NSF Middleware Initiative: What’s It All About? Renee Woodten Frost Assistant Director Internet2 Middleware Initiative

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Topics for Today Introduction to Middleware NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) Enterprise Infrastructure Goals and Objectives Outcomes Development and Management Processes Year 1 Milestones and Deliverables Integration Efforts SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Middleware in Action Three universities decide to share resources and work together on analyzing the groundwater pollution in their region. Collaborating on this problem requires frequent researcher interaction and the use of supercomputing resources around the country. Waiting to board her plane, a college administrator checks her email to learn of a problem. She connects to her campus library and downloads the latest information about campus unionization. She receives an incoming IP phone call from the Chancellor, who requests that she call a meeting of all department heads to brief them of the activity. She schedules the meeting and sends advance reading materials to the attendees. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

What is Middleware? specialized networked services that are shared by applications and users a set of core software components that permit scaling of applications and networks tools that take complexity out of application integration a second layer of the IT infrastructure, sitting above the network a land where technology meets policy the intersection of what networks designers and applications developers each do not want to do SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

A Map of Middleware Land SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Core Middleware Middleware makes “transparently use” happen, providing consistency, security, privacy and capability Identity - unique markers of who you (person, machine, service, group) are Authentication - how you prove or establish that you are that identity Directories - where an identity’s basic characteristics are kept Authorization - what an identity is permitted to do Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) - emerging tools for security services SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

How is it Used? Email Account management Next-generation portals Common authentication and directories Account management Common authentication and provisioning mechanism Next-generation portals Common authentication and storage for profiles and preferences. Web access controls Calendaring SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

How is it Used? Digital Libraries Grids (Research for now) Scalable, interoperable authentication and authorization. Grids (Research for now) Model for a distributed computing environment, addressing diverse computational resources, distributed databases, network bandwidth,etc.; Globus provides security, location and allocation of resources, and scheduling. Instructional Management Systems Common authentication and directories. Academic Collaboration Restricted sharing of materials among institutions. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

What is the NMI? NSF Middleware Initiative = NSF award for integrators to: GRIDS Center: NCSA, UCSD, Argonne National Labs/University of Chicago, USC/ ISI, and University of Wisconsin Enterprise and Desktop Integration Technologies (EDIT) Consortium: Internet2, EDUCAUSE, and SURA Separate awards to pure research components Multi-year effort to build on the successes of the Globus project and the Internet2 Middleware Initiative Practical (deployment) activity that necessitates some research SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

The Problem We’re Trying To Solve... To allow scientists and engineers the ability to transparently use and share distributed resources, such as computers, data, and instruments To develop effective collaboration and communications tools such as Grid technologies, desktop video, and other advanced services to expedite research and education, and To develop a working architecture and approach which can be extended to Internet users around the world. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

What Outcomes is NMI Trying to Achieve? A unified model for managing the campus infrastructure directories identity metadirectories security authentication authorization services A model for achieving interoperability for the research and higher ed communities A model for building applications SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Focus on Enterprise Infrastructure: EDIT Consortium Enterprise and Desktop Integration Technologies Consortium (EDIT) Internet2 – primary on grant and research EDUCAUSE – primary on outreach Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) – testbed SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Goals Much as at the network layer, plumb a ubiquitous common, persistent and robust core middleware infrastructure for the R&E community Foster effective and consistent campus implementations Motivate institutional funding and deployment strategies Solve the real world policy issues Integrate key applications to leverage the infrastructure Nurture open-source solutions Address scaling issues for the user and enterprise In support of inter-institutional and inter-realm collaborations, provide tools and services (e.g. registries, bridge PKI components, root directories) as required SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

How will these outcomes and goals be achieved? Foster the development of campus enterprise middleware to leverage both the academic and administrative missions. Coordinate a common substrate across higher ed middleware implementations that would permit inter-institutional efforts such as Grids, digital libraries, and collaboratories to scale and leverage In some instances, build collaboration tools for particularly important inter-institutional and government interactions, such as web services, PKI and video. Insure that distinctive higher ed requirements, from privacy and academic freedom to multi-realm portals, are served in the marketplace. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Specifically . . . Foster a coherent name space and security/privacy management architecture Foster a coherent directory architecture Integrate at the desktop with the operating systems and the user, leveraging enterprise directories and security Enable new applications of value to research Extend scope of liaison work Offer integrative services to component developers Proactively disseminate and educate to insure wide and consistent use of middleware services across the higher education and research community SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

A Map of Middleware Land Point to EDIT and GRID areas of Middleware Land to orient folks on the structure. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Core Middleware Scope Identity and Identifiers – namespaces, identifier crosswalks, real world levels of assurance, etc. Authentication – campus technologies and policies, inter-realm interoperability via PKI, Kerberos, etc. Directories – enterprise directory services architectures and tools, standard object classes, inter-realm and registry services Authorization – permissions and access controls, delegation, privacy management, etc. Integration Activities – common management tools, use of virtual, federated and hierarchical organizations SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

NMI-EDIT Organization Overall technical direction for NMI-EDIT is set by MACE Bob Morgan, University of Washington, Chair Directions set via NSF and NMI, Internet2 NPPAC, PKI and DIR Technical Advisory Boards, members Grant funding is $1.2 million a year: about ½ to short-term partial hiring of campus IT staff to develop and document required standards, best practices, etc. about ½ to testbeds, dissemination and training sessions Almost all funding passed through to campuses for work SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Sample NMI-EDIT Process (Directories ) MACE-DIR prioritizes needed materials Subgroups established: revision of basic documents (LDAP Recipe) new best practices in groups and metadirectories standards development for eduPerson 1.5 and eduOrg 1.0 Subgroups work in enhanced IETF approach, with scenarios, requirements, architectures and recommended standards stages. WG Deliverables announced; input and conference call feedback processes start for RPR status; work groups reconvene as needed Seems to take around 4-6 months, depending on product 6-8 people seem to drive, 15-50 schools participate SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

