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1. P4-Based In-Network Telemetry for FPGAs in the Open Cloud Testbed and FABRIC

   https://doi.org/10.1109/INFOCOMWKSHPS61880.2024.10620664  

   Bal, Sandeep; Han, Zhaoyang; Handagala, Suranga; Cevik, Mert; Zink, Michael; Leeser, Miriam (May 2024, IEEE)

   In recent years, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have gained prominence in cloud computing data centers, driven by their capacity to offload compute-intensive tasks and contribute to the ongoing trend of data center disaggregation, as well as their ability to be directly connected to the network. While FPGAs offer numerous advantages, they also pose challenges in terms of configuration, programmability, and monitoring, particularly in the absence of an operating system with essential features like the TCP/IP networking stack. This paper introduces an In-band Network Telemetry (INT) approach based on the P4 language for FPGA data plane programming. The goal is to facilitate monitoring and network performance analysis by providing one-way packet delay information. The approach is demonstrated in the Open Cloud Testbed (OCT) and FABRIC testbeds, both offering open access to the research community with greater FPGA availability than commercial clouds. The workflow enables researchers to create custom P4 programs and bitstreams for installation on FPGAs. The paper presents a multi-step approach allowing experimentation within the New England Research Cloud (NERC), testing in OCT, and final deployment in FABRIC, well-suited for one-way delay measurements due to synchronized clocks via GPS time signals. Contributions include the provision of a P4 workflow for FPGAs in a research cloud, a novel FPGA clock-based INT approach, and a comprehensive evaluation through simulation and experiments in the Open Cloud and FABRIC testbeds. 

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2. NSDF-Services: Integrating Networking, Storage, and Computing Services into a Testbed for Democratization of Data Delivery

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3603166.3632136  

   Luettgau, Jakob; Martinez, Heberth; Olaya, Paula; Scorzelli, Giorgio; Tarcea, Glenn; Lofstead, Jay; Kirkpatrick, Christine; Pascucci, Valerio; Taufer, Michela (December 2023, ACM)

   The lack of a readily accessible, tightly integrated data fabric connecting high-speed networking, storage, and computing services remains a critical barrier to the democratization of scientific discovery. To address this challenge, we are building National Science Data Fabric (NSDF), a holistic ecosystem to facilitate domain scientists in their daily research. NSDF comprises networking, storage, and computing services, as well as outreach initiatives. In this paper, we present a testbed integrating three services (i.e., networking, storage, and computing). We evaluate their performance. Specifically, we study the networking services and their throughput and latency with a focus on academic cloud providers; the storage services and their performance with a focus on data movement using file system mappers for both academic and commercial clouds; and computing orchestration services focusing on commercial cloud providers. We discuss NSDF's potential to increase scalability and usability as it decreases time-to-discovery across scientific domains. 

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3. Lessons Learned from the Chameleon Testbed

   Keahey, K.; Anderson, J.; Zhen, Z; Riteau, P.; Ruth, P.; Stanzione, D.; Cevik, M.; Colleran, J.; Gunawi, H.S.; Hammock, C.; et al (July 2020, Proceedings of the 2020 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX ATC '20))

   The Chameleon testbed is a case study in adapting the cloud paradigm for computer science research. In this paper, we explain how this adaptation was achieved, evaluate it from the perspective of supporting the most experiments for the most users, and make a case that utilizing mainstream technology in research testbeds can increase efficiency without compro- mising on functionality. We also highlight the opportunity inherent in the shared digital artifacts generated by testbeds and give an overview of the efforts we’ve made to develop it to foster reproducibility. 

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4. The Design and Operation of CloudLab

   Duplyakin, D; Ricci, R; Maricq, M; Wong, G; Duerig, J; Eide, E; Stoller, L; Hibler, M; Johnson, D; Webb, K; et al (June 2019, The Design and Operation of CloudLab)

   Given the highly empirical nature of research in cloud computing, networked systems, and related fields, testbeds play an important role in the research ecosystem. In this paper, we cover one such facility, CloudLab, which supports systems research by providing raw access to programmable hardware, enabling research at large scales, and creating as hared platform for repeatable research.We present our experiences designing CloudLab and operating it for four years, serving nearly 4,000 users who have run over 79,000 experiments on 2,250 servers, switches, and other pieces of datacenter equipment. From this experience,we draw lessons organized around two themes. The first set comes from analysis of data regarding the use of CloudLab:how users interact with it, what they use it for, and the implications for facility design and operation. Our second set of lessons comes from looking at the ways that algorithms used“under the hood,” such as resource allocation, have important—and sometimes unexpected—effects on user experience and behavior. These lessons can be of value to the designers and operators of IaaS facilities in general, systems testbeds in particular, and users who have a stake in understanding how these systems are built. 

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5. Toward live inter-domain network services on the ExoGENI testbed

   https://doi.org/10.1109/INFCOMW.2018.8407026  

   Yao, Yuanjun; Cao, Qiang; Farias, Rubens; Chase, Jeff; Orlikowski, Victor; Ruth, Paul; Cevik, Mert; Wang, Cong; Buraglio, Nick (April 2018, IEEE INFOCOM 2018 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops (INFOCOM WKSHPS))

   A key dimension of reproducibility in testbeds is stable performance that scales in regular and predictable ways in accordance with declarative specifications for virtual resources. We contend that reproducibility is crucial for elastic performance control in live experiments, in which testbed tenants (slices) provide services for real user traffic that varies over time. This paper gives an overview of ExoPlex, a framework for deploying network service providers (NSPs) as a basis for live inter-domain networking experiments on the ExoGENI testbed. As a motivating example, we show how to use ExoPlex to implement a virtual software-defined exchange (vSDX) as a tenant NSP. The vSDX implements security-managed interconnection of customer IP networks that peer with it via direct L2 links stitched dynamically into its slice. An elastic controller outside of the vSDX slice provisions network links and computing capacity for a scalable monitoring fabric within the tenant vSDX slice. The vSDX checks compliance of traffic flows with customer-specified interconnection policies, and blocks traffic from senders that trigger configured rules for intrusion detection in Bro security monitors. We present initial results showing the effect of resource provisioning on Bro performance within the vSDX. 

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