Intelligent Resource Discovery in Inter-Cloud using Blockchain

Efficient and secure resource discovery in the inter-cloud remains non-trivial, especially in non-federated environments. It involves balancing conflicting requirements in a dynamic multi-party scenario based on multi-factor optimization while overcoming security concerns. Various P2P based resource discovery schemes for the inter-cloud environment have been proposed by researchers but challenges including efficient resource discovery and selection, trust/reputation management, transaction record management and seamless financial settlements persist. We propose a Blockchain-based Inter-cloud Resource Discovery (BIRD) framework for the non-federated inter-cloud model which addresses the shortcomings of existing approaches. It is the first demonstration of using the blockchain idea to the inter-cloud resource discovery process alleviating the need of a trusted third-party or broker between participating cloud service providers (CSPs), while ensuring optimal and secure resource discovery and selection.