CSR: Small: Plug into the SuperCloud

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is enable the creation of secure compute clouds (Superclouds) without requiring ownership of the underlying infrastructure. This will allow organizations and individuals to migrate to a cloud computing environment while retaining control over placement and scheduling. Superclouds make cloud computing and storage a commodity by freeing users from single providers. The research described in this proposal aims to create a Supercloud by utilizing nested virtualization, in which a virtual machine, as well as the network and storage it relies on, can be migrated between multiple underlying and heterogeneous cloud infrastructures without its user being aware of the provider's hardware, hypervisor, or networks and without any standardization of protocols between cloud providers. The project has three components: 1) Optimize and generalize support of a Supercloud via nested virtualization; 2) Develop a Supercloud manager; 3) Enhance the Supercloud with network and storage abstractions that allow applications to run across multiple clouds. Superclouds address many of the shortcomings of current cloud offerings. Users will no longer be tied to a particular provider; they can move their resources between providers and can even build applications that span multiple providers for increased performance and robustness. An open-source Supercloud will also allow students to experiment with their own cloud management algorithms, or instrument the Supercloud for study. Indeed, the proposal includes plans to incorporate this into a summer workshop that the proposers have been running in cooperation with a historically black university (Howard) and also into Cornell's cloud course offerings.