The ConPaaS team is proud to annouce the availability of ConPaaS-2.1.0. The main new feature in this release is the availability of a new service built around Apache Flink. ConPaaS users will therefore have very easy access to this exciting platform for distributed stream and batch data processing!

The ConPaaS team is proud to announce the release of ConPaaS-2.0.0. This is a major release which contains a number of important structural improvements.

• ConPaaS-2 introduces the notion of application managers. As the name suggests, an application manager is an instance in charge of managing an entire application composed of one or more services. The application manager replaces the separate service managers from ConPaaS-1.x.x. The main advantages are twofold: (i) it reduces the resource usage, as an application with N services will need only one application manager instead of N service managers; (ii) it gives ConPaaS a single control point over the entire application, which for example comes in handy to automate the choice of appropriate resources an application should use to reach pre-defined performance
  levels.
• ConPaaS-2 centralizes access to the underlying IaaS cloud in the Director. This increases the system’s security as IaaS credentials do not need to be distributed to service managers any more. It also simplifies fine-grained resource accounting and cleanup in the case of misbehaving instances.
• ConPaaS-2 introduces a new command-line interface called cps-tools, which replaces the old cpsclient. The new cps-tools CLI has a much more consistent syntax, which greatly facilitates its usage.
• ConPaaS-2 services can now export service-specific log files such as access and error logs, etc. This greatly simplifies application debugging.
• ConPaaS-2 service instances as well as the VirtualBox image are now based on Debian-8 rather than the old Debian-6.
• ConPaaS-2 supports deployments over Amazon Web Services, OpenStack, Raspberry Pi and single-node VirtualBox. Support for OpenNebula is dropped.
• The MapReduce, TaskFarming, HTCondor, Scalaris and Selenium services are deprecated.

The ConPaaS team is proud to announce the immediate availability of the Raspberry Pi edition of ConPaaS. Next to the versions running on Amazon EC2, OpenStack and within a single VirtualBox VM, ConPaaS can now deploy applications across a set of Raspberry Pi 2 (model B). This is useful in a variety of scenarios where the goal is to have large number of inexpensive computation devices (for example spread across an urban area) instead of a single powerful data center. In the distributed scenario, each Raspberry Pi may be equipped with its own WiFi hotspot so clients located in the immediate vicinity may access cloud resources in a single network hop. Interested users may want to:

• Read this poster about this new EdgeCloudArchitecture
• Read the user documentation
• Download the pre-packaged system images

The ConPaaS team is delighted to announce the release of ConPaaS-1.5.0. This release brings a number of new features:

• A new so-called “Generic service” for executing arbitrary applications in ConPaaS
• A much-improved version of the Nutshell (which allows one to run an entire ConPaaS installation within a single VirtualBox VM)
• Official support of OpenStack as ConPaaS’s underlying IaaS cloud
• Various bug fixes

We urge all users of ConPaaS to upgrade their installation! As always, the simplest way to try ConPaaS for free is using ConPaaS Online.

Do you want to study Cloud Computing and Services in a very international setting? The University of Rennes 1 proudly participates in the EIT ICT Labs masterschool. And, of course, some of the courses mention ConPaaS 😉

Application deadline: February 27th 2015.

EIT ICT Labs Master School in Cloud Computing and Services in Rennes

The ConPaaS team is proud to announce the release of ConPaaS-1.4.2. This is a stable version. Users of previous versions are strongly encouraged to upgrade to use this new release instead.

New features in ConPaaS-1.4.2 include:

• The XtreemFS service now enforces strict access control using ssl certificates. This allows users control at a fine granularity who has or doesn’t have access to the files stored in the XtreemFS service.
• The MySQL service has been fully reimplemented. This new version of the service relies on a better implementation of database replication based on Galera cluster.
• The PHP service now supports auto-scaling. ConPaaS users can now simply define a maximum response time the system should enforce. If the traffic varies, ConPaaS will automatically add or remove instances to serve content efficiently in all circumstances.
• ConPaaS-in-a-Nutshell is a single VM image containing an entire ConPaaS installation. It runs for example in Virtualbox. The nutshell is suitable for trying ConPaaS without having access to a full cloud, or for testing ConPaaS developments.
• ConPaaS now has a new set of command-line tools called cps-tools which exhibits a more regular syntax than the old cpsclient.
• Many bug fixes.

