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Title: EdgeNet: A Lightweight Scalable Edge Cloud
This paper describes EdgeNet, a lightweight cloud infrastructure for the edge. We aim to bring as much of the flexibility of open cloud computing as possible to a very lightweight, easily-deployed, software-only edge infrastructure. EdgeNet has been informed by the advances of cloud computing and the successes of such distributed systems as PlanetLab, GENI, G-Lab, SAVI, and V-Node: a large number of small points-of-presence, designed for the deployment of highly distributed experiments and applications. EdgeNet differs from its predecessors in two significant areas: first, it is a software-only infrastructure, where each worker node is designed to run part- or full-time on existing hardware at the local site; and, second, it uses modern, industry-standard software both as the node agent and the control framework. The first innovation permits rapid and unlimited scaling: whereas GENI and PlanetLab required the installation and maintenance of dedicated hardware at each site, EdgeNet requires only a software download, and a node can be added to the EdgeNet infrastructure in 15 minutes. The second offers performance, maintenance, and training benefits; rather than maintaining bespoke kernels and control frameworks, and developing training materials on using the latter, we are able to ride the wave of open-source and industry development, and the plethora of industry and community tutorial materials developed for industry standard control frameworks. The result is a global Kubernetes cluster, where pods of Docker containers form the service instances at each point of presence.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1820901
NSF-PAR ID:
10097311
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Symposium on Edge Computing
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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