CC* Networking Infrastructure: Building a Scalable and Polymorphic Cyberinfrastructure for Diverse Research and Education Needs at Illinois State University

伊利诺伊州立大学的教员研究人员和网络专家正在合作创建先进的网络基础设施，以满足校园不断发展和多样化的研究和教育需求。该网络基础设施将园区研究网络提升到100G的全容量，集成了100G科学DMZ以实现更好的外部连接，并引入了支持100G软件定义网络(SDN)的试验床，以提供创造性的研究机会。这一增强极大地改善了研究人员、科学仪器、可视化站点、高性能计算(HPC)资源和外部合作者之间的数字交互，提高了研究速度，并使以前无法实现的方法成为可能。例如，无人飞行器收集的大量环境和水文数据现在可以通过SDN管理，由HPC集群快速处理，并与外部合作者共享，以便立即进行机器学习分析。这种基础设施还使学生受益，特别是那些来自代表不足的群体和第一代大学参与者的学生，因为他们在学习和研究项目中为他们提供了顶级技术的实践体验。网络基础设施的模块化设计迎合了不同的研究和教育需求。Science DMZ模块以高性能交换机和尖端数据传输节点为特色，将研究数据流量与普通大学运营隔离。园区内研究网络采用主干-枝叶架构，具有可扩展性和可靠性，由位于HPC和另一个园区数据中心的两个使用100 Gb链路的互连主干(64x100 GbE)组成。基于SDN的试验台目前采用类似的脊叶结构和单脊柱，因其适应性而备受推崇，并配备了内置控制器的混合SDN交换机，用于创新研究探索。性能监测和调整是通过PerfSonar节点进行的，研究人员和网络架构师共同努力，以确保网络基础设施的最佳性能。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。

Faculty researchers and networking experts at Illinois State University are teaming up to create an advanced cyberinfrastructure to meet the evolving and diverse research and educational demands of the campus. This cyberinfrastructure boosts the campus research network to a full 100G capacity, integrates a 100G Science DMZ for better external connections, and introduces a 100G Software Defined Networking (SDN) enabled testbed for creative research opportunities. This enhancement dramatically improves digital interaction among researchers, scientific instruments, visualization stations, high-performance computing (HPC) resources, and external collaborators, elevating research speed and enabling methodologies previously out of reach. For example, large environmental and hydrology data collected by unmanned aircrafts can now be managed through the SDN, quickly processed by HPC clusters, and shared with external collaborators for immediate machine-learning analysis. This infrastructure also benefits students, particularly those from underrepresented groups and first-generation college attendees, by providing them with hands-on experience with top-tier technology in their studies and research projects. The cyberinfrastructure's modular design caters to varied research and educational requirements. The Science DMZ module, featuring a high-performance switch and a cutting-edge data transfer node, isolates research data traffic from general university operations. The on-campus research network employs a spine-leaf architecture for its scalability and reliability, consisting of two interconnected spines (64x100GbE) using 100Gb links, located in the HPC and another campus data center. The SDN-based testbed adopts a similar spine-leaf architecture with a single Spine for now, prized for its adaptability and equipped with hybrid SDN switches that have built-in controllers for innovative research exploration. Performance monitoring and adjustments are carried out with PerfSonar nodes, in a collaborative effort between researchers and network architects to ensure the cyberinfrastructure's optimal performance.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.