Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: an Application Controlled Photonic Network Dr. Paola Grosso UvA - Universiteit van Amsterdam The Netherlands

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: Applications controlling networks Research efforts around the world: UCLP, AutoBahn, DRAGON, G-Lambda, Enlightened Research efforts in the Netherlands: SURFnet and CPL, EnlightenYourResearch and … StarPlane When do applications need this level of control? - Research involves very large datasets - Data needs to be transported securely - No hick-ups in the connection allowed - Remote collaborations - Access to distributed resources - Use of HD-video or high quality media (4k digital cinema) e-Science applications need more control over the network

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: Lightpaths Lightpaths provide the best service Two approaches to delivery of lightpaths: -Static: ‘Here is your path, bye.’ -Dynamic: ‘Tell me when you need it, tell me when you are done’ Two approaches to control of the paths characteristics: -Provider controlled: ‘Tell me what you need’. -User/application controlled: ‘Do-it-yourself’ Lightpaths are: - Dedicated connection in the network; - Guaranteed QoS: jitter, delay and bandwidth; - Use optical/photonic equipment: lambdas

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: The StarPlane project StarPlane is an NWO-funded project. UvA and VU (Vrije Universiteit) perform the research together, in close cooperation with SURFnet and Nortel Networks. Dynamic and application controlled lightpaths Five DAS-3 clusters communicate over the WAN using controllable lightpaths in a portion of SURFnet6.

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: Network setup The ‘traditional’ LAN side: Ethernet siwtches to connect to the local area network The ‘innovative’ WAN

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: CPL and WSS CPL- Common Photonic Layer - dark fiber network (6000Km) with Nortel DWDM and TDM equipment; - DAS3 sites connected on one ring. WSS- Wavelength-Selective Switches - allow to redirect a selected input color to a selected output fiber; - goal is sub-second switching, and topology reconfiguration.

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: Slide material courtesy of Roeland Nuijts Network topologies TUD UvA VULU 2, 1, 34, TUD UvA VU LU TUD UvA VU LU Star network Ring networkMesh network

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: StarPlane management plane

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: Monitoring the paths Lightpaths provide applications with deterministic QoS/QoE. End-to-end performance monitoring via rTPL package. Applications need end-to-end monitoring

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: First applications: SCARIe eVBLI: correlation of astronomical data. Lightpaths transport data from telescopes to correlation centers. Software correlation: dividing the incoming data into small chunks of data that are correlated independently. SCARIe over StarPlane: dynamic photonic lightpath switching is an efficient solution to distribute datasets for network intensive tasks.

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: First applications: AWARI AWARI: a distributed game-tree search. Performance on distributed cluster approaches that of a single large cluster. Slide material courtesy of Kees Verstoep

Session 9A, 25 October 2007 eChallenges e-2007 Copyright 2007 StarPlane: Conclusions First results: -First batch of applications making use of the StarPlane network. -Starting to test the integration of the management plane and the control plane (SPMP and DRAC). Work ahead: -Involve more applications; -International links and expanding infrastructures, Grid5k in France. More information: -StarPlane web site: -StarPlane monitoring: