Reducing Complexity of Server Configuration through Public Cloud Storage

Abstract

Hosting networking applications typically involves a server publicly accessible over the Internet. However, preparing a server requires excessive time and effort, particularly for non-expert users. This is because users configure multiple elements including the server, host firewalls, and network firewalls, while considering their interactions. To address this problem, we propose a method that uses public cloud storage, such that all messages are communicated through the storage between the server and clients. As the storage is public and accessible over the Internet, users need not consider firewalls and can focus on configuring the server. We implemented the proposed method for web applications and evaluated its performance by accessing applications from 90 hosts in diverse locations. The evaluation showed that the proposed method does not incur extra delays and clients can access the applications as reliably as the current practice of configuring servers. We also recruited 54 participants and examined the time required to configure a server with the proposed method compared to configuration using current practice. This study demonstrated that the proposed method reduces configuration time from 40−60 to nearly 30 min. We believe that the proposed method provides a basis for improving the manageability of server configuration.