Supporting Users in Cloud Plan Selection

Cloud computing is a key technology for outsourcing data and applications to external providers. The current cloud market offers a multitude of solutions (plans) differing from one another in terms of their characteristics. In this context, the selection of the right plan for outsourcing is of paramount importance for users wishing to move their data/applications to the cloud. The scientific community has then developed different models and tools for capturing users’ requirements and evaluating candidate plans to determine the extent to which each of them satisfies such requirements. In this chapter, we illustrate some of the existing solutions proposed for cloud plan selection and for supporting users in the specification of their (crisp and/or fuzzy) needs.