@article {10.1145/3380955, title = {Cloud-Based Enabling Mechanisms for Container Deployment and Migration at the Network Edge}, journal = {ACM Trans. Internet Technol.}, volume = {20}, number = {3}, year = {2020}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, keywords = {cloud computing, containers, Edge computing, Fog computing, IoT, OpenStack}, issn = {1533-5399}, doi = {10.1145/3380955}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3380955}, author = {Zakaria Benomar and Longo, Francesco and Merlino, Giovanni and Puliafito, Antonio} } @conference {8875501, title = {Enabling Container-Based Fog Computing with OpenStack}, booktitle = {2019 International Conference on Internet of Things (iThings) and IEEE Green Computing and Communications (GreenCom) and IEEE Cyber, Physical and Social Computing (CPSCom) and IEEE Smart Data (SmartData)}, year = {2019}, month = {July}, pages = {1049-1056}, abstract = {Operating system-level virtualization using containerization technologies have changed the world of application development and software by bringing flexibility, efficiency and new methods for managing and distributing software. Edge/Fog computing complements nowadays powerful centralized approach leveraging datacenters resources with a number of distributed fog nodes with relatively capable resources in order to provide advanced services in proximity to end users and data sources. In fact, this emerging paradigm provides ubiquitous processing abilities through scattered heterogeneous hardware with different energy availability and computational capabilities. This paper aims at presenting an extension of an IoT centric infrastructure Cloud framework, named Stack4Things, towards the edge through an integration with two of the OpenStack subsystems (i.e., Zun and Kuryr) that deal with containers management.}, keywords = {Application development, Cloud, cloud computing, computer centres, container management, container-based fog computing, containerization technologies, containers, datacenter resources, distributed fog nodes, distributing software, Ecosystems, Edge/Fog computing, Internet of Things, IoT, IoT centric infrastructure cloud framework, Kuryr, Neutrons, OpenStack, OpenStack subsystems, operating system-level virtualization, Servers, software management, ubiquitous processing abilities, virtualisation, Virtualization, Zun}, doi = {10.1109/iThings/GreenCom/CPSCom/SmartData.2019.00181}, author = {Zakaria Benomar and F. Longo and G. Merlino and A. Puliafito} } @conference {9066039, title = {A Mininet-Based Emulated Testbed for the I/Ocloud}, booktitle = {2019 15th International Conference on Mobile Ad-Hoc and Sensor Networks (MSN)}, year = {2019}, month = {Dec}, pages = {277-283}, abstract = {Considering the proliferation of smart devices connected to the Internet, typically going under the aegis of Internet of Things (IoT), a trend has arisen to promote the Cloud paradigm as a suitable management system for such a complex environment. In this context, an effort to extend the OpenStack ecosystem to make it able to support the management of the IoT infrastructure has been made by virtue of the I/Ocloud approach, leading up to its reference implementation, the Stack4Things (S4T) middleware. S4T provides a set of suitable capabilities and features to make the (remote) IoT devices able to join an edge-based IaaS/PaaS Cloud. In the interest of enhancing the S4T middleware scalability and explore new capabilities in particular, ones related to Fog and Edge paradigms, it is becoming a must to test new features in practice at a low financial cost and particular constraints for instance, number/type of devices, network conditions, etc. For this purpose, the use of network emulation tools is a practical and suitable approach. In this paper, we present an integration between the S4T middleware and an emulation tool namely Containernet. Through the integration approach, we model network conditions (e.g., latency, bandwidth, packet loss) and devices (in forms of containers) using Containernet, and we manage the devices (i.e., containers) by means of S4T.}, keywords = {aegis, cloud computing, Cloud paradigm, complex environment, Containernet, containers, Edge computing, Edge/Fog computing, Emulation, input-output programs, Internet of Things, IoT, IoT devices, IoT infrastructure, low financial cost, middleware, Mininet, mininet-based, model network conditions, network emulation tools, OpenStack, OpenStack ecosystem, reference implementation, S4T middleware scalability, smart devices, Stack4Things middleware, suitable management system, Task analysis, Tools, virtualisation}, doi = {10.1109/MSN48538.2019.00060}, author = {Zakaria Benomar and D. Bruneo and F. Longo and G. Merlino and A. Puliafito} } @proceedings {Puliafito201897, title = {Companion fog computing: supporting things mobility through container migration at the edge}, journal = {Proceedings - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, SMARTCOMP 2018}, year = {2018}, note = {cited By 0; Conference of 4th IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, SMARTCOMP 2018 ; Conference Date: 18 June 2018 Through 20 June 2018; Conference Code:138285}, pages = {97-105}, publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}, address = {Taormina, Italy - 18-20 June 2018}, abstract = {

Due to their intrinsic resource constraints, the mobile Internet of Things (IoT) devices are not able to provide intensive services by just relying on their own facilities. Fog Computing effectively helps overcome this hurdle. Indeed, it extends the Cloud toward the network edge, distributing resources and services of computing, storage, and networking close to the end devices. This topological proximity is the key enabler of several advantages that are essential in many emerging ICT domains. Nonetheless, the mobility of an IoT device compromises such benefits as it increases the topological distance to the serving Fog node. Therefore, the Fog service has to be migrated in order to be always close enough to the served IoT device. We name this Companion Fog Computing (CFC), since the Fog service behaves as a {\textquoteright}companion{\textquoteright} of the correspondent application on the mobile device. In this paper, we present a Fog Computing Platform that performs stateful container (i.e., Fog service) migrations in order to enable CFC. Specifically, we introduce a CFC model from which we derive a reference architecture comprising all the functionalities required in a platform to make migration decisions and carry them out. Moreover, we demonstrate the soundness of the proposed reference architecture by discussing a proof-of-concept implementation based on the Stack4Things (S4T) platform, and we report a set of conducted experiments to show the feasibility of stateful container migrations. {\textcopyright} 2018 IEEE.

