[Atlas-anchors-pilot] Announcing the second phase of the "Pilot"

[Vesna Manojlovic]

Dear RIPE Atlas Anchors hosts,

since Phase 1 of the pilot is successfully completed [1],
we are ready to proceed with Phase 2 of the pilot!

As we have announced in October, here is the list of next 8 hosts [2]
Yves, Paolo, Sascha, Fabian, Jens, Arnaud, Mark & Florian
(Martin moved to phase 1, and already has his box running)

In the meantime, we had few more people interested in taking part in
pilot phase, and we have some extra capacity, since the phase 1 took
longer then planned... so we can accept few new volunteers, too.

The conditions for Phase 2 are still the same as for Phase 1:
- you need to buy a server with our fixed specifications [3], [4],
- install it in a suitable operational environment and notify us when
it's available
- we will install the operating system, RIPE Atlas probe SW, and other
services needed to make the box run as a "target"
- we will schedule measurements towards the target, and give you extra
credits so that you can do your own UDMs

However -- please realize that this is still a pilot!

During the first phase of the pilot we have implemented the Atlas
Anchors as single purpose systems. The intention of phase 2 is to
determine in practice if the function of the Atlas Anchor can be
combined with other additional services. During the second phase of the
pilot we therefore migrate some of the Anchor nodes to a virtualised
system and have these run additional tests. Based on the experience
gained during phase 2 we will be able to decide if a combination of
services with the Atlas Anchors on a single physical system is valid.

It is important to realize that one possible outcome of the second phase
still is that we would not continue with combining services and Atlas
Anchor on these systems and the systems would therefore only remain a
RIPE Atlas Anchor, as target and an Atlas probe.

With this in mind, I would like to hear from you:

- are you still interested in hosting the RIPE Atlas Anchor?
(if you are one of those listed here [2])

- if you are newly interested, can you please fill in this survey? [5]

     Please note that we have limited capacity, so for any *new*
         participants, please wait with ordering any equipment until
         we have confirmed to you that you can participate in the
         second phase of the pilot.

I will wait for 10 days to collect the answers, and I will get back to
you after my vacation, after 26th February.

(in the meantime, my colleague Lia will be able to answer your questions)

Regards,
Vesna

References:

[1]
https://labs.ripe.net/Members/becha/ripe-atlas-anchors-pilot-update-on-phase-one
[2]
https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/atlas-anchors-pilot/2012-October/000076.html
[3]
https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/atlas-anchors-pilot/2012-October/000075.html
[4]
https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/atlas-anchors-pilot/2012-November/000106.html
[5]
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/atlas-anchors-pilot-startup