Autonomic Computing in the Cloud: An Overview of Past, Present and Future Trends

The use of cloud computing has grown at an exceptional rate, with offerings from major cloud providers removing the requirement for organisations to acquire and maintain their own infrastructure. However, the complexity of computer-based systems deployed to the cloud means that efficient and effective management of resources is difficult for humans to achieve. The application of autonomic computing to this environment has solved the problem of complexity and management by creating systems that can self-manage through self- and environmental awareness. This work aims to investigate how the application of autonomic computing has advanced the field of cloud computing with an overview of historical developments, current state-of-the-art solutions, and expected future trends. Investigation shows that optimisation of cloud services with respect to operational costs, energy consumption, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and Quality of Service (QoS) has, and remains to be, an active area of research. With the protection of data and services in the cloud being a priority for users, we discuss advancements in the application of security-aware components for autonomic cloud computing. Ethical implications of cloud computing are discussed, principally the energy consumption of data centres, highlighting the growing research in the field of energy efficient computation and resource management. The contribution of this paper is Systematization of Knowledge (SoK).