CCRI: Grand: Developing a Testbed for the Research Community Exploring Next-Generation Cloud Platforms

云计算在支持我们日常生活中使用的大多数软件方面发挥着重要作用。该项目将建造和支持一个试验台，用于研究和试验新的云平台-向应用程序提供云服务的底层软件。像这样的试验台对于研究新的云技术至关重要--这项研究需要进行可能改变云本身运行的实验。新的试验台将把成熟的软件技术与真正的生产云结合起来，并通过可编程硬件--现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)--增强--这些功能是目前研究人员所不具备的其他设施所没有的。试验台和生产云的组合允许a)与单独的试验台相比规模更大，b)基于现实用户行为和应用的可重复性试验，以及c)将成功的研究成果转化为实践的模型。可编程硬件将是能够调查硬件加速技术的独特资源，该项目的社区推广部分旨在确定、吸引和留住感兴趣的研究人员，并教育他们使用该设施。试验台提供了一种独特的可持续发展模式，允许将额外的计算资源从机构用途动态移动到试验台，然后再移回试验台，从而提供了一条超越初始试验台的增长路径。此试验台将加速云技术的创新；这些技术影响着当今几乎所有的计算。通过提供目前只有少数大型商业云提供商的研究人员才能使用的功能，它将允许不同的社区利用这些技术，使云计算研究“民主化”，并允许研究和开源社区之间加强合作。该项目的社区推广活动面向探索复杂的分布式系统和云平台的研究人员，这些系统和云平台跨越各种背景、机构和地区。将开发软件工具，为这些研究人员提供方便和有效的访问；教程、讲习班和网络研讨会将提供使用这些工具和试验床本身的培训。该项目将支持培养该领域的下一代研究人员，与附属生产云的行业合作伙伴的现有关系将加快技术从学术研究向实际应用的转化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cloud computing plays an important role in supporting most software we use in our daily lives. This project will construct and support a testbed for research and experimentation into new cloud platforms - the underlying software which provides cloud services to applications. Testbeds such as this are critical for enabling research into new cloud technologies - research that requires experiments which potentially change the operation of the cloud itself. The new testbed will combine proven software technologies with a real production cloud enhanced with programmable hardware - Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) - capabilities not present in other facilities available to researchers today. The combination of a testbed and production cloud allows a) larger scale compared to isolated testbeds, b) reproducible experimentation based on realistic user behavior and applications, as well as c) a model for transitioning successful research results to practice. The programmable hardware will be a unique resource enabling investigation into hardware acceleration techniques, and the community outreach portion of the project aims to identify, attract, and retain interested researchers, and to educate them in the use of the facility. The testbed offers a unique sustainability model, by allowing additional compute resources to be dynamically moved from institutional uses into the testbed and back again, providing a path to growth beyond the initial testbed.This testbed will accelerate innovation in cloud technologies; technologies affecting almost all of computing today. In providing capabilities that today are only available to researchers within a few large commercial cloud providers, it will allow diverse communities to exploit these technologies, "democratizing" cloud computing research, and allowing increased collaboration between the research and open source communities. The community outreach activities of the project are targeted to researchers who explore complex distributed systems and cloud platforms, spanning a diverse range of backgrounds, institutions, and regions. Software tools will be developed to provide easy and efficient access by these researchers; tutorials, workshops, and webinars will offer training in the use of these tools and the testbed itself. The project will support educating the next generation of researchers in this field, and existing relationships with industrial partners of the affiliated production cloud will accelerate technology transfer from academic research to practical use.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.