}, keywords = {Carrier mobility, Computing platform, containers, Docker, Fog, Fog computing, Internet of Things, Migration, Mobile devices, Network architecture, Proof of concept, Reference architecture, Resource Constraint, Topological distance, Topological proximity, Topology}, isbn = {9781538647059}, doi = {10.1109/SMARTCOMP.2018.00079}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85051489867\&doi=10.1109\%2fSMARTCOMP.2018.00079\&partnerID=40\&md5=4a8069123a5f19d5e842a86b2e9163f4}, author = {Carlo Puliafito and Enzo Mingozzi and Carlo Vallati and Francesco Longo and Giovanni Merlino} } @proceedings {Puliafito2018368, title = {Virtualization and migration at the network edge: An overview}, journal = {Proceedings - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, SMARTCOMP 2018}, year = {2018}, note = {cited By 1; Conference of 4th IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, SMARTCOMP 2018 ; Conference Date: 18 June 2018 Through 20 June 2018; Conference Code:138285}, pages = {368-374}, publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}, address = {Taormina, Italy - 18-20 June 2018}, abstract = {

As for the Cloud, essential features of Fog Computing are both virtualization and the capability to migrate virtual environments among nodes. In this paper, we thoroughly report both the state-of-The-Art virtualization and migration techniques and their available implementations. In particular, we investigate the aptness of such technologies for a specific layer of the Fog hierarchy, namely the network edge. Indeed, this layer presents some characteristics that distinguish it from the Cloud so that a virtualization or migration technique that represents a good compromise for the Cloud might not be likewise suitable for the edge. {\textcopyright} 2018 IEEE.

}, keywords = {containers, Essential features, Fog, Fog computing, Migration, Migration technique, Network edges, Smart city, State of the art, Virtual Machine, Virtual reality, Virtualization}, isbn = {9781538647059}, doi = {10.1109/SMARTCOMP.2018.00031}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85051498294\&doi=10.1109\%2fSMARTCOMP.2018.00031\&partnerID=40\&md5=7f2642da7694ddacd86212b216c00ec2}, author = {Carlo Puliafito and Enzo Mingozzi and Carlo Vallati and Francesco Longo and Giovanni Merlino} } @proceedings {423, title = {Characterizing IoT Cloud Federation}, journal = {2016 30th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications Workshops (WAINA) - Workshop on Cloud Computing Project and Initiatives - CCPI{\textquoteright}16}, year = {2016}, publisher = {IEEE Computer Society}, address = {Le R{\'e}gent Congress Centre, Crans-Montana, Switzerland}, abstract = {

The advent of both Cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way of conceiving information and communication systems. Generally, we talk about IoT Cloud to indicate a new type of distributed system consisting of a set of smart devices interconnected with a remote Cloud infrastructure, platform, or software through the Internet and able to provide IoT as a Service (IoTaaS).\ In this paper, we discuss the near future evolution of IoT Clouds towards federated ecosystems, where IoT providers cooperate to offer more flexible services.\ Moreover, we present a general three-layer IoT Cloud Federation architecture, highlighting new business opportunities and challenges.\ 

}, keywords = {cloud computing, containers, federation, IoT, virtualisation}, issn = {978-1-5090-2461-2/16}, doi = {10.1109/WAINA.2016.152}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7471179}, author = {Antonio Celesti and Maria Fazio and Maurizio Giacobbe and Antonio Puliafito and Massimo Villari} } @proceedings {434, title = {Exploring Container Virtualization in IoT Clouds}, journal = {2016 International Conference on Smart Computing Workshops (SMARTCOMP Workshops)}, year = {2016}, pages = {1-6}, publisher = {IEEE Computer Society}, address = {May 18, 2016 {\textendash} St. Louis, Missouri}, abstract = {

The advent of both Cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way of conceiving information and communication systems. Generally, we talk about IoT Cloud to indicate a new type of distributed system consisting of a set of smart objects, e.g., single board computers running Linux-based operating systems, interconnected with a remote Cloud infrastructure, platform, or software through the Internet and able to provide IoT as a Service (IoTaaS). In this context, container-based virtualization is a lightweight alternative to the hypervisor-based approach that can be adopted on smart objects, for enhancing the IoT Cloud service provisioning.\ 
In particular, considering different IoT application scenarios, container-based virtualization allows IoT Cloud providers to deploy and customize in a flexible fashion pieces of software on smart objects. In this paper, we explore the container-based virtualization on smart objects in the perspective of a IoT Cloud scenarios analyzing its advantages and performances.

}, keywords = {cloud computing, containers, IoT, Virtualization}, issn = {978-1-5090-0898-8}, doi = {10.1109/SMARTCOMP.2016.7501691}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=7501691}, author = {Antonio Celesti and Davide Mulfari and Maria Fazio and Massimo Villari and Antonio Puliafito} }