de.NBI Cloud federation through ELIXIR AAI

Area of Science:

• Life Science Research
• Cloud Computing
• Bioinformatics Infrastructure

Background:

• The de.NBI Cloud aimed to provide unified compute resources across five centers.
• Federated clouds present challenges in access, account management, and project setup.
• Existing infrastructure required integration to function as a single resource.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the implementation of a federated cloud for life science research.
• To explain the integration of de.NBI Cloud with ELIXIR Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (AAI).
• To provide a transferable model for establishing federated OpenStack clouds.

Main Methods:

• Integration of de.NBI Cloud with ELIXIR AAI, specifically using the Perun identity and access management system.
• Development of a central access and project management point.
• Establishment of a unified account and interchangeable project setup across federated sites.
• Utilizing OpenStack as the underlying cloud platform and a web portal for user access.

Main Results:

• Successful implementation of a federated cloud connecting five compute centers.
• Resolution of key challenges including unified access, account management, and project interoperability.
• Creation of a robust backbone infrastructure for de.NBI Cloud.
• Development of a functional web portal for accessing the federated resources.

Conclusions:

• The federated de.NBI Cloud successfully provides unified compute resources for life science research.
• The integration strategy using ELIXIR AAI and Perun is effective for managing federated OpenStack clouds.
• The described setup offers a generic and adaptable model for other European federated cloud initiatives.