# Ideas **URL:** https://forum.mergetb.net/c/ideas/7.md [Latest](https://forum.mergetb.net/latest.md) · [Categories](https://forum.mergetb.net/categories.md) · [Tags](https://forum.mergetb.net/tags.md) --- ## [About the Ideas category](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/about-the-ideas-category/20)
**Author:** [@Ops](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/Ops)\ **Replies:** 0
Ideas for MergeTB future features, directions, capabilities and enhancements. --- ## [S3 vs MinIO conundrum](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/s3-vs-minio-conundrum/167)
**Author:** [@jdbarnes](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/jdbarnes)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [August 12, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/s3-vs-minio-conundrum/167 "2026-08-12T00:24:37Z")
In the past when MinIO was chosen as an s3 bucket implementation, it was a lot more FOSS than it is today. Today, the FOSS part of this system is slowly disappearing behind paywalls, repos, and licenses. Not just this, … --- ## [Faster Orchestration through CaC (configuration as code) pull architecture](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/faster-orchestration-through-cac-configuration-as-code-pull-architecture/135)
**Author:** [@jdbarnes](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/jdbarnes)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 12, 2026, 6:56pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/faster-orchestration-through-cac-configuration-as-code-pull-architecture/135 "2026-06-12T18:56:14Z")
In the past we have seen issues with the speed of large experiment host configurations for the simple reason that each host takes an absolute minimum of 14 seconds to configure, even if there’s nothing to do. This is bec… --- ## [Wireguard and NAT traversal](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/wireguard-and-nat-traversal/160)
**Author:** [@glawler](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/glawler)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [December 6, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/wireguard-and-nat-traversal/160 "2025-12-06T01:00:22Z")
Inroduction This post is for discussing the issue of NAT traversal for wireguard. In the existing system Wireguard is used to connect XDCs to facility gateways which host infrapods. These infrapods have wireguard interf… --- ## [Multi-facility experiments (aka the "merge" in Merge)](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/multi-facility-experiments-aka-the-merge-in-merge/155)
**Author:** [@glawler](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/glawler)\ **Replies:** 25\ **Last updated:** [November 10, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/multi-facility-experiments-aka-the-merge-in-merge/155 "2025-11-10T14:11:53Z")
Just getting the meeting notes down. I’ll flesh this out tomorrow. Very Basic Roadmap: Multi site VTE One portal, two phobos like facilities Update raven and phobos ansible to support this Infranet Connectivity wi… --- ## [Advance realization aka temporal realization](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/advance-realization-aka-temporal-realization/154)
**Author:** [@glawler](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/glawler)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [May 14, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/advance-realization-aka-temporal-realization/154 "2025-05-14T21:46:14Z")
We want to add the concept of future realizations to the Merge code. Since realizations already include a duration, all we’d need to add to the realization API is a start argument. We could also make this in a constrai… --- ## [A Brain Dump of the Current State of Realization](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/a-brain-dump-of-the-current-state-of-realization/152)
**Author:** [@christra](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/christra)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [April 24, 2025, 12:14pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/a-brain-dump-of-the-current-state-of-realization/152 "2025-04-24T12:14:20Z")
The basic algorithm for realization is: Building routing tables between testbed resources Figure out which nodes we want to use Build the Infranet/Xpnet/Emu Net Interface selection Path selection Endpoint/waypoint con… --- ## [First class storage objects and artifacts](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/first-class-storage-objects-and-artifacts/146)
**Author:** [@bkocolos](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/bkocolos)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [March 6, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/first-class-storage-objects-and-artifacts/146 "2025-03-06T18:33:03Z")
This post proposes support for storage devices and artifacts as first class entities in Merge Conceptual Model The image below illustrates the conceptual model Let’s highlight the key components: Dedicated storage … --- ## [Degrees of Merge Unmanageability](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/degrees-of-merge-unmanageability/150)
**Author:** [@christra](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/christra)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [February 19, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/degrees-of-merge-unmanageability/150 "2025-02-19T22:45:58Z")
Overview of the problem For the merge appliance work, there’s some need to integrate specialized machines or black boxes (like SBCs). This has some obvious overlap with the IoT work for SPHERE. I’ve had some discussion … --- ## [Restricted account type proposal](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/restricted-account-type-proposal/143)
**Author:** [@jdbarnes](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/jdbarnes)\ **Replies:** 18\ **Last updated:** [May 12, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/restricted-account-type-proposal/143 "2024-05-12T02:07:46Z")
Originally posted at SPHERE design google drive by @mirkovic, reposted here by @jdbarnes for discussion/comment Overall philosophy We may regard SPHERE users as falling into two categories: Full: Those that use SPHERE… --- ## [Bringing SR/IOV device virtualization to Merge](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/bringing-sr-iov-device-virtualization-to-merge/111)
