Extending PRAGMA ENT for End Users using IPOP Overlay Networks - pragmagrid/pragma_ent GitHub Wiki
PRAGMA-ENT (Pacific Rim Application and Grid Middleware Assembly - Experimental Network Testbed) is a testbed for research on SDN (Software Defined Network) that is distributed across multiple PRAGMA institutions.
PRAGMA-ENT nodes are accessible to clusters/servers connected to the testbed to conduct experiments. However, in many scenarios, it is important to extend the testbed beyond the resources dedicated to PRAGMA-ENT. For instance, it is desirable to provide users with access to the testbed from their own computers, regardless from where they are located, to perform tasks such as the setup and monitoring of experiments.
PRAGMA-ENT leverages the IPOP overlay network to extend the testbed to distributed end-user personal computers by establishing virtual layer 2 network tunnels. In doing so, authorized users can join PRAGMA-ENT network from anywhere, with any machine.
Description
The following diagram overviews the use of IPOP to extend PRAGMA-ENT. The PRAGMA-ENT backbone, with its distributed OpenFlow SDN switches, is unmodified. At each PRAGMA-ENT site, an IPOP Access Point is deployed by the site's system administrator - this Access Point can simply be a computer running Linux, with a NIC connected to a port of PRAGMA-ENT and a NIC connected to the Internet, and running Open vSwitch and IPOP. The IPOP instance on this Access Point allows authorized users to create tunnels that seamlessly extend the layer-2 network to external devices (e.g. a personal computer, or a server)
A user can run IPOP tap device standalone; she can also bind it to any virtual bridge such as Linux bridge or Open vSwitch.
Requirements
First, a site administrator needs to run an Access Point for the PRAGMA-ENT site. Please email one of the coordinators below to check if your site has an Access Point already running, or if you wish to run an Access Point for your site. Please follow this link for a tutorial for site administrators
Once an Access Point is up and running, users can download IPOP, request authentication credentials from one of the coordinators, and run IPOP on their own computers to join PRAGMA-ENT. Please follow this link for a tutorial for users
The software and configuration required to run IPOP are:
- IPOP software package (Currently, CentOS and Ubuntu are supported - the software can be downloaded from IPOP page[1])
- Configuration file (the XMPP account credentials needed to connect to IPOP, and the IP address range will be assigned and sent to you by a coordinator; see contact below)
Address range
- PRAGMA-ENT uses the address range of 10.101.0.0/16.
Coordinator Contact
When you try contact, make sure to cc Dr Ichikawa.
-
Kyuho Jeong (
) -
Dr Kohei Ichikawa (
)
Currently deployed IPOP access point
| Organization | Location |
|---|---|
| University of Florida | Gainesville, Florida, USA |
| Nara Institute of Science and Technology(NIST) | Nara, Japan |