[Nsi-wg] Request for developer for NSI visualisation software

Tue Sep 27 11:47:48 CDT 2011

Hey Jeff-

The NSA codes being developed by the various organizations are 
definitely intended for a real system.  But there is a lot of work yet 
for these groups to fully implement the NSI framework and the CS 
protocol.  And since there is so little time between now and SC we are 
trying to minimize changes the interop demo that would distract the 
teams from writing NSI code. ...primarily the main change will be to get 
the NSI agents covering real hardware present in the AutomatedGOLE 
fabric.  Hopefully, this will be fairly simple.

The NML Topology is not adopted as the NSI Topology at this point.  This 
is an issue for the working group and won't be decided on the way to a 
demo.   Currently, we are using some extensions to the DToX ontology and 
an RDF/OWL data representation of the topology for common presentation.  
These seem to be performing well, but it is not clear to me how closely 
this parallels NML.   There are a lot of issues that need to be 
discussed and understood regarding the NSI framework and how it uses 
topology knowledge.   The NSI Topology is on the working group agenda 
for ongoing discussion (along with other topics) in parallel with the 
demo effort.

The Observer tool we were discussing for the demo could be a long term 
tool.  It would need to be able to Query() an NSA for the service tree 
information down to the leaf nodes given a set of keys (e.g. Circuit 
ID).   This would essentially provide a monitoring agent with all the 
information it needs to trace the circuit and know its state.   The 
interface to the NSAs could currently be done using NSI Query requests 
in a polling fashion.  I know polling sucks, but it would work for the 
demo.   Later on, or as a quick and dirty hack for the demo, a 
notification system might be slipped in to replace the polling..  But 
the high level logic would remain the same: The purpose of the observer 
is to present the relevant information regarding a connection to the 
user (or the ops/eng personnel, etc.)  The details of the information 
and how such information might be organized and visually presented is 
the real value of the Observer.  The Observer would also be able to 
trigger other activities when conditions warrant.    So I do not think 
developing an Observer agent/application would be a simple throwaway 
demo-ware exercise.    Indeed, I think it would help us resolve formal 
issues regarding external access to the service tree.

I hope this helps.   If you want to talk more details let me know and we 
can put a conf call together with Radek to put more meat on the bones.   
We have interest from some others as well.

Thanks
Jerry

On 9/26/11 1:12 PM, Jeff W. Boote wrote:
> Will the OGF NML topology format be used? Or is this a temporary situation again?
>
> If this is something being built towards an eventual real system, I may be interested in putting resources into it. If this is a one-off for a demonstration, then probably not.
>
> jeff
>
> On Sep 22, 2011, at 8:06 AM, Radek Krzywania wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>> For SC demonstration there is a need to have a centralised tool which will be able to show global reservation state and visualise the NSI demo topology. The first draft of such application will be required in about 4 weeks for Future Internet Week event held in Poznan between 24-28 Oct, where pre-SC NSI demo will be shown.
>> During my discussion with Jerry Sobieski, we would like to propose the following specification for this visualisation tool:
>> - A simple WebService needs to be implemented at network managers, which will allow to register event listeners (a WS addresses in fact), which will be the visualisation tool
>> - NSI enabled network managers will notify listeners on all events regarding reservations (mostly reservation status change according to NSI reservation lifecycle model)
>> - A visualisation tool will have a WS interface to receive the notifications from all domains involved in the demo
>> - A visualisation tool will be able to show global status on the screen, possibly a topology map. It would be good if a reservation paths could be shown (either delivered by NSI implementations or "guessed" by a tool having knowledge on involved domains)
>>
>> The way of showing a view is a subject to discuss, it can be either a web page or an standalone application. The details should be clarified soon, at the beginning of the next week.
>>
>> As developers who are already involved in coding the NSI and their network managers, it will be best to find someone else dedicated especially for visualiser task. Jerry and I will appreciate any volunteering developers here, so please if you feel being able to write a simple tool to support with a little graphical interface for NSI demos, please rise your hand. In case of any questions, feel free to ask on mailing list or directly to me or Jerry.
>>
>> Best regards
>> Radek
>>
>> ________________________________________________________________________
>> Radoslaw Krzywania                      Network Research and Development
>>                                            Poznan Supercomputing and
>> radek.krzywania at man.poznan.pl                   Networking Center
>> +48 61 850 25 26                             http://www.man.poznan.pl
>> ________________________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>>