Joining the SCIONLab infrastructure

If you are part of an organization committed to do research with SCION, then you could join the SCIONLab infrastructure with a dedicated host. We have compiled a short guide to document the requirements and procedure. You can join the SCIONLab network as an infrastructure AS with one or more machines, or you can start as small as dedicating only a simple commodity PC.

Procedure

1. Tell us that you’re interested in joining the SCIONLab infrastructure. Either fill in this form or directly get in contact with us.
2. Prepare a machine or a VM that satisfies the requirements detailed below. Once the node(s) are ready on your side, create a scionlab user with full sudo rights and access for the SCIONLab team. In cases where we provide you with a small form-factor low power server box, you will only have to plug it in and ensure that the device can be reached over the network.
3. The SCIONLab admins will perform measurements to find the most appropriate neighbors to your AS. We will notify you of the result.
4. Once the neighboring ASes have been decided, the administrators will install SCION services and configure monitoring for the node(s).
5. Your AS is now connected to the infrastructure of SCIONLab and hosts within your network now have direct access to SCIONLab.

Once the node(s) are part of the SCIONLab infrastructure, their configuration will be centrally managed via Ansible in order to keep the whole infrastructure in the best shape. You will not be required to take any action as long as the machine remains accessible to us.

Requirements

There are a few requirements for you or your organization to join SCIONLab as an infrastructure node:

• Infrastructure ASes and nodes are required to be active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The SCIONLab administrators can typically handle all SCION related problems, but sometimes they will contact you if they cannot perform certain tasks. An example would be to change a drive if it failed, etc.
• The machine should have a minimum of 4 CPUs, 8 GB of RAM and 40 GB of disk space. In most of the cases a VM can suffice.
• The OS for the SCION infrastructure node must be Ubuntu 18.04.
• The border router node(s) must have a public static IP address. Any other SCION services can run with private static IP addresses.
• Any firewalls affecting the node must be configured according to the SCION AS connectivity matrix.

Recommendations

The following are not requirements, but recommendations:

• The border router should be near (latency-wise) the IP border of your AS or organization.
• Co-locating the nodes in your datacenter is usually a good idea as it reduces network latency.
• Given the fact that SCIONLab is a research network dedicated mainly to running experiments, you may want to place the SCIONLab node(s) in a DMZ or a dedicated subnet.

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