Related CategoriesChallenge Entry Appliance | Developer | Challenge Award Appliance | Other eBrainPoolA new dimension Network of Virtualized Hosts Sharing Software,Operating Environment and Computing Platform. Description
The Philosophy : KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid :) --------------------------------------------------------------- Necessity is the Mother of Invention Once upon a time, there was a Self Taught Software Enthusiast and Linux freak :). One day he asked himself what if... ...What if when I have a piece of Code that I've taken to a Client's place and all it needs is a teensy weensy change but I don't have the right tools with me...what if i could just find someone with the right Compile Environment..Access it..Make the change ...all without having to download, install and configure everything I need or go back to my work place.....and live Happily ever after :) ...What if I wanna see if my C# project developed on Windows would indeed compile and run on Mono under Linux but I don't want to install the entire setup for that...what if I could just Find someone with Mono under Linux...Access his computer...do my bit...and live Happily ever after :) ...What if when I want to Test my Software under a different Platform, I don't necessarily have to have that Operating Environment with me....what if I could just Find someone who does....Access it.... do my thing.... and live Happily ever after :) ...What if when I have an Adobe Acrobat PDF file...but my reader just refuses to fire...what if I could just Find someone who has a PDF to Text file converter....Access his computer....Use the software.....Get my matter.... and live Happily ever after :) ...What if I have an Ogg Vorbis file....but my iPod can only play MP3's...what if I could Find someone with an Ogg to MP3 converter....Send my file to him....Access his computer....Convert it and get it back.....and live Happily ever after :) What if we could have... - Software as a Shared Resource.... .....AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER :) Thus was born eBrainPool. What is it? Virtualization has traditionally been restricted to offering multiple environments within the confines of the same host. Additionally traditional Networks have so far been able to share only data, the Runtime Operating Environment is kept locked away due to primarily Security constraints. Virtualization Technology such as VMWare's allows us to go beyond this. It offers another dimension, one which traditional Non-Virtualized Computing can not offer - the ability to go beyond a single host, to be able to share your Environment and your Resources with all. To create a Network and a Community of Shared Resources. eBrainPool is an attempt to create a Mechanism to Share Software,Operating Environment and Computing Power safely within the Secure confines of a VMWare Virtual Machine, providing access directly to the Virtual Machine of interest and allowing for a user to run Applications in the Operating Environment of the Virtual Machine utilizing the Computing capabilities of that Host. So what can you do with it? Truthfully, I think that list would be far too big to put here and that this concept in it's eventual form would be extended in directions we may not be able to envision currently. However the following scenarios represent a few of the instances this could be used : - A software developer takes his C++ application to his client's place only to discover he's misspelled the company name. Oops. He has the source code but doesn't have the compiler. He uses eBrainPool to search within the network of eBrainPool Shared Hosts for someone who has the compiler, accesses his Virtual Machine, Transfers his files, Processes it, Gets it back and saves his skin. - A software developer has built his application using Mono under Linux but wants to make sure it also works under Solaris,Windows,etc. He fires up eBrainPool to search for someone who has the Operating System and necessary runtime environment. Accesses his Virtual Machine and sends over his application. Tests it under the new environment. - A software developer has built his 64 bit C++ application which runs on Linux. He's tested it on Intel processors but wants to make sure it would also run on AMD processors. He uses eBrainPool to search for someone running his eBrainPool Virtual Appliance on a 64 bit AMD Processor. Accesses his Virtual Machine and tries out his application. - A software student wants to try out Linux,Solaris,BSD,AIX,etc. He doesn't have the Operating System,necessary Hardware,expertise,etc. So he uses eBrainPool to find someone with the Operating System running on the particular Hardware and accesses his Virtual Machine and gets a feel for the new environment,tries shell programming or whatever. - You're at a Cyber Cafe at the airport flying for a meeting. Suddenly you realize that your Adobe Document has a serious goofup. One that could jeopardize your deal. The Cyber cafe doesn't have the required software to edit your PDF but has MS Word. You use eBrainPool to search for someone who has a PDF to Word file converter. Access his Virtual Machine. Convert your file. Bring it back and edit it using Word. - You've used your new Nokia cell phone to capture a Video Clip of your Son's First Baby Step and want to email it to your Dad. But you realize the video clip is in 3GP format and your dad wouldn't have the necessary viewer. So you search for someone who has a converter from 3GP to MPEG running on his Virtual Appliance. Access the Virtual Machine, Convert the file, Bring it back and email it to your dad. What else can it do? - Acts as a Mobile Workbench : eBrainPool is a Virtual Appliance which implies that it comes with it's own Operating System. This version comes packaged with a Standard Debian Linux system with just the barebone essentials however allows for easy Installation of more Software as seen fit by the user. Thus the user can carry Software he uses most regularly. eBrainPool therefore allows him to work using his favourite tools,configured on his favourite Operating System in any place including Cyber Cafes. So if a user is a software developer and uses Python predominantly he could carry this with him and run it anytime,anywhere. While he uses the local software installed on his copy of eBrainPool, he's automatically sharing that environment onto the eBrainPool network and someone else interested in Python could also access his computer to work using his tools. In addition when the developer wishes to use other tools he can use the eBrainPool Client Application to search for hosts offering those other Resources. - Download Music,Video,Images,etc : The technology used in the current version of eBrainPool is an extension of traditional Peer to Peer File Sharing Networks. Therefore the same eBrainPool client can be used to download Music,Video,Images,etc and carry it safely within the confines of your Virtual Appliance, accessible by you anytime. Why would someone Download this and Have it running? OR Ok I get