ConPaaS is a runtime environment for hosting applications in the cloud. It aims at offering the full power of the cloud to application developers while shielding them from the associated complexity of the cloud. ConPaaS is designed to host both high-performance scientific applications and online Web applications.  It automates the entire life-cycle of an application, including collaborative development, deployment, performance monitoring, and automatic scaling. Finally, it runs on a variety of public and private clouds, and is easily extensible. This allows developers to focus their attention on application-specific concerns rather than on cloud-specific details. For more information about the ConPaaS project as a whole we recommend this overview article.

To try the new release the simplest option is ConPaaS Online: new users can register and try the system for free during a limited period. Alternatively, users may want to download ConPaaS-in-a-Nutshell and deploy ConPaaS in  virtualbox.

The ConPaaS team is busier than ever in building new functionality and in making ConPaaS an even better system. Stay tuned for the next releases!

The ConPaaS team is proud to announce the release of ConPaaS-1.4.1. This release is different from previous ones in that it is a preliminary version meant as a technology preview. Attention: this version has not been fully tested so it is not suitable for production usage. For production usage we suggest using ConPaaS-1.3.1.

New features in ConPaaS-1.4.1 include:

• The XtreemFS service now enforces strict access control using ssl certificates. Two types of certificates are now supported:
  • a) user certificates: contain a username and group (recommended)
  • b) client certificates: the local username and group are forwarded to XtreemFS (for trusted environments)
• A new MySQL Galera service is introduced. This service is meant to replace the old MySQL service with a better implementation of database replication based on Galera cluster.
• Users can now log in to ConPaaS using an external identity provider such as the Contrail IdP.
• ConPaaS now has a new set of command-line tools called cps-tools which exhibits a more regular syntax than the old cpsclient.

ConPaaS is a runtime environment for hosting applications in the cloud. It aims at offering the full power of the cloud to application developers while shielding them from the associated complexity of the cloud. ConPaaS is designed to host both high-performance scientific applications and online Web applications.  It automates the entire life-cycle of an application, including collaborative development, deployment, performance monitoring, and automatic scaling. Finally, it runs on a variety of public and private clouds, and is easily extensible. This allows developers to focus their attention on application-specific concerns rather than on cloud-specific details. For more information about the ConPaaS project as a whole we recommend this overview article.

To try the new release the simplest option is ConPaaS Online: new users can register and try the system for free during a limited period.

The ConPaaS team is busier than ever in building new functionality and in making ConPaaS an even better system. Stay tuned for the next releases!

IRISA and the University of Rennes 1 (France) have an open position for a Postdoctoral researcher in the domain of cloud computing.

Note: this position has been filled and is not available any more.

Title: Cross-resource scheduling in heterogeneous clouds.

Description:

Cloud computing systems are currently composed of large numbers of relatively inexpensive computers, interconnected by standard IP routers and supported by stock disk drives. However, many demanding applications have now reached a fundamental limit in their ability to scale out using traditional machines. Future performance improvements will derive from the use of high-end specialized equipment in addition to standard hardware: GPUs of course, but also FPGAs, programmable routers, and advanced storage technologies. In this context the HARNESS European project investigates: (i) how cloud providers may offer such extremely heterogeneous hardware to its users; and (ii) how cloud customers may make use of these heterogeneous resources to run their applications such that they exhibit the best possible price-performance tradeoff.

The postdoctoral researcher will investigate cross-resource scheduling in this heterogeneous cloud environment. Contrary to regular resource scheduling, cross-resource scheduling consists of provisioning groups of resources with inter-resource constraints such as the available bandwidth between resources. It uses its knowledge about the physical layout of the cloud to translate such requests into specific requests for individual resources. As such, it sits at the border between the Infrastructure-as-a-Service layer (which makes individual resources available as a service) and the Platform-as-a-Service layer (which needs sets of resources to execute user applications). The research questions to be addressed concern the scheduling policies: which physical resources should be allocated upon such requests to maximize the cloud provider’s profit? Can we use spot pricing policies to encourage users to request underutilized types of resources?

