A low-level resource allocation in an agent-based Cloud Computing platform

•The paper presents an agent-based architecture to distribute computational resources within a Cloud Computing environment.•A Cloud Computing platform is an open and complex system that is the ideal environment of application of the multiagent system.•The distribution of resources is based on a decentralized approach based on a linear programming.•A decentralized approach for allocating resources over a Cloud platform is an innovative solution to distributed the computational load and reduce the time calculation.•The paper is evaluated by means of a case study over a real cloud computing environment.

The distribution of computational resources in a Cloud Computing platform is a complex process with several parameters to consider such as the demand for services, available computational resources and service level agreements with end users. Currently, the state-of-the-art presents centralized approaches derived from previous technologies related to cluster of servers. These approaches allocate computational resources by means of the addition/removal of (physical/virtual) computational nodes. However, virtualization technology currently allows for research into new techniques, which makes it possible to allocate at a lower level. In other words, not only is it possible to add/remove nodes, but also to modify the resources of each virtual machine (low level resource allocation). Thus, agent theory is a key technology in this field, allowing decentralized resource allocation. This innovative approach has undeniable improvements such us computational load distribution and reduced computation time. The evaluation was carried out through experiments in a real Cloud environment, thus proving the validity of the proposed approach.

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