Continuous and Concurrent Network Connection for Hardware Virtualization

This project addresses the network connectivity in virtualization for cloud computing. Each Virtual Machine will be able to access the network concurrently and obtains continuous internet connectivity without any disruption. This project proposes a new method of resource sharing which is the Network Interface Card (NIC) among the Virtual Machines with each of them having the full access to it with near-native bandwidth. With this, could computing can perform resource allocation more effectively. This will be essential to migrate the each Operating System (Virtual Machine) that resides on one physical machine to another without disrupting its internet or network connection

Internet Infrastructures for Large Scale Emulation with Efficient HW/SW Co-design

Connected systems are becoming more ingrained in our daily lives with the advent of cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence. As technology progresses, we expect the number of networked systems to rise along with their complexity. As these systems become abstruse, it becomes paramount to understand their interactions and nuances. In particular, Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET) and swarm communication systems exhibit added complexity due to a multitude of environmental and physical conditions. Testing these types of systems is challenging and incurs high engineering and deployment costs. In this work, we propose a scalable MANET emulation framework using virtualized internet infrastructures that generalizes an assortment of application spaces with diverse attributes. We then quantify the architecture using various evaluation techniques to determine both feasibility and scalability. Finally, we developed a hardware offload engine for virtualized network systems that builds upon recent work in the field

PCIe Device Lending

We have developed a proof of concept for allowing a PCI Express device attached to one computer to be used by another computer without any software intermediate on the data path. The device driver runs on a physically separate machine from the device, but our implementation allows the device driver and device to communicate as if the device and driver were in the same machine, without modifying either the driver or the device. The kernel and higher level software can utilize the device as if it were a local device. A device will not be used by two separate machines at the same time, but a machine can transfer the control of a local device to a remote machine. We have named this concept "device lending". We envision that machines will have, in addition to local PCIe devices, access to a pool of remote PCIe devices. When a machine needs more device resources, additional devices can be dynamically borrowed from other machines with devices to spare. These devices can be located in a dedicated external cabinet, or be devices inserted into internal slots in a normal computer. The device lending is implemented using a Non-Transparent Bridge (NTB), a native PCIe interconnect that should offer performance close to that of a locally connected device. Devices that are not currently being lent to another host will not be affected in any way. NTBs are available as add-ons for any PCIe based computer and are included in newer Intel Xeon CPUs. The proof of concept we created was implemented for Linux, on top of the APIs provided by our NTB vendor, Dolphin. The host borrowing a device has a kernel module to provide the necessary software support and the other host has a user space daemon. No additional software modifications or hardware is required, nor special support from the devices. The current implementation works with some devices, but has some problems with others. We believe however, that we have identified the problems and how to improve the situation. In a later implementation, we believe that all devices we have tested can be made to work correctly and with very high performance

Virtualization of I/O Operations in Computer Networks

Tato práce se zabývá problematikou virtualizace počítačových systémů a zejména síťových karet ve vysokorychlostních sítích, a řeší implementaci podpory virtualizační technologie SR-IOV pro síťové karty COMBO. V práci jsou shrnuty různé přístupy k virtualizaci síťových karet a popsány výhody technologie SR-IOV pro vysoce výkonné aplikace. Dále práce obsahuje informace o platformě COMBO a popisuje návrh a implementaci podpory technologie SR-IOV pro tuto platformu. Závěrem je provedeno vyhodnocení výkonnostních testů implementované technologie ve virtuálních strojích. Výsledkem práce je podpora technologie SR-IOV v kartách COMBO, což umožňuje jejich použití ve virtuálních strojích při zachování vysokého výkonu. To umožní budoucím COMBO kartám fungovat jako akcelerátory v sítích využívajících virtualizace síťových funkcí.This work deals with virtualization of computer systems and network cards in high-speed computer networks, and describes implementation of the SR-IOV virtualization technology support in the COMBO network card platform. Various approaches towards network card virtualization are compared, and the benefits of the SR-IOV technology for high performance applications are described. The work gives overview of the COMBO platform and describes design and implementation of the SR-IOV technology support for the COMBO platform. The work concludes with measurement and analysis of the implemented technology performance in virtual machines. The result of this work is the COMBO cards' support for the SR-IOV technology, which makes it possible to use them in virtual machines with wire-speed performance preserved. This allows future COMBO cards to be used as accelerators in the networks utilizing the Network Function Virtualization.

