A Hash-Based Naming Strategy for the Fog-to-Cloud Computing Paradigm

The growth of the Internet connected devices population has fuelled the emergence of new distributed computer paradigms; one of these paradigms is the so-called Fog-to-Cloud (F2C) computing, where resources (compute, storage, data) are distributed in a hierarchical fashion between the edge and the core of the network. This new paradigm has brought new research challenges, such as the need for a novel framework intended to controlling and, more in general, facilitating the interaction among the heterogeneous devices conforming the environment at the edge of the network and the available resources at cloud. A key feature that this framework should meet is the capability of uniquely and unequivocally identify the connected devices. In this paper a hash-based naming strategy suitable to be used in the F2C environment is presented. The proposed naming method is based on three main components: certification, hashing and identification. This research is an ongoing work, thus, the steps to follow since a device connects to the F2C network until it receives a name are described and the major challenges that must be solved are analyzed.