Optimization Tool Overview

D-SPACE4Cloud (DICE Optimization Tool) is the optimization tool integrated in the DICE IDE. It consists of three main components: an Eclipse Plug-in, a frontend and a backend service. Details on the overall architecture can be found in the Architecture page. Suffice to say that the Eclipse plug-in allows the ARCHITECT to specify the input models and performance constraints and transforms the input UML diagrams into the input performance models for the performance solver (GreatSPN, JMT or dagSim). The frontend exposes a graphical interface designed to facilitate the download of the optimization results (which are computed through batch jobs) while the backend implements a strategy aimed at identifying the minimum cost deployment.

Multiple DTSMs are provided as input, one for each VMs considered as a candidate deployment. VMs can be associated with different cloud providers. D-SPACE4Cloud will identify the VM type and the corresponding number which fulfill performance constraints and minimize costs. The tool takes as input also a DDSM model which is updated with the final solution found and can be automaticaly deployed through the DICER tool (see DICE Deliverable D2.4).

Moreover, the tool requires as input a description of the execution environment (list of providers, list of VM types or a description of the computational power available in house) and the performance constrains. Input files and parameters can be specified by the ARCHITECT through a wizard.