Continuous and Concurrent Network Connection for Hardware Virtualization

This project addresses the network connectivity in virtualization for cloud computing. Each Virtual Machine will be able to access the network concurrently and obtains continuous internet connectivity without any disruption. This project proposes a new method of resource sharing which is the Network Interface Card (NIC) among the Virtual Machines with each of them having the full access to it with near-native bandwidth. With this, could computing can perform resource allocation more effectively. This will be essential to migrate the each Operating System (Virtual Machine) that resides on one physical machine to another without disrupting its internet or network connection

Composable architecture for rack scale big data computing

The rapid growth of cloud computing, both in terms of the spectrum and volume of cloud workloads, necessitate re-visiting the traditional rack-mountable servers based datacenter design. Next generation datacenters need to offer enhanced support for: (i) fast changing system configuration requirements due to workload constraints, (ii) timely adoption of emerging hardware technologies, and (iii) maximal sharing of systems and subsystems in order to lower costs. Disaggregated datacenters, constructed as a collection of individual resources such as CPU, memory, disks etc., and composed into workload execution units on demand, are an interesting new trend that can address the above challenges. In this paper, we demonstrated the feasibility of composable systems through building a rack scale composable system prototype using PCIe switch. Through empirical approaches, we develop assessment of the opportunities and challenges for leveraging the composable architecture for rack scale cloud datacenters with a focus on big data and NoSQL workloads. In particular, we compare and contrast the programming models that can be used to access the composable resources, and developed the implications for the network and resource provisioning and management for rack scale architecture

Deployment of NFV and SFC scenarios

Aquest ítem conté el treball original, defensat públicament amb data de 24 de febrer de 2017, així com una versió millorada del mateix amb data de 28 de febrer de 2017. Els canvis introduïts a la segona versió són 1) correcció d'errades 2) procediment del darrer annex.Telecommunications services have been traditionally designed linking hardware devices and providing mechanisms so that they can interoperate. Those devices are usually specific to a single service and are based on proprietary technology. On the other hand, the current model works by defining standards and strict protocols to achieve high levels of quality and reliability which have defined the carrier-class provider environment. Provisioning new services represent challenges at different levels because inserting the required devices involve changes in the network topology. This leads to slow deployment times and increased operational costs. To overcome the current burdens network function installation and insertion processes into the current service topology needs to be streamlined to allow greater flexibility. The current service provider model has been disrupted by the over-the-top Internet content providers (Facebook, Netflix, etc.), with short product cycles and fast development pace of new services. The content provider irruption has meant a competition and stress over service providers' infrastructure and has forced telco companies to research new technologies to recover market share with flexible and revenue-generating services. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Service Function Chaining (SFC) are some of the initiatives led by the Communication Service Providers to regain the lost leadership. This project focuses on experimenting with some of these already available new technologies, which are expected to be the foundation of the new network paradigms (5G, IOT) and support new value-added services over cost-efficient telecommunication infrastructures. Specifically, SFC scenarios have been deployed with Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV), a Linux Foundation project. Some use cases of the NFV technology are demonstrated applied to teaching laboratories. Although the current implementation does not achieve a production degree of reliability, it provides a suitable environment for the development of new functional improvements and evaluation of the performance of virtualized network infrastructures

