Communicating with third party resources in cloud computing environment

A cloud computing environment can be configured to allow third party, user-controlled resources to be included in the pool of resources available in the cloud, regardless of the type of system supporting the user-controlled resources. A cloud management system can identify a particular type of management system supporting the user-controlled resources and the commands necessary to communicate with the particular type of management system. Once the particular type of management system is identified, the cloud management system can communicate with the particular type of management system, utilizing the determined commands and protocols, to coordinate access to the user-controlled resources. The cloud management system can identify, allocate, and manage a set of resources from the user-controlled resources utilizing the commands and protocols.