it I can find someone who's currently online and Share his Software,Hardware,etc but why would he have his appliance up and running in the first place? Lots of reasons : - He could be using his Appliance as a Mobile Workbench and programming in a Cyber Cafe using his local install of his fav tool - say Python on Linux. While he's doing this he's automatically sharing the same resources to anyone else. - He could be downloading Music,Video,etc. Yes people like doing that :) - He could be accessing someone else's Host and working on someone else's machine but that still exposes his Resources to outside people. - He could be searching for some other resources. While he does this he's still exposing his Resources to outside people. Intended Audience - Who's this for? - SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS : Software Developers can use this to carry their core set of Programming Language Compilers,Tools,Libraries,Operating System,indeed their entire working setup in a flexible mobile manner. Therefore they can be programming in the same configuration at their Work Place and at Home. In addition they also have the added functionality of seeking out people with other configurations. For e.g. a particular Version of a particular Library against which they can compile and check their code. Developers could use this to form a Community of trusted friends and could search for specific Users or their fellow Team Members and access their Virtual Machines. Testing of their Software under different conditions represents an ideal use of this technology. - SOFTWARE STUDENTS : This software represents an ideal tool for Students to learn about different Operating Systems, to be able to learn Programming using different Languages and Tools running under different Operating Systems and to experience Software running on Hardware they may not have access to. - EVERYONE : As the examples in the above sections show people can use this appliance to seek out a wide variety of Softwares they may need access to. For e.g. File Converters from PDF To Word or 3GP to MPEG or Ogg Vorbis to MP3,GIF to BMP,etc. Uses of this technology to ordinary users is limitless. For e.g. if you have a RAR Compressed file but you don't have a Decompressing utility on your Host computer. You could search for someone, send in your file, and retrieve the decompressed files back to your system. Although the current version doesn't have a Graphical User Interface, in future Versions users may use this technology to For e.g. Seek out people with their favourite Photo Editing tool GIMP, Edit their Graphics file using it and Bring back the finished image back to their machines. In addition the Mobile Workbench solution offers any user the potential to carry the set of tools he most likely uses, already preconfigured with it's own Operating System. The Peer To Peer File Sharing potential of this client also allows him to Download Music, Video,etc. How it Works eBrainPool uses traditional Peer to Peer networks like Gnutella and OpenFT and can be extended to use other proven technologies such as a Central Server, Dedicated Nodes,GWebcaches,etc. to expose a list of Installed Software Packages,Libraries,Operating System,Processor,etc which the Virtual Machine can share. Other users can Query the Network and Discover Virtual Appliances with the required Software, Libraries or other Resources, similar to how a File Search Query is fired in a software such as Limewire, Kazaa,etc. Upon discovery of a Virtual Machine of interest, the User has an Option to study a detailed list showing all the Software and Libraries installed on the Host, the Operating System, the Processor it is running on,etc. The eBrainPool client would also provide Access to the host. The user can also Transfer files to the Host Computer so they could work on the data once they access the host and the client also provides for a mechanism to Retrieve the data and exit the host. Quickstart - Searching for Software or other Resources within the eBrainPool network : - You boot the system and the application (located in /home/vmware/eBrainPoolv0.1) opens up. You are now user vmware. - Good first time searches for testing - Search for a particular eBrainPool User. - Viewing all the Host Offers, Connecting to a Host,etc. - I've uploaded files to a user what should I do next. - What is my default Username as exposed to the outside Networks - I want to change the Username my host is known to others by. - How do I install new software * Please refer to the debian documentation and in particular documentation for the APT Package management utilities for a detailed discussion on the above. - How do I use this as a Mobile Workbench? - Get into the Local Shell of your application by pressing F5. - How do I use this to download Music? - In the Query field of the eBrainPool client type the name of the File/Song you're looking for. Usernames and Passwords The central username and password to get you to do most things would be : Username: vmware In addition for administration purposes the following is the password for root. Username: root Additional Documentation Additional Documentation covering all of the above and Features of the Client,NAT and Bridged Configurations,Security,Future Directions,etc can be found in the file eBrainPool.txt in the root directory after unzipping the file. This document can also be accessed from within the Appliance in /home/vmware/eBrainPool.txt Distribution Choice, Size of the appliance,etc Debian is the distribution of choice since it offers the maximum number of packages. A core set of standard packages have been installed with the apt package management application that allows for further customization. Size of the appliance can possibly be reduced extremely significantly by creating a custom distribution with just the bare essentials necessary to boot linux and run this particular appliance. However the nature of the appliance demands that the user has the option to keep adding and removing software and customizing the distribution. Therefore a standard distribution such as Debian keeping all package management options intact makes the most sense. Resources used in eBrainPool The following represents a list of third-party applications extended - hacked :) - for eBrainPool : - Access to Peer to Peer Networks is provided thanks to the giFT project. The binary executable is called giftd. (http://gift.sourceforge.net) - The libgnutella-gift and libopenft-gift plugins which actually connect to the respective networks. - The client is an extension of the giFTcurs project. Many thanks to the orignal developers. (http://www.nongnu.org/giftcurs/) Other must-have software for eBrainPool to function correctly : - Telnet - for access to other hosts All the core applications used in building the eBrainPool client follow the GPL or a compatible community license. Last updated: 05/24/2006 Operating system: Debian Linux 3.1r1 Applications installed: VMware Tools installed: No
Size:
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