Add blog post for M-Lab 2.0 Platform Migration (#459)

* Add blog post for M-Lab 2.0 Platform Migration

* Extra new line before "more"

_posts/blog/2019-03-12-mlab-20-platform-migration-update.md

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+---
+layout: blog
+title: "M-Lab 2.0 Platform Migration Update"
+author: "Stephen Soltesz"
+date: 2019-03-12
+breadcrumb: blog
+categories:
+  - platform
+  - research
+  - data
+  - kernel
+  - open-source
+  - performance
+  - tcp-info
+---
+
+Last year, we outlined our plans to [Modernize the M-Lab
+Platform][modernize]{:target="_blank"}. This year, we’re bringing them to
+life. Here’s a summary of why the platform update is so valuable and what you
+can expect throughout the year.
+
+[modernize]: {{site.baseurl}}/blog/modernizing-mlab
+<!--more-->
+
+## Advantages
+
+Developing new tools for the modern M-Lab platform is easier than ever. If
+the tool runs in a [Docker container][docker]{:target="_blank"} (with or
+without `--net=host`), then it can run on M-Lab. Github repos connected to
+[Dockerhub.com][dockerhub]{:target="_blank"} build fresh containers on new
+tags. And, with approval from M-Lab staff, kubernetes will safely automate
+the rollout.
+
+Faster, automated deployments tightly couple the measurement tool source code
+to the binary docker image, to the version running in production, to the data
+collected, and to the rows in BigQuery. The only way to get code to run on
+the platform is to build from an open source repository, ensuring that all
+code on the M-Lab platform is open source. We can also archive every single
+binary image that has been run on the platform, aiding in the reproduction
+and verification of past results. This new level of openness, transparency,
+and reproducibility is, to our knowledge, without precedent in the Internet
+measurement space.
+
+[docker]: https://www.docker.com/resources/what-container
+[dockerhub]: https://hub.docker.com/
+
+## Longitudinal Analysis
+
+From 2009-2019, M-Lab NDT and Sidestream measurements have used the
+[web100][web100]{:target="_blank"} data type. From 2019 forward, the modern
+platform will collect the [tcp-info][tcpinfo]{:target="_blank"} data type for
+all TCP connections.
+
+We will preserve the ability to perform longitudinal analysis on our 10+
+years of network measurements. During the beginning of our production
+deployment milestone, we will collect and compare measurements from the
+legacy and new platforms. For slower clients, their performance should not
+change. We expect a large population of clients to have the same behavior on
+the old and new platform. For the subset of clients that perform better on
+the new platform, we will provide a way of calibrating past data to be
+comparable to the new.
+
+[web100]: https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/tcp-kis.txt
+[tcpinfo]: https://github.com/m-lab/tcp-info/blob/master/nl-proto/tcpinfo.proto
+
+## Upcoming Milestones
+
+### Canary deployment begins (in progress)
+
+Right now, we’re bringing together the last 9 months of work starting with a
+quarter of the physical platform. Historically, a fourth of the platform
+served as a “spare” machine at every site (~120 machines). Starting with the
+Kubernetes platform, a small fraction of clients that opt-in to using the
+[M-Lab location service][mlabns]{:target="_blank"} will be directed to these
+“canary” machines. With a small fraction of real traffic, we will validate
+that everything works as intended end to end.
+
+[mlabns]: https://mlab-ns.appspot.com
+
+### Production deployment begins (target end of Q2)
+
+Once the canary deployment is stable and represents most of the functionality
+we need, we will begin deployments to a third of the production platform
+(~120 machines). At this point, we will be running a “hybrid platform”
+consisting of both legacy and modern software platform. During this time, we
+will collect A/B data for cross validation. As well, all experiments that are
+ready to deploy to the new platform can be deployed as well.
+
+### Production deployment completes (target mid-Q3)
+
+Once all operational challenges are resolved, all A/B data collected, and all
+measurement tools that we will continue supporting on the new platform have
+containerized versions available, we will complete the update to the
+Kubernetes-based platform.