SLATE accelerates collaborative scientific computing through a secure container orchestration framework focused on the Science DMZ, enabling creation of advanced multi-institution platforms and novel science gateways. The ATLAS collaboration at the CERN Large Hadron Collider has an R&D program utilizing SLATE to centrally operate a distributed data delivery network having service endpoints at multiple computing facilities in the U.S., CERN, the UK and Germany, and has evaluated a cache deployed using SLATE within the ESnet backbone. Similar approaches are already in production (the Open Science Grid data federation which is implemented in part using the Pacific Research Platform and Internet2) supporting LIGO and other science domains but as yet lack a generalized trust framework. While innovation of the new trust model initially is occurring in the context of the OSG and the worldwide LHC computing grid (WLCG), trusted federated edge infrastructures enabling operation of advanced computing platforms will in future be necessary to sustain a wide range of data intensive science disciplines requiring shared national and international cyberinfrastructure.
The deployment and operation of software through containerized edge services raises issues of trust between many stakeholders with different perspectives. Resource providers require guarantees that services running within their infrastructure are secure and operated within site policies; platform service developers and operators require flexibility to continuously deliver and compose new cyberinfrastructure supporting their scientific collaborations; edge cluster administrators need visibility and operational awareness while delegating some of their traditional deploy and operate responsibilities to centralized platform teams, following a NoOps model; and finally, the application workloads from end-user science communities rely on the foundational capabilities implemented by platform services to realize the full potential of shared cyberinfrastructure. This engagement will focus on developing SLATE’s cybersecurity program in a way that balances these needs.
The Trusted CI-SLATE engagement began July 2019 and is scheduled to conclude by the end of December 2019. For additional information on SLATE, please refer to the paper, “Building the SLATE Platform,” published in PEARC18. Trusted CI will document the activities of this engagement in a final report to be made available to the public.