FlowBench: An Edge Computing Benchmark System

Have you ever used AWS Lambda for serverless computing and FaaS? Have you wondered how open-source technologies like OpenFaaS can create a custom Function as a Service platform?

This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work on a "FlowBench: An Edge Computing Benchmark Utilizing Edge Workflows" research project. Collaborating with Alexander Schultz , Harshit Sharma , and Raghav Tiruvallur under the guidance of Prof. Ming Zhao has been an enriching experience.

Our project explores how FaaS can help application developers and researchers better understand the design choices of edge applications and systems. We introduce FlowBench, a workflow-based benchmark for edge computing that automates the deployment of functions and their control flow logic.

Highlights from our project:

• FlowBench Development: Developed the FlowBench Gateway using Python and Flask, automating deployments with OpenFaaS templates.
• Stateful Applications: Overcame the challenge of stateless FaaS by using Kubernetes Persistent Volumes (PV) and Persistent Volume Claims (PVC), accommodating stateful applications to run on FaaS and supporting stateful edge application workloads.
• Performance Metrics: Utilized Prometheus to gather metrics, enabling us to determine the optimal configurations for deployments.

FlowBench is highly customizable to different edge scenarios and effectively discovers performance bottlenecks in edge workloads and systems. Our contributions include designing FlowBench, providing workflows representing modern edge applications, and offering insights for potential improvements.

I am grateful for this opportunity to delve into cutting-edge research and contribute to the field of edge computing. I look forward to connecting with fellow researchers and professionals interested in this exciting area!

Technologies used: Python(Flask), OpenFaaS, Docker, Kubernetes, Prometheus

Github link: https://github.com/alexschultzAZ/flowbench/tree/flowbench-dev

#EdgeComputing #Serverless #OpenSource #Research #OpenFaaS #FlowBench #ComputerScience