What’s new with FABRIC?
An update from Ilya Baldin, FABRIC Principal Investigator
In the past few months the FABRIC team continued to deploy the remainder of Phase 2 hardware. A big effort is being put into completing our core DWDM footprint — adding the remaining 100G waves and associated optics as well as the 1.2Tbps Northern and Southern Rails of the SuperCore. These are expected to be turned up in early June. We also were able to deliver and are starting to install two more of our FAB sites at the University of Bristol and the University of Amsterdam.
We have made a new office hours system available from the FABRIC portal that allows stakeholders to directly book time with the leadership team and technical team members to discuss anything from the feasibility of their experiments, to software questions, to experiment security, to connecting new facilities into FABRIC.
The FABRIC team held the KNIT 6 Community Workshop from April 24-26 at TACC in Austin, TX. More than 80 attendees participated in tutorials, visionary keynotes, live demos, and excitingly, in the unconference sessions, a sleuth of emerging research use cases that can harness the advanced features of FABRIC. The demo night was a highlight for the event with researcher teams showcasing their FABRIC experiments with posters, live demos, and insightful conversations.
FABRIC team members also participated in the MERIF Workshop from May 22-24 in Boston, MA where representatives and users of many prominent NSF Midscale infrastructures met to trade ideas and learn about each other’s testbeds. The FABRIC team conducted both introductory and advanced tutorials attracting new users, as well as engaging with other testbeds toward federation via direct network connections. Several FABRIC ‘power-users’ also attended and were able to showcase their results at the lively evening demo nights.
Save The Date: KNIT 7
September 27 – 29, 2023 | Columbus, OH
KNIT 7, the third in-person FABRIC Community Workshop, will take place from September 27 – 29, 2023 in Columbus, OH. KNIT 7 will be hosted by The Quilt and will be co-located with the NSF CC* PI Workshop. We hope to continue growing our community through exposing CC* PIs and teams to FABRIC’s capabilities.
FABRIC, an international infrastructure that enables cutting-edge experimentation and research at-scale, is up and running. We’ll kick off the workshop on September 27 with small-group, hands-on FABRIC tutorial sessions and advanced training topics. From September 28-29, attendees will be able to learn updates about the platform, hear plenary talks, and see experimenter demonstrations.
Stay tuned to our website for the latest information.
FABRIC: A Testbed of Testbeds
Participating Testbeds and Facilities
FABRIC is a testbed of testbeds, helping users experiment using multiple testbeds. Like Lego blocks, users can get accounts on several testbeds and build an experiment using all of them. Additionally, testbeds can be powered by FABRIC. FABRIC can support testbeds as an underlying infrastructure, while not necessarily exposing the FABRIC interfaces to their users.
The list of participating testbeds and facilities is growing and currently includes over twelve members. Testbeds and facilities can be added to the page using this form.
Find the full list on our website.
Defining FABRIC
A glossary for common terms used by our researchers
Keys (or SSH Keys): In addition to a user’s credentials (userid and password), FABRIC requires the use of SSH (Secure SHell) keys for more secure login and access to FABRIC resources. SSH keys come in pairs; both a public and private key. To use FABRIC, users will need to generate SSH keys and upload the public key (not the private key) to FABRIC. Users can manually create these keys on their local machines or use the key generator available in the FABRIC portal by selecting Experiments from the horizontal menu bar, and then MANAGE SSH KEYS in the left menu bar.
See the full glossary on our website.
Community Opportunities
Programming of interest to the FABRIC community
SC23 Network Research Exhibition: SC is a test bed for cutting-edge developments in high-performance networking, computing, storage, and analysis. Network Research Exhibition (NRE) demonstrations leverage the advanced capabilities of SCinet, the conference’s dedicated high-capacity network. The FABRIC team is interested in learning if you choose to submit a demo that will show your team’s experiments on FABRIC. Feel free to let us know at info@fabric-testbed.net. Preliminary network resource requests and abstracts are due June 2.
Next Generation Internet (NGI) Enrichers: NGI Enrichers is an initiative that supports transatlantic research cooperation in areas related to the next generation of the internet, such as networking, cybersecurity, virtual reality, 5G, machine learning, and several others. Selected candidates will spend three to six months in the US or Canada to work and collaborate with host organizations and to promote knowledge-sharing and establish long-term collaborations on NGI technologies, services, and standards. The program is well-positioned for the FABRIC experimenter community and other stakeholders to take on a fully-funded team member to work on projects and experiments on FABRIC. The FABRIC team is interested in learning if you chose to use this program as part of your team’s experiments on FABRIC. Feel free to let us know at info@fabric-testbed.net. The next round of open calls begins in Autumn 2023.
Open Solicitations
Funding opportunities that encourage the use of FABRIC
Community Infrastructure for Research in Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CIRC): The Community Research Infrastructure for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CIRC) program will specifically support diverse communities of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) researchers pursuing focused research agendas in computer and information science and engineering. This support involves developing the accompanying user services and engagement needed to attract, nurture, and grow a robust research community that is actively involved in determining directions for the infrastructure, as well as management of the infrastructure. Full proposals are due September 8, 2023.
Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*): The Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program invests in coordinated campus-level cyberinfrastructure improvements, innovation, integration, and engineering for science applications and distributed research projects. Learning and workforce development (LWD) in cyberinfrastructure is explicitly addressed in the program. Projects that help overcome disparities in cyber-connectivity associated with geographic location, and thereby advancing the geography of innovation and enabling populations based in these locales to become more nationally competitive in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research and education are particularly encouraged. Science-driven requirements are the primary motivation for any proposed activity. Full proposals are due September 11, 2023.
Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC): The SaTC program welcomes proposals that address cybersecurity and privacy, drawing on expertise in one or more of these areas: computing, communication, and information sciences; engineering; education; mathematics; statistics; and social, behavioral, and economic sciences. Proposals that advance the field of cybersecurity and privacy within a single discipline or interdisciplinary efforts that span multiple disciplines are both welcome. Full proposals can be submitted at any time.
See a list of all solicitations mentioning FABRIC on our website.
Do you have a project idea that would benefit from using FABRIC? The FABRIC team welcomes requests for Letters of Collaboration. To expedite the process, please contact us by filling out the form.
Upcoming Events
Leadership team presence at industry or academic events
SIGCOMM 2023: ACM SIGCOMM is the flagship annual conference of the ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM). FABRIC leadership team members will be present at the event and will host a tutorial on using the platform. The event will take place in New York City, from September 10 – 14.
2023 Internet2 Technology Exchange: The Internet2 Technology Exchange is the premier technical event in the global research and education (R&E) community. The event brings together a community of technical visionaries – a group that includes the most inventive chief technologists, scientists, engineers, architects, operators, and students – in a forum for debate, discussion, and the conversations critical to ensuring that global technology leaders are aligned and moving forward together. FABRIC leadership team members will be present at the event and will host a tutorial on using the platform. The event will take place in Minneapolis, MN, from September 18 – 22.
See a list of all upcoming events on our website.