This work will be realized in close collaboration with the other members of the HARNESS project who are in charge of offering access to a variety of heterogeneous hardware devices: Imperial College London, EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland), Zuse Institute Berlin, SAP (the world leader of e-business solutions), and Maxeller (an FPGA manufacturer). Note that this consortium is of exceptionally high quality.

Required qualifications:

• A PhD in large-scale distributed systems, Cloud computing or high-performance computing.
• Excellent programming skills in Linux environments.
• Good communication and writing skills.
• Good command of English.
• Knowledge of the following technologies is not mandatory but will be considered as a plus:
  • Grid and cloud resource scheduling
  • Python and shell scripting
  • Commercial cloud systems: Amazon EC2 and EBS, Heroku, etc.
  • Open-source cloud systems: OpenNebula, OpenStack.
  • Revision control systems: GIT, svn.
  • Linux distributions: Debian, Ubuntu.
• Note that knowledge of French is not required for this position.

Start date: As soon as possible. The position is offered for a period of 1 year, with a possible extension subject to funding availability.

Location: Rennes is the capital city of Britanny, in the western part of France. It is easy to reach thanks to the high-speed train line to Paris. Rennes is a lively city and a major center for higher education and research. The job will take place within the INRIA/IRISA research center, which is internationally recognized for its research in the domain of information and communication sciences.

Applications: A first selection of candidates will take place on June 28th 2014. To maximize your chances of success, please send your application before this date. The position will however remain open until a suitable candidate is found. To apply, please send the following documents to Guillaume Pierre (guillaume.pierre@irisa.fr):

• CV.
• A motivation letter highlighting your previous research achievements in a domain close to cloud computing.
• Two recommendation letters.

Contact: for any information bout this position please contact Guillaume Pierre (guillaume.pierre@irisa.fr).

References:

• ConPaaS: a Platform for Hosting Elastic Cloud Applications. Guillaume Pierre and Corina Stratan. Accepted for publication in IEEE Internet Computing, 2012.
• Resource Provisioning of Web Applications in Heterogeneous Clouds. Jiang Dejun, Guillaume Pierre and Chi-Hung Chi. In Proceedings of the WebApps Conference, June 2011.
• Autonomous Resource Provisioning for Multi-Service Web Applications. Jiang Dejun, Guillaume Pierre and Chi-Hung Chi. In Proceedings of the International WWW conference, April 2010.
• Omega: flexible, scalable schedulers for large compute clusters. Malte Schwarzkopf, Andy Konwinskiz, Michael Abd-El-Malekx and John Wilkes. In Proceedings of the EuroSys conference, April 2013.

The ConPaaS team is proud to announce the release of ConPaaS-1.4.0. This release is different from previous ones in that it is a preliminary version meant as a technology preview. Attention: this version has not been fully tested so it is not suitable for production usage. For production usage we suggest using ConPaaS-1.3.1.

New features in ConPaaS-1.4.0 include:

• The XtreemFS service now enforces strict access control using ssl certificates. Two types of certificates are now supported:
  • a) user certificates: contain a username and group (recommended)
  • b) client certificates: the local username and group are forwarded to XtreemFS (for trusted environments)
• A new MySQL Galera service is introduced. This service is meant to replace the old MySQL service with a better implementation of database replication based on Galera cluster.
• Users can now log in to ConPaaS using an external identity provider such as the Contrail IdP.
• ConPaaS now has a new set of command-line tools called cps-tools which exhibits a more regular syntax than the old cpsclient.

ConPaaS is a runtime environment for hosting applications in the cloud. It aims at offering the full power of the cloud to application developers while shielding them from the associated complexity of the cloud. ConPaaS is designed to host both high-performance scientific applications and online Web applications.  It automates the entire life-cycle of an application, including collaborative development, deployment, performance monitoring, and automatic scaling. Finally, it runs on a variety of public and private clouds, and is easily extensible. This allows developers to focus their attention on application-specific concerns rather than on cloud-specific details. For more information about the ConPaaS project as a whole we recommend this overview article.

To try the new release the simplest option is ConPaaS Online: new users can register and try the system for free during a limited period.

The ConPaaS team is busier than ever in building new functionality and in making ConPaaS an even better system. Stay tuned for the next releases!

ConPaaS will be present at the Contrail Business day 2014: January 23rd in Rome.

• Introduction
• Programme
• Speakers and Panelists
• Venue and travel
• Registration
• Contact