Simple workload & application portability (SWAP)

Cloud computing (the delivery of computing as services rather than products) creates new challenges with respect to openness. Existing approaches such as open source licensing of software products have proven inadequate in a service-oriented world; attempts to address the limitations by closing the “service provider loophole” have failed to gain traction. Similarly, multiple providers are yet to fully adopt a single, complete cloud infrastructure management interface. In this paper a simple “lowest common denominator” approach to cloud portability is proposed, modeled after the success of Internet email and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and based on the ubiquitous HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The proposed approach is suitable for all workloads and supports any format specified elsewhere and identified by Internet media (MIME) type (e.g. virtual machines, databases, queues). By addressing only the functionality absolutely required for portability, leaving the management interface out of scope, we can deliver an API which is compatible with all cloud stacks while avoiding constraining their functionality.