NMI-EDIT Development Stages Works in Progress Under development by working group; to shape directions Labeled as Draft Experimental Reviewed within the working group; for review within the EDIT Community Labeled as EXP Released for Public Review For broad review, including international and vendor communities Labeled as RPR Final Labeled as FIN SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

NMI-EDIT Participants Higher Ed – 15-20 leadership institutions, with 50 more campuses represented as members of working groups; readership around 2000 institutions. Corporate - (IBM, Microsoft, SUN, Intel, Liberty Alliance, DST, MitreTek, Radvision, Polycom, EBSCO, Elsevier, OCLC, Metamerge, Baltimore, etc.) Government – NSF, NIST, NIH, Federal CIO Council, etc International – Terena, JISC, REDIRIS, AARnet, etc. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

A Few Year One Milestones Sept 1, 2001 – Grant awarded Oct 2001– eduPerson 1.0 finalized; outreach begins with multiple full day workshops Jan 2002 – HEBCA tested; first CAMP held Feb 2002 – PKI Lite CP/CPS; e-Gov and Management and Leadership Best Practice Awards April 2002 – Shibboleth alpha ships; testbeds selected; NIST/NIH PKI workshop May 2002 – NMI release, with eduPerson 1.5, pubcookie, KX.509, groups and metadirectories, video white papers June 2002 – affiliated directories to begin; basic CAMP; testbed kickoff July 2002 – Shibboleth beta to ship; advanced CAMP SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

NMI Release 1 Components Software Globus Toolkit Condor-G Network Weather Service KX.509 and KCA Certificate Profile Maker Pubcookie Object Classes eduPerson 1.0 eduPerson 1.5 eduOrg 1.0 commObject 1.0 SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

NMI Release 1 Components Conventions and Practices Practices in Directory Groups 1.0 LDAP Recipe 2.0 Metadirectory Practices for the Enterprise Directory in Higher Education 1.0 White Papers Shibboleth Architecture v5 Service Certificate Profile Registry SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

NMI Release 1 Components Policies Campus Certificate Policy for use at the Higher Education Bridge Certificate Authority (HEBCA) Lightweight Campus Certificate Policy and Practice Statement (PKI-Lite) Sample Campus Account Management Policy Works in Progress: White Papers Role of Directories in Video-on-Demand Resource Discovery for Videoconferencing Directory Services Architecture for Video and Voice Conferencing over IP (commObject) SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Year Two Work Areas Authorization, Authorization, Authorization Shibboleth and PKI Integration with the Grid HEBCA Affiliated directories Federated digital rights management Video Registry Services Research medical middleware SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Integration in Action Thousands of physicists at hundreds of laboratories and universities worldwide come together to design, create, operate, and analyze the products of a major detector at CERN, the European high energy physics laboratory. During the analysis phase, they pool their computing, storage, and networking resources to create a "Data Grid" capable of analyzing petabytes of data. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Integration in Action Mary is a grad student at Alpha U,taking courses in a traditional classroom and online, and works at a company nearby. Her electronic identities must be verified to permit remote access to resources at both locations such as libraries and the company intranet and to deliver streamed-video classroom content. Mary is not continually asked for usernames, passwords or account numbers because the institutions and their constituents trust open standards for authentication, information sharing and privacy management. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Integration in Action Professor Smith wants to access a broad range of services through a secure portal to permit complex calendar applications, desktop video, IP telephony and his GRID project resources. Whether in an office or an airport, the professor comes to depend on quality-of-service, security and privacy to access and share data with colleagues on campus and across the country. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Integration Issues What needs integration? Core middleware components Plumbing the campus core for Grids New NMI components into the existing base What are the desired outcomes of integration To the user Relatively single-sign on/limited credentials Enterprise directory data supplied to Grids and other apps Behind the scenes Integrated accounting, security, management SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Integration Issues What are the barriers to integration Embedded bases Different priorities Gaps SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Coexistence, then integration Converting campus Kerberos tickets to temporary X.509 certificates Classification of NMI deliverables Testbeds for multiple agendas Identifier cross-walks Integration Web services Metadirectories Identifier reduction Accounting and resource control SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

The pieces fit together… Campus infrastructure Name space and identifiers Directories Enterprise authentication and authorization Inter-realm infrastructure edu object classes Exchange of attributes Inter-realm Upperware Grids Digital libraries Video SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

A Map of Middleware Land (again) Point to EDIT and GRID areas of Middleware Land to orient folks on the structure. SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

What to watch… The campus middleware infrastructure - make sure it is being developed and reflects needs Vendor and database licensing and service changes Shibboleth Demos and Pilots SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

Where to watch? Websites Middleware information and discussion lists http://www.nsf-middleware.org http//www.nmi-edit.org http://www.grids-center.org http://middleware.internet2.edu Middleware information and discussion lists mw-announce@internet2.edu mw-discuss@internet2.edu NMI lists (see websites) SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002

More Information… Education Opportunities Contact: Summer CAMP (Campus Architectural and Middleware Planning) Base – end of June Advanced – beginning of July Contact: - Renee Woodten Frost rwfrost@internet2.edu SE EDUCAUSE June 18, 2002