Collaborative Research: EAGER: REAL Leafy - A Sustainable, Viral Infrastructure-as-a-Service Edge Cloud

实验性分布式计算服务对于支持新兴的网络物理系统正变得至关重要。但是，维持实验研究测试平台以承载这些重要服务所需的资本投资和运营费用可能会增加。在这个项目中，leaf边缘计算云探索了一种计算研究基础设施的新模式——一个只有软件的、地理上分散的云测试平台，通过自愿提供可用的计算硬件，在部分或全职的基础上扩大规模。绿叶云提供了一个良性循环的前景：随着更多的站点加入绿叶边缘云，更多的软件开发人员和实验者被吸引到基础设施，导致部署更多的应用程序和服务，增加新的贡献者提供托管计算资源的价值。该项目将为循环云系统开发一个病毒式的、可持续的、纯软件的分布式测试平台，并对支持分布式计算实验和服务所涉及的问题进行探索。它将整合现代编排、管理和租赁技术，并严重依赖开源虚拟化和云管理软件技术，如Docker和Kubernetes。绿叶将是第一个多租户广域分布式系统，使用最先进的微服务架构部署系统和实验。将主持和分析两个实验来评估该系统：分布式协作可视化系统和全局数据平面。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Experimental distributed computing services are becoming vital to support emerging cyberphysical systems. But the capital investment and operational expenses required to sustain experimental research testbeds to host these vital services can grow large. In this project the Leafy edge compute cloud explores a new model for computing research infrastructure -- a software-only, geographically decentralized cloud testbed that expands in size through voluntary contributions of available computing hardware, on a part- or full-time basis. The LEAFY Cloud offers the prospect of a virtuous cycle: as more sites join the LEAFY edge cloud, more software developers and experimenters are attracted to the infrastructure, resulting in the deployment of more applications and services, increasing the value of new contributors offering to host a compute resource.This project will develop and prototype a viral, sustainable, software-only distributed testbed for Cloud-in-the-Loop Systems, and to explore the issues involved in supporting distributed computing experiments and services. It will incorporate modern orchestration, management, and tenancy technologies, and rely heavily on open source virtualization and cloud management software technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes. LEAFY will be the first multi-tenant wide-area distributed system to deploy systems and experiments using a state-of-the-art micro-services architecture. Two experiments will be hosted and analyzed to evaluate the system: a Distributed Collaborative Visualization System and the Global Data Plane.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.