Editing Provisioning (technology) (section)

==Self-service provisioning for cloud computing services==
On-demand self-service is described by the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] (NIST) as an essential characteristic of [[cloud computing]].<ref>Mell, Peter; Grance, Timothy. [http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf "The NIST definition of cloud computing"], Special Publication 800-145, National Institute of Standards and Technology</ref> The self-service nature of cloud computing lets end users obtain and remove cloud services―including applications, the infrastructure supporting the applications,<ref>{{cite book|last=He|first=Sijin|author2=L. Guo |author3=Y. Guo |author4=C. Wu |author5=M. Ghanem |author6=R. Han |chapter=Elastic Application Container: A Lightweight Approach for Cloud Resource Provisioning|publisher=2012 IEEE 26th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA) |doi=10.1109/AINA.2012.74|isbn=978-1-4673-0714-7|pages=15–22|title=2012 IEEE 26th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications|year=2012|s2cid=4863927}}</ref> and configuration―<ref>Perera, David. [http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/real-obstacle-federal-cloud-computing/2012-07-12 "The real obstacle to federal cloud computing"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023033802/http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/real-obstacle-federal-cloud-computing/2012-07-12 |date=2012-10-23 }}, ''Fierce Government IT'', July 12, 2012</ref> themselves without requiring the assistance of an IT staff member.<ref>MSV, Janakiram. [http://cloudstory.in/2012/07/top-10-reasons-why-startups-should-consider-cloud/ "Top 10 reasons why startups should consider cloud"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924012710/http://cloudstory.in/2012/07/top-10-reasons-why-startups-should-consider-cloud/ |date=2012-09-24 }}. ''Cloud Story'', July 20, 2012</ref> The automatic self-servicing may target different application goals and constraints (e.g. deadlines and cost),<ref name="sc2011workflow">{{cite book|last=Mao|first=Ming|author2=M. Humphrey |title=Proceedings of 2011 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis |chapter=Auto-scaling to minimize cost and meet application deadlines in cloud workflows |date=2011 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1145/2063384.2063449|isbn=978-1-4503-0771-0|s2cid=11960822}}</ref><ref name="sc2013scaling">{{cite book|last=Mao|first=Ming|author2=M. Humphrey |title=2013 IEEE 27th International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Processing |chapter=Scaling and Scheduling to Maximize Application Performance within Budget Constraints in Cloud Workflows |year=2013|url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2511429|doi=10.1109/IPDPS.2013.61|isbn=978-0-7695-4971-2|pages=67–78|s2cid=5226147}}</ref> as well as handling different application architectures (e.g., bags-of-tasks and workflows).<ref name="grid2010">{{cite book|last=Mao|first=Ming |author2=J. Li |author3=M. Humphrey|title=2010 11th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Grid Computing (Grid2010)|year=2010|doi=10.1109/GRID.2010.5697966|isbn=978-1-4244-9347-0|pages=41–48|citeseerx=10.1.1.467.5771 |s2cid=9744596 }}</ref> Cloud users can obtain cloud services through a cloud service catalog or a self-service portal.<ref>Onisick, Joe. [http://www.networkcomputing.com/private-cloud-tech-center/240004192 "Five steps to building a private cloud"], ''Network Computing'', July 23, 2012</ref> Because business users can obtain and configure cloud services themselves, this means IT staff can be more productive and gives them more time to manage cloud infrastructures.<ref>Cowie, Jason. [http://www.datacenterjournal.com/dcj-magazine/how-to-make-private-cloud-initiatives-matter-to-your-ceo/ "How to make private cloud initiatives matter to your CEO"], ''The Data Center Journal'', July 17, 2012</ref>

One downside of cloud service provisioning is that it is not instantaneous. A cloud [[virtual machine]] (VM) can be acquired at any time by the user, but it may take up to several minutes for the acquired VM to be ready to use. The VM startup time is dependent on factors, such as image size, VM type, [[data center]] location, and number of VMs.<ref name="vmstartuptime2012">{{cite book|last=Mao|first=Ming|author2=M. Humphrey |title=2012 IEEE Fifth International Conference on Cloud Computing |chapter=A Performance Study on the VM Startup Time in the Cloud |year=2012|doi=10.1109/CLOUD.2012.103|isbn=978-1-4673-2892-0|page=423|s2cid=1285357}}</ref> Cloud providers have different VM startup performance.