduling models, which will motivate researchers to propose better workflow scheduling algorithms for service consumers and/or utility providers in cloud computing.