Secure Cloud Connectivity for Scientific Applications

Cloud computing improves utilization and flexibility in allocating computing resources while reducing the infrastructural costs. However, in many cases cloud technology is still proprietary and tainted by security issues rooted in the multi-user and hybrid cloud environment. A lack of secure connectivity in a hybrid cloud environment hinders the adaptation of clouds by scientific communities that require scaling-out of the local infrastructure using publicly available resources for large-scale experiments. In this article, we present a case study of the DII-HEP secure cloud infrastructure and propose an approach to securely scale-out a private cloud deployment to public clouds in order to support hybrid cloud scenarios. A challenge in such scenarios is that cloud vendors may offer varying and possibly incompatible ways to isolate and interconnect virtual machines located in different cloud networks. Our approach is tenant driven in the sense that the tenant provides its connectivity mechanism. We provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of a number of alternatives to solve this problem. We have chosen one of the standardized alternatives, Host Identity Protocol, for further experimentation in a production system because it supports legacy applications in a topologically-independent and secure way.Peer reviewe

Improving quality of service through road side back-bone network in VANET

The vehicular ad hoc Networks (VANETs) are expected to support a large spectrum of traffic alert, dynamic route planning, file sharing, safety and infotainment applications to improve traffic management. User satisfaction plus in time delivery of real-time messages is the most significant quality evaluation criterion for vehicular applications. High mobility and rapidly changing topologies always lead to intermittent quality of services, higher delay and packet dropping issues in network. To improve the quality of services for multi-hop and dynamic environment, different types of solutions have been proposed. The article introduces multi-protocol label switching based on roadside backbone network to provide widespread, scalable, high-speed, robust quality of services and improve network efficiency. The simulation results showed that proposed model improves data transmission and routing performance in terms of data delivery, throughput, end-to-end delay and achieve adequate utilization of resources

Service Level Agreements for Communication Networks: A Survey

Abstract. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is being provided to the variety of endusers demands, thereby providing a better and improved management of services is crucial. Therefore, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are essential and play a key role to manage the provided services among the network entities. This survey identifies the state of the art covering concepts, approaches and open problems of the SLAs establishment, deployment and management. This paper is organised in a way that the reader can access a variety of proposed SLA methods and models addressed and provides an overview of the SLA actors and elements. It also describes SLAs’ characteristics and objectives. SLAs’ existing methodologies are explained and categorised followed by the Service Quality Categories (SQD) and Quality-Based Service Descriptions (QSD). SLA modelling and architectures are discussed, and open research problems and future research directions are introduced. The establishment of a reliable, safe and QoE-aware computer networking needs a group of services that goes beyond pure networking services. Therefore, within the paper this broader set of services are taken into consideration and for each Service Level Objective (SLO) the related services domains will be indicated. The purpose of this survey is to identify existing research gaps in utilising SLA elements to develop a generic methodology, considering all quality parameters beyond the Quality of Service (QoS) and what must or can be taken into account to define, establish and deploy an SLA. This study is still an active research on how to specify and develop an SLA to achieve the win-win agreements among all actors.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The Anatomy of the Grid - Enabling Scalable Virtual Organizations

"Grid" computing has emerged as an important new field, distinguished from conventional distributed computing by its focus on large-scale resource sharing, innovative applications, and, in some cases, high-performance orientation. In this article, we define this new field. First, we review the "Grid problem," which we define as flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions, and resources-what we refer to as virtual organizations. In such settings, we encounter unique authentication, authorization, resource access, resource discovery, and other challenges. It is this class of problem that is addressed by Grid technologies. Next, we present an extensible and open Grid architecture, in which protocols, services, application programming interfaces, and software development kits are categorized according to their roles in enabling resource sharing. We describe requirements that we believe any such mechanisms must satisfy, and we discuss the central role played by the intergrid protocols that enable interoperability among different Grid systems. Finally, we discuss how Grid technologies relate to other contemporary technologies, including enterprise integration, application service provider, storage service provider, and peer-to-peer computing. We maintain that Grid concepts and technologies complement and have much to contribute to these other approaches.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure