gistfile1.txt

-----------------------------------1.2 Research problem-----------------------------------

In this work we focus on two challenges: (i) combination of the declarative and imperative
approaches to the application provisioning and deployment, and (ii) continuous
deployment of cloud applications. Based on this, the reasearch problem may be formulated as follows:

"How can we enable both, flexibility and fine-grained control, in the deployment and provisioning of multi-cloud
applications, and allow efficient run-time management of such applications?"

-------------------------------------1.3 Research questions-------------------------------------

The problem addressed by this thesis rises the following questions:

1.  How imperative and declarative approaches can be combined? Does a combined approach 
furnish a more efficient and flexible solution?
2.  How deployments plans are defined in imperative approaches?  Are these languages tailored for the deployment 
of cloud applications? If not, what are the common characteristics of these languages and how to define a DSL for 
the definition of deployment plans?
3.  What are the common approaches to the continuous deployment of cloud applications? How can we integrate the concept
of the editable deployment plan in the models@runtime pattern to support flexible dynamic adaptation
of the cloud-application deployment?

-------------------------------------1.4 Research methodology-------------------------------------
In this section we explain our research methodology and develop a research work plan. 

------Methodology
The adopted methodology of this thesis relies on a literature survey and design science
[11]. Literature survey covers not only publications in scientic journals but also analysis
of widely used tools because provisioning and deployment processes relate more to the
practical side of computer science than its theoretical underpinnings. Design science
guidelines help us in the development of our solution and ensuring that our results are
relevant, veriable and appropriately evaluated.

------Work plan
Following the discussion from the section 1.1.3 and, according to the research problem, we can define the initial set up for the 
research: the approach that we will work on must be declarative, open source and provide support for the continuous deployment.
Then, the work plan to answer research questions includes the following steps:

1. Analyze state of the art tools and approaches for provisioning and deployment of cloud applications. 
If the approach is imperative -- which workflow definition language it uses for the specification of the deployment plan?
2. Choose a declarative approach for the improvement.
3. Analyze how deployments plans are defined in imperative approaches. If there is no specific language 
for that - extratc common characteristics and limitations of languages used to define deployment plans,
and create a domain-specific workflow definition language to specify such plans.
4. Integrate a chosen approach, including the continuous deployment functionality, with a chosen 
(or created) workflow definiton language.