Federated Virtualized Infrastructures and Future Internet Experimental Research
Speaker: Professor Vasilis Maglaris
Faculty Host: Professor Shivendra Panwar
Abstract
Future Internet (FI) experimental research emerges as a global priority, complementing theoretical work on disruptive architectures, related protocol models and evaluation of novel algorithms at the data, control and provisioning planes. It is anticipated that FI environments will consist of holistic, scalable, secure and self-healing Platforms-as-a-Service that interoperate over interconnected Infrastructures-as-a-Service. Such platforms will enable authenticated users to compose baskets (slices) of resources (slivers) on demand, drawing from a federated substrate. Thus, users can extend their authorized resource pool horizontally (e.g. drawing from the global PlanetLab federation) and/or vertically, i.e. complementing virtualized data centers and computing clouds with shared networking-aware resources (e.g. virtual – logical routers and switches, network interfaces and shared layer 2 and 3 communications, optical and wireless). Virtualization is key to resource sharing amongst “isolated” users; in fact it is currently extended to flow based virtualization as promoted by the OpenFlow architectures.
FI experiments are conducted over the last years across the globe. Notably, in the US such pre-normative research is being supported by the NSF GENI while in Europe the European Commission launched similar ambitious initiatives: The FIRE program (Future Internet Research & Experimentation) and the FI PPP (Private – Public – Partnership). Many experiments focus on FI islands (e.g. wireless testbeds, OpenFlow campus networks), some interconnected over the legacy Internet (e.g. PlanetLab). However, as experiments on federated testbeds – data centers may require wide-area networking with advanced control & management plane functionality, National Research & Education Networking (NREN) facilities emerged over the last two years as a natural choice. In the US Internet2, NLR and ESnet have recently offered support to FI research (e.g. VINI and Internet2’s NDDI). In Europe the vast federation of 37 NRENs, interconnected via the GÉANT dark fiber backbone, is supporting the FI overlay FEDERICA, http://www.fp7-federica.eu/ . Furthermore, GÉANT participates in planning an orchestrated Pan-European FI facility and a subset of NRENs, in conjunction with industry and academia, engage into research on novel tools and algorithms that are being tested on local testbeds complemented by NREN – GÉANT infrastructures.
Such collaborations are exemplified by the FIRE project NOVI (Networking innovations Over Virtualized Infrastructures, http://www.fp7-novi.eu/) coordinated by NTUA. Research focuses on federated virtualized environment aspects, e.g. user oriented monitoring, policy based authorization, inter-domain embedding of virtual resources to substrates, data-plane connectivity of IP based domains with layer2 based infrastructures, ontology-based resource description and intelligent resource discovery. Prototypes are being developed and deployed in a test configuration over the NREN – GÉANT federation consisting of private PlanetLab virtualized host facilities and FEDERICA virtual machines & layer 2 – 3 networking resources.
About the Speaker
Vasilis Maglaris is a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) since 1989, teaching and performing research on Computer Networks. He is currently directing the Network Management & Optimal Design (NETMODE) Laboratory at NTUA. He authored more than 100 research papers, regularly delivers lectures on Internet advances and supervised more than a dozen Doctoral theses in the USA and Greece. Professor Maglaris holds an Engineering Degree from NTUA (Athens, Greece, 1974) and a Ph.D. degree from Columbia University (New York NY, 1979). Before joining NTUA, he was with the Network Analysis Corporation (Great Neck NY, 1979 -1981) and subsequently with the faculty of Polytechnic University, Brooklyn NY (1981 - 1989). He was responsible for developing the NTUA Campus LAN and for the establishment of GRNET (the Greek National Research & Education Network - NREN). He served as GRNET's Chairman from its inception (1995) until June 2004. He was on the board of the Greek National Regulatory Authority on Telecommunications and Posts for two five-year terms (1995 – 2005) and served as the Managing Director of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF) from 1994 to 1996. Since October 2004, he is the Chairman of the National Research & Education Networks Policy Committee (NREN PC), the governance body of GÉANT that interconnects 37 European NRENs also coordinating their service and research activities.