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师研究人员和网络专家正在联手创建一个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。这个网络基础设施将校园研究网络提升到100 G容量，集成了100 G科学DMZ以实现更好的外部连接，并引入了100 G软件定义网络（SDN）支持的测试平台，以提供创造性的研究机会。这一增强功能极大地改善了研究人员、科学仪器、可视化站、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，实现了以前无法实现的方法。例如，无人机收集的大量环境和水文数据现在可以通过SDN进行管理，由HPC集群快速处理，并与外部协作者共享，以进行即时机器学习分析。这种基础设施也有利于学生，特别是那些来自代表性不足的群体和第一代大学生，通过为他们提供在学习和研究项目中使用顶级技术的实践经验。网络基础设施的模块化设计迎合了各种研究和教育需求。科学DMZ模块具有高性能交换机和先进的数据传输节点，将研究数据流量与一般大学运营隔离开来。校园研究网络采用脊叶架构以实现其可扩展性和可靠性，由两个使用100 Gb链路的互连脊（64 x 100 GbE）组成，位于HPC和另一个校园数据中心。基于SDN的测试床采用类似的Spine-leaf架构，目前只有一个Spine，其适应性非常好，并配备了内置控制器的混合SDN交换机，用于创新的研究探索。性能监控和调整是通过PerfSonar节点进行的，这是研究人员和网络架构师之间的合作努力，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。

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.