10 Planned Features

This chapter describes features that are planned for Apt or under development: please contact us if you have any feedback or suggestions!

10.1 Simpler Virtual/Physical Profile Switching

As recommended in the chapter about repeatable research, moving back and forth between virtual and physical resources is a good way to move from doing preliminary work to gathering final results for publication. Doing this currently requires making two profiles. We plan to make changes to the Apt interface to allow users to select, at experiment creation time, whether to use virtual or physical resources.

10.2 Improved Physical Resource Descriptions

As part of the process of reserving resources on Apt, a type of RSpec called a manifest is created. The manifest gives a detailed description of the hardware allocated, including the specifics of network topology. Currently, Apt does not directly export this information to the user. In the interest of improving transparency and repeatable research, Apt will develop interfaces to expose, explore, and export this information.