Pluggable Allocation in a Cloud Computing System

A cloud computing system, the system comprising:

• a storage service, a compute service, and a physical resource pool,
• the storage service including an storage request application programming interface (API) and a storage allocator, the storage allocator including a processor, a computer-readable storage medium, and a network interface, and a storage plug-in facility;
• the compute service including a compute request API and a compute allocator, the compute allocator including a processor, a computer-readable storage medium, and a network interface, and a compute plug-in facility;
• the physical resource pool including a plurality of information processing devices, each information processing device including a processor, a computer-readable medium, and network interface;
• wherein the storage allocator is operative to associate one or more objects accessed via the storage request API with one or more of the plurality of physical resources according to a storage allocation policy;
• and wherein there is a default storage allocation policy;
• wherein the storage plug-in facility further comprises a plug-in API, and wherein the storage plug-in facility is operable to modify the storage allocation policy in response to a request to use a non-default storage allocation policy via the storage plug-in API;
• and wherein the subsequent association of objects with physical resources by the storage allocator is directed by the non-default allocation policy;
• wherein the compute allocator is operative to instantiate one or more virtual resources based on one or more requests received via the compute request API, and wherein each virtual resource, when instantiated, is associated with one of the plurality of physical resources according to a compute allocation policy;
• and wherein there is a default compute allocation policy;
• and
• wherein the compute plug-in facility further comprises a compute plug-in API, and wherein the compute plug-in facility is operable to modify the compute allocation policy in response to a request to use a non-default compute allocation policy via the compute plug-in API;
• and wherein the subsequent association of virtual resources with physical resources by the compute allocator is directed by the non-default allocation policy.

A cloud computing system, the system comprising:

• a compute service, a network service, a physical network, and a physical resource pool,
• the compute service including a compute request API and a compute allocator, the compute allocator including a processor, a computer-readable storage medium, and a network interface, and a compute plug-in facility;
• the network service including a default network policy, the default network policy including a default packet routing policy and a default packet filtering policy, and a network plug-in facility, the network plug-in facility including a network plug-in API;
• the physical resource pool including a plurality of information processing devices, each information processing device including a processor, a computer-readable medium, and network interface;
• the physical network including a plurality of communications media, each communications medium including a physical transport layer and a link transport layer, wherein the communications media are coupled via a plurality of communications routers;
• and wherein the compute service, and physical resource pool are coupled via the physical network and logically coupled via the network service;
• and wherein the network plug-in facility is operable to modify one of the default packet routing policy and the default packet filtering policy in response to a request received via the network plug-in API to use a non-default network policy;
• and wherein the subsequent routing and/or filtering of packets is directed by the non-default packet network policy.