Thoughts on generalizing workbench as Project X based on recent discussions. 

Use Cases

Education and training

One of the clearest proven uses of the platform is for education and training purposes. Labs Workbench was used for:

• IASSIST 2016 for a workshop on integrating Dataverse and iRODS
• NDSC6 for a workshop for the development of Docker containers
• Phenome 2017 for a workshop on how to use the TERRA-REF reference data platform and tools
• Planned iSchool pilot for data curation educators
• Possible deployment by Big Data Hub on commercial provider, such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, GCE
  
  

Each environment is unique, but there are a few basic requirements:

• Custom catalog only of the tools needed for the training environment
• User accounts that can be created without requiring registration (e.g., batch import)
• Authentication that ties to existing systems (e.g., Shibboleth, Oauth)
• Short term scalable resources (e.g. 40 users, 4 hours) as well as longer-term stable resources (11 weeks, 24x7, maintenance allowed)
• Custom documentation and branding/skinning
• Custom data, API keys, etc accessible by users
• Configurable quotas (not one-size fits all)
• Ability to deploy a dedicated environment, scale it up, and tear it down. At the end of the workshop/semester, access can be revoked.
• Ability to backup/download data
• Ability to deploy system under a variety of architectures
• Ability to host/manage system at NDSC/SDSC/TACC
• Security/TLS/vulnerability assessment

Scalable analysis environment

We can also envision the platform working as a replacement for the TERRA-REF toolserver or as a DataDNS analysis service. In this case, the requirements are:

• Custom catalog of tools supported for the environment.
• User accounts that can be created without requiring registration (API)
• Authentication that ties to existing systems (e.g., Shibboleth, Oauth)
• Long-term stable and scalable resources. Ability to add/remove nodes as needed.
• Ability to terminate long-running containers to reclaim resources
• Custom documentation and branding, although the UI itself may be optional
• Ability to mount data stored on remote systems (e.g., ROGER) as read-only and possibly read-write scratch space
• Ability to add data to a running container, retrieved from a remote system?
• Clear REST API to
  • List tools; list environments for a user; launch tools; stop tools;
• Security/TLS/vulnerability assessment

Platform for the development and deployment of research data portals

Another use case, really a re-purposing of the platform, is to support the development and deployment of research data portals – aka, the Zuhone case. Requirements include:

• Ability to develop data portal using common tools. 
• Ability to deploy data portal services "near" datasets (e.g., ythub).