The GÉANT Multi-Cloud is an open source digital platform allowing agile deployment, management and monitoring of multiple cloud services, from a single user-friendly interface.
The platform enables NRENs and institutions to combine cloud services from a wide range of commercial providers with their own on-premises infrastructure, and then to easily operate resources of a variety of clouds through a central portal, accessible via login to the eduTEAMS service.

Currently in its pilot phase, the GÉANT Multi-Cloud makes use of cloud infrastructure services easier, cheaper and safer.

Open Source

The GÉANT Multi-Cloud is made available for the Research & Education community in the form of a software package, that NRENs, institutions and interested organisations can install and tailor to their needs.

The underlying software is open source (released under MIT license) and extendable. The offering comes with professional support and it provides modules for management by Ansible.

Easy access

Users can access the GÉANT Multi-Cloud platform in a secure and easy manner by logging in via the eduTEAMS service, using federated identities from eduGAIN and trusted identity providers. Furthermore, the integration of eduTEAMS in the GÉANT Multi-Cloud platform allows the creation and management of virtual teams and sharing of resources and services.

Multi-Cloud software functionalities - Screenshots from the SURF MultiCloud Portal

Available solutions

The GÉANT Multi-Cloud allows to funnel resources both from private and public clouds, while also providing Hybrid Cloud Management solutions, aiming to empower customers with a self-service portal for easy resource lifecycle management.

Supported platforms include AWS and Azure, alongside NREN owned and operated OpenStack resources. This pilot and the feedback it generates will help inform how GÈANT plans cloud activities in the next GN5 project starting 2023.

Usage-based Accounting

Built-in predictive cost-estimating and usage-based resource accounting are also included in the GÉANT Multi-Cloud platform. These key features help users and administrators to get a clear and detailed financial overview of all costs related to the services.

Support

The GÉANT Multi-Cloud platform provides Integrated customer support ticketing with third-party helpdesk backends, which can be used to provide a single support line for all managed resources.

Analytics 

Having high precision data from various sources provides vital insights into end customers behaviour. The GÉANT Multi-Cloud platform provides administrators and users with real-time, historical reports for service providers and consumers, as well as summary views for the portal operators.

Resources

Full documentation of the service and software and instructions on how to implement the service are available here: GMC- GÉANT Multi-Cloud (requires Federated login)

Pilot

To obtain the GÉANT Multi-Cloud platform software you can download the software from: GMC- GÉANT Multi-Cloud (requires Federated login).

The software is available to use but will not be developed and maintained further by the GÉANT Cloud Team.