Fermín Galán

The reservoir model and architecture for open federated cloud computing

The emerging cloud-computing paradigm is rapidly gaining momentum as an alternative to traditional IT (information technology). However, contemporary cloud-computing offerings are primarily targeted for Web 2.0-style applications. Only recently have they begun to address the requirements of enterprise solutions, such as support for infrastructure service-level agreements. To address the challenges and deficiencies in the current state of the art, we propose a modular, extensible cloud architecture with intrinsic support for business service management and the federation of clouds. The goal is to facilitate an open, service-based online economy in which resources and services are transparently provisioned and managed across clouds on an ondemand basis at competitive costs with high-quality service. The Reservoir project is motivated by the vision of implementing an architecture that would enable providers of cloud infrastructure to dynamically partner with each other to create a seemingly infinite pool of IT resources while fully preserving their individual autonomy in making technological and business management decisions. To this end, Reservoir could leverage and extend the advantages of virtualization and embed autonomous management in the infrastructure. At the same time, the Reservoir approach aims to achieve a very ambitious goal: creating a foundation for next-generation enterprise-grade cloud computing.

From infrastructure delivery to service management in clouds

Clouds have changed the way we think about IT infrastructure management. Providers of software-based services are now able to outsource the operation of the hardware platforms required by those services. However, as the utilization of cloud platforms grows, users are realizing that the implicit promise of clouds (leveraging them from the tasks related with infrastructure management) is not fulfilled. A reason for this is that current clouds offer interfaces too close to that infrastructure, while users demand functionalities that automate the management of their services as a whole unit. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new abstraction layer closer to the lifecycle of services that allows for their automatic deployment and escalation depending on the service status (not only on the infrastructure). This abstraction layer can sit on top of different cloud providers, hence mitigating the potential lock-in problem and allowing the transparent federation of clouds for the execution of services. Here, we present Claudia, a service management system that implements such an abstraction layer, and the results of the deployment of a grid service (based on the Sun Grid Engine software) on such system.

Service specification in cloud environments based on extensions to open standards

Cloud computing technologies are changing the way in which services are deployed and operated nowadays, introducing advantages such as a great degree of flexibility (e.g. pay-peruse models, automatic scalability, etc.). However, existing offerings (Amazon EC2, GoGrid, etc.) are based on proprietary service definition mechanisms, thus introducing vendor lock-in to the customers who deploy their services on those clouds. On the other hand, there are open standards that address the problem of packaging and distributing virtual appliances (i.e. complete software stacks deployed in one or more virtual machines), but they have not been designed specifically for clouds. This paper proposes a service specification language for cloud computing platforms, based on the DMTFs Open Virtualization Format standard, extending it to address the specific requirements of these environments. In order to assess the feasibility of our proposal, we have implemented a prototype system able to deploy and scale service specifications using the proposed extensions. Additionally, practical results are presented based on an industrial case study that demonstrates using the software prototype how to automatically deploy and flexibly scale the Sun Grid Engine application.

Use of virtualization tools in computer network laboratories

The paper describes how virtualization tools can be used in computer network laboratories to simplify and dramatically reduce its deployment and management costs. In particular, the Virtual Network User Mode Linux (VNUML) free-software tool (developed as part of the Euro6IX 1ST research project) is introduced, showing how it can be used to easily build complex virtual network scenarios.

Towards Runtime Reconfiguration of Application Control Policies in the Cloud

The main contribution of this paper is the description of an architecture for dynamically controlling the behavior of the applications deployed in the Cloud by using a set of high-level rules. This architecture is flexible enough to enable the re-definition of behavior policies at runtime. This makes it possible to adapt the behavior of applications after deployment. It is also able to manage different cloud providers. This architecture has been implemented and the most relevant details of such implementation are also covered in this paper. Moreover, some use cases are also explained in order to provide a better description of the advantages of the proposed architecture.

