What is “INFN Cloud”

Since several decades, INFN runs and supports the largest research and academic distributed infrastructure in Italy, with a very large national data center (CNAF) and 9 other sizeable data centers, all interconnected at very high capacity through the GARR network. This infrastructure utilizes Grid or Cloud protocols to serve the needs of several tens of international collaborations in physics and in many other scientific domains.  

Now INFN proudly presents its dedicated Cloud services, providing users with an integrated portfolio accessible through a user-friendly web interface. Tailored to users’ needs and built upon composable, open source solutions, INFN Cloud services can be easily extended either by the INFN Cloud support team or directly by end users. 

The INFN Cloud infrastructure revolves around on a core backbone, connecting the data centers at CNAF and in Bari, and on several federated sites. While backbone services handle specialized tasks, such as multi-site automated data replication, other INFN sites can seamlessly run any of the available services, thanks to flexible Cloud orchestration policies. Joining INFN Cloud requires adherence to the Rules of Participation and must be approved by the INFN Cloud project management board. INFN Cloud infrastructure can be also transparently extended to other public or private Cloud providers to augment its capacity or solutions. 

Access to the INFN Cloud services is currently reserved to INFN personnel or personnel with whom INFN has established formal collaborations, such as research associates. Authentication and authorization for accessing all INFN Cloud services is enforced through the INDIGO-IAM federated solution, fully compliant with European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and industry standards. 

Who we are and what we do

  • INFN Cloud is internally organized into 7 Work Packages, run by people belonging to several INFN sites in a fully distributed way:​
    • WP1: Operations
    • WP2: Training and User Support
    • WP3: Resources, Data lake and sustainability
    • WP4: Security, Policies​
    • WP5: Middleware and New services
    • WP6: R&D, Testbeds, Use Cases
    • WP7: Integrated Management System, Legal Compliance​
  • The INFN Cloud Management Board is composed by the INFN Cloud Coordinator Claudio Grandi and by the WP Leaders. The reporting line is directly to the INFN Computing Coordination Committees and to the INFN President. ​