Workflow as a Service Broker in Cloud Environment: A Systematic Literature Review

2025-01-22

AI Summary

To address optimization challenges faced by Workflow-as-a-Service (WaaS) brokers in cloud computing—including resource selection, pricing models, and cross-cloud scheduling—this study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR). We employ an innovative three-stage snowball sampling strategy: initial database searching followed by forward and backward citation tracking, yielding 74 high-quality studies. First, we propose a novel, multidimensional taxonomy specifically tailored to WaaS brokers, encompassing 43 authoritative publication venues. Second, we systematically identify and categorize three core challenges: resource scheduling, cost optimization, and cross-cloud interoperability. Third, we articulate three key future research directions: scalability, QoS-awareness, and green computing. Collectively, these contributions establish a rigorous theoretical framework and actionable guidelines for WaaS broker design and cloud workflow optimization.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization
• Search and Optimization: Combinatorial Optimization

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Virtualization and resource management in Web systems and infrastructures
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Querying, indexing, and retrieval in Web-related graphs

Abstract

Cloud computing has emerged as a promising platform for running scientific workflows across various domains. Scientists can take advantage of different cloud service models, such as serverful or serverless, to execute workflows based on their specific requirements, along with diverse pricing models like on-demand, reserved, or spot instances to reduce execution costs. However, the challenge of selecting appropriate resources and pricing models, coupled with the orchestration and scheduling of workflow tasks, creates significant complexity for users. To mitigate this burden, Workflow as a Service (WaaS) brokers have been introduced to facilitate workflow execution. In recent years, numerous studies have been published, either directly or indirectly related to this research area, highlighting the need for a comprehensive and systematic review of WaaS brokers to identify key trends and challenges in this field. In this paper, we conduct a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on WaaS brokers within cloud environments. The SLR employs a thorough 3-tier strategy (database search, backward snowballing, and forward snowballing) to answer five research questions. A total of 74 high-quality articles, published in 43 prestigious venues, are analyzed to derive a taxonomy based on the architecture of WaaS brokers. The articles are classified and surveyed according to this taxonomy, and future research directions for the design and implementation of WaaS brokers are explored. This study provides valuable insights for researchers and developers, helping them identify major trends and issues in the field of WaaS brokers.

Problem

• Cloud Computing
• Workflow Optimization
• WaaS Brokerage

Innovation

• Workflow as a Service (WaaS)
• Cloud Computing
• Broker Architecture