A generic model for the management of virtual network environments

Currently, virtualization is a proven technology that potentially provides a great opportunity for industry growth and research, due to its advantages in flexibility and cost reduction. However, designing virtual network environments is a complex process that requires great effort. For this, the work proposed in this paper is focused on applying modeling techniques to characterize virtual network environments. Firstly, we have analyzed the existing approaches to model virtualized infrastructures. Based on this analysis, we have designed a generic model to characterize and manage virtual network environments based on the CIM Schema. To asses the feasibility of our approach, we have implemented a CIM client based on this model, which enables to deploy virtual network environments automatically, independently of the used underlying virtualization platform. The test results using this client demonstrated the efficiency of this implementation, which was evaluated with Xen and VMware Server.

Distributed virtual scenarios over multi-host Linux environments

Virtualization based testbeds are nowadays widely used for the creation of the network environments needed to test protocols and applications. Virtualization has highly contributed to reduce the cost of testbeds setup, either in terms of hardware resources needed or work effort. However, the complexity of present networks arises the need to create very complex testbeds, made out of tenths or even hundreds of virtual machines, interconnected according to specific topologies. The paper presents a tool for the deployment and management of virtual network scenarios over clusters of Linux servers. VNX (Virtual Networks over LinuX) tool allows the definition of virtual network scenarios (virtual machines number and characteristics, interconnection topology, etc.) and controls their deployment over either a Linux server or a cluster of servers. The tool allows the user to control how the virtual scenario is distributed over the different cluster servers, using algorithms ranging from simple round-robin to complex user-defined, as well as restriction rules (i.e. virtual machine X must run over host Y). VNX is based on two previous tools (VNUML/EDIV) which have been extensively enhanced with new functionalities such as virtual machine autoconfiguration (using OVF-like approach), support of several virtualization hypervisors through the integration of libvirt API, and the integration of router virtualization technologies.

Study and emulation of IPv6 Internet-exchange-based addressing models

This article presents the first results of our study and experimentation with the new IPv6 IX-based address assignment model and its deployment in IXs where peering is organized around route servers. An IX model that identifies where the new IX customers can be located and how services like provider choice or multihoming can be offered is proposed. The article also describes the emulation environment that has been developed to easily create and experiment with complex IX scenarios without involving setup of costly configurations made of several pieces of equipment. This work has been carried out in the context of the European Union funded project Euro6IX.

A model-driven configuration management methodology for testbed infrastructures

Testbeds are controlled experimentation platforms where solutions (software, architectures, etc.) can be developed, deployed and tested in an environment that resembles real utilization conditions. This paper describes a model-driven methodology for automatic testbed reconfiguration which solves the problems of manual interaction and inter-testbed scenario reutilization. It is based in a high-level testbed-independent model of the desired scenario (so it can be applied to any testbed in general) which is particularized to testbed-specific scenario models for automatic deployment and management by model-based tools. The paper also details our practical experiences applying the methodology to two quite different use cases: VNUML-based virtual testbeds and the GMPLS-enabled optical network of ADRENALINE testbedreg (each one with its own model-based automatic deployment tools), thus assessing the feasibility and generality of the proposed approach.

Scenario-Based Distributed Virtualization Management Architecture for Multi-host Environments

Traditional virtual scenario management tools (VNUML, NetKit, MLN, etc.) normally consider mono-host deployment (i.e. the entire virtualized scenario deployed in the same physical host). In this paper, the work carried out in the EDIV project, dealing with the development of a multi-host evolution of the Virtual Network User Mode Linux (VNUML) tool, is presented. Following an overview of virtual scenario-based management, the distributed deployment management architecture, detailing the main components, its interfaces and operations, is described. Additionally, details on the actual implementation and the results achieved so far are provided, assessing the feasibility and advantages of the system. Finally a proposal to evolve the tool towards DMTF virtualization related standards (CIM-based virtualization management and OVF) is outlined.