Cloud-efficient modelling and simulation of magnetic nano materials

Scientific simulations are rarely attempted in a cloud due to the substantial performance costs of virtualization. Considerable communication overheads, intolerable latencies, and inefficient hardware emulation are the main reasons why this emerging technology has not been fully exploited. On the other hand, the progress of computing infrastructure nowadays is strongly dependent on perspective storage medium development, where efficient micromagnetic simulations play a vital role in future memory design. This thesis addresses both these topics by merging micromagnetic simulations with the latest OpenStack cloud implementation while providing a time and costeffective alternative to expensive computing centers. However, many challenges have to be addressed before a high-performance cloud platform emerges as a solution for problems in micromagnetic research communities. First, the best solver candidate has to be selected and further improved, particularly in the parallelization and process communication domain. Second, a 3-level cloud communication hierarchy needs to be recognized and each segment adequately addressed. The required steps include breaking the VMisolation for the host’s shared memory activation, cloud network-stack tuning, optimization, and efficient communication hardware integration. The project work concludes with practical measurements and confirmation of successfully implemented simulation into an open-source cloud environment. It is achieved that the renewed Magpar solver runs for the first time in the OpenStack cloud by using ivshmem for shared memory communication. Also, extensive measurements proved the effectiveness of our solutions, yielding from sixty percent to over ten times better results than those achieved in the standard cloud.Aufgrund der erheblichen Leistungskosten der Virtualisierung werden wissenschaftliche Simulationen in einer Cloud selten versucht. Beträchtlicher Kommunikationsaufwand, erhebliche Latenzen und ineffiziente Hardwareemulation sind die Hauptgründe, warum diese aufkommende Technologie nicht vollständig genutzt wurde. Andererseits hängt der Fortschritt der Computertechnologie heutzutage stark von der Entwicklung perspektivischer Speichermedien ab, bei denen effiziente mikromagnetische Simulationen eine wichtige Rolle für die zukünftige Speichertechnologie spielen. Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit diesen beiden Themen, indem mikromagnetische Simulationen mit der neuesten OpenStack Cloud-Implementierung zusammengeführt werden, um eine zeit- und kostengünstige Alternative zu teuren Rechenzentren bereitzustellen. Viele Herausforderungen müssen jedoch angegangen werden, bevor eine leistungsstarke Cloud-Plattform als Lösung für Probleme in mikromagnetischen Forschungsgemeinschaften entsteht. Zunächst muss der beste Kandidat für die Lösung ausgewählt und weiter verbessert werden, insbesondere im Bereich der Parallelisierung und Prozesskommunikation. Zweitens muss eine 3-stufige CloudKommunikationshierarchie erkannt und jedes Segment angemessen adressiert werden. Die erforderlichen Schritte umfassen das Aufheben der VM-Isolation, um den gemeinsam genutzten Speicher zwischen Cloud-Instanzen zu aktivieren, die Optimierung des Cloud-Netzwerkstapels und die effiziente Integration von Kommunikationshardware. Die praktische Arbeit endet mit Messungen und der Bestätigung einer erfolgreich implementierten Simulation in einer Open-Source Cloud-Umgebung. Als Ergebnis haben wir erreicht, dass der neu erstellte Magpar-Solver zum ersten Mal in der OpenStack Cloud ausgeführt wird, indem ivshmem für die Shared-Memory Kommunikation verwendet wird. Umfangreiche Messungen haben auch die Wirksamkeit unserer Lösungen bewiesen und von sechzig Prozent bis zu zehnmal besseren Ergebnissen als in der Standard Cloud geführt

Virtualization to build large scale networks

Abstract. There is not much research concerning network virtualization, even though virtualization has been a hot topic for some time and networks keep growing. Physical routers can be expensive and laborious to setup and manage, not to mention immobile. Network virtualization can be utilized in many ways, such as reducing costs, increasing agility and increasing deployment speed. Virtual routers are easy to create, copy and move. This study will research into the subjects of networks, virtualization solutions and network virtualization. Furthermore, it will show how to build a virtual network consisting of hundreds of nodes, all performing network routing. In addition, the virtual network can be connected to physical routers in the real world to provide benefits, such as performance testing or large-scale deployment. All this will be achieved using only commodity hardware