ELIXIR AAI (Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure) is the ELIXIR Infrastructure Service for authenticating researchers and enabling ELIXIR services to define user permissions for a given service (access rights). The ELIXIR AAI is coordinated by the ELIXIR Compute Platform and has received funding from ELIXIR-EXCELERATE WP4.3.1 and the AAI Implementation Studies in 2017 and 2018 [2, 3].
In June 2016, the ELIXIR Head of Nodes Committee agreed on the ELIXIR AAI strategy [1] that:
- Defines the AAI as a service that falls under the responsibility of the ELIXIR Hub, enabling ELIXIR to commission AAI services from the Nodes or to obtain them from e-infrastructures.
- Makes a statement that ELIXIR intends to rely on e-infrastructure partners in the operations of the AAI or some of its components.
- Sets a goal of a common interoperable AAI for life science researchers, mentioning CORBEL WP5, AARC2 and the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) as key related activities.
In 2017, the AAI Implementation Study [1] focused on preparing the AAI as an emerging service by providing a service definition, cost estimates, service desk and a redundant environment for key functionalities. During 2018, other research infrastructures have also started to evaluate and in some cases implement ELIXIR AAI, e.g. EuroBioImaging. In the preparations of the EOSC-Life project, key life science infrastructures have agreed on a convergence towards a Life Science (LS) AAI, to be built using ELIXIR AAI and coordinated by ELIXIR (with assignment as Work Package co-lead in the EOSC-Life proposal).
Aims
In 2019-2020, the AAI Implementation Study aims to:
- Continue providing a sustainable AAI service (the day-to-day operations and support),
- Ensure the service’s future sustainability according to the ELIXIR AAI strategy [2] and start a migration towards the Life Science (LS) AAI,
- Develop new features for the ELIXIR AAI in response to emerging community requirements,
- Increase the number of ELIXIR AAI relying (service provider) parties, e.g. cloud services suitable for workloads in life science computing.
The processes that continue to require decision-making by ELIXIR, e.g., related to membership, or specific access to compute services or data, will continue to be defined and operated through ELIXIR. However, it is envisaged that technical AAI components required to run these processes could be outsourced to trusted partners, where appropriate, as part of the evolution from ELIXIR AAI to LS AAI.
Relation to other projects
In the near future, several funding sources are assumed for different activities related to ELIXIR AAI. We note that at least some of these funding sources, related to the ELIXIR-specific requirements, are expected to continue beyond the point at which LS AAI is in full production. In the allocation of funding sources to different activities, the following principles have been assumed in this Implementation Study Project Plan:
Persistent funding to be used for recurring and permanent costs, project funding for one-off costs. This Implementation Study is proposed to cover annually recurring ELIXIR AAI and coordination costs, as these are distinct from wider implementations including the LS AAI. While for the next 4 years the core funding for LS AAI is expected to be covered through the ESOC-Life project, we assume continuing support of ELIXIR-specific AAI services and processes through permanent funding as an Infrastructure Service in the long term. This Infrastructure Service support will continue to be required after the end of EOSC-Life. We expect other external project funding, including EOSC-Life (excluding LS AAI operations), other H2020 projects, and further ELIXIR Implementation Studies will be deployed to resource the development of new features. Using project funding to cover recurring costs is not deemed sustainable.
After migration to Life Science AAI some ELIXIR-specific components and processes will remain. Although core features and functionality of the ELIXIR AAI are expected to migrate to the Life Science AAI during the project, it is foreseen that there will be some ELIXIR-specific parts and activities that will continue to be managed by ELIXIR directly, in common with other Research Infrastructures (RIs) with ongoing RI-specific requirements.