An Auto-Scaling Approach for Serverless Environments Based on a Multi-Expert Consensus Mechanism
Machine LearningArtificial IntelligenceDistributed, Parallel, and Cluster ComputingPerformance
Summary
The authors developed a system to help serverless computing automatically adjust resources based on how functions depend on each other and changing workloads. They use a graph to find key functions, predict demand with several AI models, and combine these forecasts to make better scaling decisions. Their system also considers delays when starting functions and tries to minimize costs. Tests show their method predicts resource needs very accurately and saves money while keeping performance steady.
Authors
Mobina Kashaniyan, Mehrdad Ashtiani, Amirhossein Ghassemi
Abstract
Serverless computing provides automatic resource management and pay-per-use execution, but effective autoscaling remains challenging because of dynamic workloads, cold-start latency, and dependencies among functions. We present a dependency-aware autoscaling framework that integrates graph-based bottleneck identification, short-term workload forecasting, multi-model consensus, and cost-aware scaling control. Serverless applications are represented as directed dependency graphs, and structurally important functions are identified using weighted degree centrality. Resource demand is predicted using lightweight MLP, LSTM, and CNN models. Their outputs are combined through a performance-weighted probabilistic ensemble inspired by Bayesian model averaging. The controller further incorporates cold-start awareness and cost comparison to select among scale-up, scale-down, and hold actions. Experiments using real workload traces show that supervised forecasting substantially outperforms unsupervised clustering for autoscaling decision generation. The proposed ensemble achieves 99.88 percent prediction accuracy and reduces prediction error compared with representative hybrid forecasting methods. Evaluations across multiple cloud pricing models also demonstrate consistent infrastructure cost reductions while maintaining performance targets. The results show that combining dependency analysis, multi-expert forecasting, and cost-aware control provides a robust and practical solution for serverless autoscaling.