**Author:** [@bkocolos](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/bkocolos)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [May 8, 2024, 3:34am UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/bringing-sr-iov-device-virtualization-to-merge/111 "2024-05-08T03:34:47Z")
Our current Merge testbeds provide 2 methods for node and network synthesis: user nodes mapped to bare metal machines with typically very high bandwidth network devices (40/100/200 Gbps) user nodes mapped to virtual ma… --- ## [Facility side operational hardware troubleshooting](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/facility-side-operational-hardware-troubleshooting/144)
**Author:** [@jdbarnes](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/jdbarnes)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/facility-side-operational-hardware-troubleshooting/144 "2024-04-26T20:35:02Z")
Overview Purpose The purpose of this post is to discuss effective operational troubleshooting workflow from the PoV of a facility manager without portal operator/admin access. There is a particular pain point regarding m… --- ## [Multi-Site design requirements](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/multi-site-design-requirements/142)
**Author:** [@elkins](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/elkins)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/multi-site-design-requirements/142 "2024-04-26T19:13:19Z")
I would like to start gathering design requirements for multi-site support in Merge. I will start off with a set of questions, some of which may have already been thought through. The assumption is that there will be a … --- ## [API versioning discussion](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/api-versioning-discussion/141)
**Author:** [@jdbarnes](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/jdbarnes)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [March 19, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/api-versioning-discussion/141 "2024-03-19T02:18:37Z")
The current state of client-server and portal-facility interactions is such that if the api is updated on one side of the interaction and the other side is not, there will potentially be a mismatch in features supported … --- ## [Near Term Stats Design in the Merge Portal](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/near-term-stats-design-in-the-merge-portal/136)
**Author:** [@glawler](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/glawler)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [March 19, 2024, 1:31am UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/near-term-stats-design-in-the-merge-portal/136 "2024-03-19T01:31:21Z")
This is a brief post to discuss the design discussion had today with Brian, Joe, and Geoff. We need a moderately quick way to implement the following statistics for Merge. Materialization start and end events Realizati… --- ## [Facilitating large transactions through etcd](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/facilitating-large-transactions-through-etcd/140)
**Author:** [@bkocolos](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/bkocolos)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [February 6, 2024, 12:32am UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/facilitating-large-transactions-through-etcd/140 "2024-02-06T00:32:37Z")
The etcd API provides a notion of a Transaction to facilitate use in distributed applications. Transactions provide several key features: They allow updates to multiple keys to be performed atomically - e.g., assume th… --- ## [Dealing With Asynchrony](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/dealing-with-asynchrony/139)
**Author:** [@christra](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/christra)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 30, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/dealing-with-asynchrony/139 "2024-01-30T19:59:57Z")
MergeTB Reconciler Architecture Overview The vast majority of services for the reference MergeTB Portal and Facility operate under the design pattern known as the reconciler controller loop under a Publisher/Subscriber… --- ## [10000 Node Scaling -- We’re Going To Need To Have a Hierarchical Infranet](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/10000-node-scaling-we-re-going-to-need-to-have-a-hierarchical-infranet/134)
**Author:** [@christra](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/christra)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/10000-node-scaling-we-re-going-to-need-to-have-a-hierarchical-infranet/134 "2023-03-20T22:44:13Z")
A refresher: last week, I had thought that it was Dance’s Etcd accesses that were causing Etcd to “time out” so to say, so I implemented it using only a single key and using Minio as the actual configuration backend. Th… --- ## [Allocation Tables Implemention](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/allocation-tables-implemention/124)
**Author:** [@christra](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/christra)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [March 17, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/allocation-tables-implemention/124 "2023-03-17T22:57:48Z")
Links are in replies, since the forum software says that I’m a new user and new users are only allowed two links per post. How allocation tables are implemented: Start with a ResourceAllocation (#1) This stores infor… --- ## [Reimplementing Moa with tc clsact + eBPF](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/reimplementing-moa-with-tc-clsact-ebpf/110)
**Author:** [@bkocolos](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/bkocolos)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [January 31, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/reimplementing-moa-with-tc-clsact-ebpf/110 "2023-01-31T19:43:55Z")
FastClick has been a constant source of pain on Lighthouse. Click threads die randomly; Buffers overflow leading to packet loss; general performance variability occurs when multiple Click instances are in the path of a f… --- ## [Host Node Randomization Ideas](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/host-node-randomization-ideas/109)
