Great news in Chameleon-land!

First, welcome to Phase 3 of the project -- we are looking forward to helping you probe the reaches of science!

Second, to start things off we have a gift: testbed access via federated identity. Federated login enables users to use a single set of credentials to log into many different services. For example, federated login allows you to use your university or other institutional credentials -- or even credentials associated with your Google account -- to log into Chameleon; there is no need to create a new account. In addition, since federated login is supported by many testbeds and services across scientific infrastructures you will be able to sign in once and use multiple services in conjunction. Read more about the advantages it brings why in our FAQ on federated login. 

What does it mean for you in the short term? Over the next two months (October and November) we will migrate to federated identity; this means that your login will look slightly different and the credentials you use to log in may change as well. Throughout the migration time you will be able to access your Chameleon account in the same way you are accessing it now -- but once you go through the migration process you will be able to access your account both the old way and the new way: this should provide an easy way to go back to doing things the old way in case of any issues. However, a warning: migration might cause a disruption to your work; for example, you won’t be able to access your running instances when you switch between the old and the new login. For this reason, we encourage you to run the migration process and start using the federated login as soon as you can, in order to take full advantage of the troubleshooting runway that the migration period provides. 

When will you be able to do it? We will enable migration and federated login next Monday (10/12). The first thing you’ll notice is that the login page will look different: you will be invited to choose between your current login and login with federated identity. If you choose the current login method you will be guided to the familar login screen you are using now. IMPORTANT: please, remember to migrate to federated login before you give the federated credentials a whilrl! The full migration schedule is below -- and if you’d like to read more about the federated login implementation, migration logistics, and what implications it might have on your work, follow our our FAQ on federated login. 

Important dates:
 
October 12th: New federated login with migration support becomes available; users can use it on an opt-in basis since old login remains supported till the end of November

October 19th: The existing Chameleon account creation feature becomes disabled; all new Chameleon users will be starting off with federated login

November 1st: The “Log in with GENI” feature goes away (users can use federated login to log into Chameleon with their GENI credentials) and federated login becomes the default login option (though you will also be able to log in “the old way” by following a link)

December 1st: Federated login becomes the only login option for users; please make sure to migrate to the new account by then!