**Author:** [@christra](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/christra)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [December 14, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/host-node-randomization-ideas/109 "2022-12-14T19:43:47Z")
While implementing the hostname constraint, I’d like to also implement host randomization options in the python xir model. This is useful from an experimental point of view and from an operational point of view to distr… --- ## [Organizations, Approvals, and Pools](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/organizations-approvals-and-pools/104)
**Author:** [@bkocolos](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/bkocolos)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [August 1, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/organizations-approvals-and-pools/104 "2022-08-01T18:01:00Z")
Merge v1 introduced the notion of an “Organization” to the Merge portal API. The intent is that organization maintainers can manage users as well as projects of their organization. Perhaps the primary driver behind this… --- ## [Virtualization Testing VTE](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/virtualization-testing-vte/68)
**Author:** [@ry](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/ry)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [September 28, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/virtualization-testing-vte/68 "2020-09-28T19:13:14Z")
This is a HOWTO to kick off a discussion on using the virtualization branches in the VTE. This VTE is in the virt branch. Preparation Debian Packages One of the things that is different about this VTE is that it depend… --- ## [Testbed Support For Mobility](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/testbed-support-for-mobility/90)
**Author:** [@ry](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/ry)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [December 12, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/testbed-support-for-mobility/90 "2020-12-12T23:02:50Z")
This post explores various ways in which mobility can be supported in the Merge testbed setting. Concepts Generally speaking, a node in an experiment is mobile if at time t it is at location a and at time t+1 it is at l… --- ## [Multipurpose Ethernet Ports](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/multipurpose-ethernet-ports/84)
**Author:** [@ry](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/ry)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [November 18, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/multipurpose-ethernet-ports/84 "2020-11-18T15:33:31Z")
For IoT devices that may only have 1 Ethernet port, burning that port on the infranet may be a bad call. However, folks will still need infranet access to devices for provisioning purposes. So we need to think about how … --- ## [Testbed Proposal Advice](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/testbed-proposal-advice/70)
**Author:** [@ry](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/ry)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [October 20, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/testbed-proposal-advice/70 "2020-10-20T23:29:15Z")
A testbed Defines what an experiment is Allocates resources Provisions devices Creates networks Emulates systems Provides access so when you’re thinking about your next testbed proposal, ask yourself How are experim… --- ## [Moving Link Planning to the Portal](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/moving-link-planning-to-the-portal/71)
**Author:** [@ry](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/ry)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [November 2, 2020, 3:46am UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/moving-link-planning-to-the-portal/71 "2020-11-02T03:46:27Z")
Problem Currently there is a separation of responsibility between the Merge portal and testbed facilities where the Portal computes an abstract embedding of an experiment into a network of resources - and it’s the facili… --- ## [Differential Materialization](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/differential-materialization/38)
**Author:** [@ry](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/ry)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [August 18, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/differential-materialization/38 "2020-08-18T21:17:47Z")
Introduction The MergeTB model of an experiment is an immutable stack of experiment versions. When a user wants to update some aspect of their experiment topology, they do so by updating the experiment source code and pu… --- ## [An addressing model for host ports in MergeTB](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/an-addressing-model-for-host-ports-in-mergetb/54)
**Author:** [@ry](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/ry)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [July 19, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/an-addressing-model-for-host-ports-in-mergetb/54 "2020-07-19T20:36:25Z")
Background One of the most basic things a network testbed must do is create isolated virtual networks between host machine ports according to an experiment topology. We refer to the experiment network as the upper networ… --- ## [Node emulation and virtualization support](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/node-emulation-and-virtualization-support/52)
**Author:** [@ry](https://forum.mergetb.net/u/ry)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 15, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.mergetb.net/t/node-emulation-and-virtualization-support/52 "2020-06-15T16:24:54Z")
At a high level, Merge is a platform to describe networked system experiments, allocate sufficient resources to instantiate experiments, automate the materialization of an experiment, support the execution of experiments… [Next page](https://forum.mergetb.net/c/ideas/7.md?page=1)