1. NSF Middleware Initiative and Enterprise Middleware: What Can It Do for My Campus? Renee Woodten Frost Internet2/University of Michigan

2. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 2 Copyright Renee Woodten Frost 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

3. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 3 Topics What is IT being asked to do? What do we mean by “Middleware”? Why is NSF involved? What’s available to help my campus? How can I use it?

4. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 4 What is IT being asked to do? On-line, 24 X 7 university services integrated with –Academic course management systems –Student life offerings and community events –Administrative services for faculty, staff, and students Email-for-life E-procurement Automatic provisioning of computer accounts based on business rules Workflow and electronic signatures for forms

5. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 5 More on the “to do” list Multi-campus research-project support Secure PDA and wireless support Just-in-time email announcements –By campus, department, organization, class, major…. Expensive library databases shared with other schools in the system Seamless transfer/integration of student records among state-system or partnering schools

6. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 6 What do all of these have in common? Are the people using these services who they claim to be? Are they a member of our campus community? Are they authorized to use the service? Is their privacy being protected? Is the service being protected? These questions are answered using middleware services.

7. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 7 New Institutional Infrastructure: Identity Management (IdM) A suite of campus-wide security, access, and information services –Identity and role-based access –Privacy-oriented control –Integrated services –Increased security with decreased complexity for constituents

8. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 8 Components of IdM Identifiers – your electronic names –Multiple names and corresponding information in multiple places –Single unique identifier for each authorized user –Names and information in other systems can be cross- linked to it

9. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 9 Components of IdM (cont.) Authentication – links the physical you to an electronic identifier –Security need should drive authentication method –Distance learning and inter-campus applications Authorization – allowing you to use services –Affiliated with the school (roles) –Permitted to use the services based on those roles

10. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 10 Components of IdM (cont.) Enterprise Directory Services – where your electronic identifiers are reconciled and basic characteristics are kept –Very quick lookup function Phone number, addresses, campus identifiers –Authentication –Access Control –Work flow

11. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 11

12. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 12 What is NSF’s interest? NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) –Analogous to building the NSFnet –Scientists and engineers can transparently use and share distributed resources, such as computers, data, and instruments –Research and education communities can effectively collaborate using advanced communications tools –Internet users around the world can benefit.

13. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 13 NSF Middleware Initiative Purpose: to design, develop, deploy and support a set of reusable, expandable set of middleware functions and services that benefit applications in a networked environment

14. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 14 NMI Teams and Deliverables Core NMI –EDIT Consortium (Enterprise and Desktop Integration Technologies) EDUCAUSE, Internet2 & SURA –GRIDS Center USC ISI, NCSA, U Chicago, UCSD & U Wisconsin –Several additions in 2003 NMI deliverables –Software, best practices, white papers, and services –NMI Release 5 became available May 2004

15. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 15 NMI-EDIT Consortium Project Goals –Create a common, persistent and robust core middleware infrastructure for the R&E community –Provide tools and services in support of inter-institutional and inter-realm collaborations Most funding passed through to campuses for work Focus on intra and inter-institutional IdM and related services

16. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 16 What’s available to help my campus? NMI-EDIT Components from Five NMI Releases – Authentication: 3 WebISO solutions, credential mapping from Kerberos to PKI, policy documents, registry service – Authorization: Architecture and related software and libraries for multi- institution collaboration and resources sharing: Shibboleth and PERMIS –Enterprise Directories: Higher-ed schemas, operational monitoring and schema analysis tools; practices in design, groups, metadirectories; implementation roadmap

17. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 17 What’s available to help my campus? NMI-EDIT Components from NMI Releases (cont.) – Integration Activities with Grid environment: Credential mapping from campus to Grid environment, GLUE schema analysis tool –Application-enablement: Directory schema for video; video middleware cookbook –Education: Venues for learning about IdM including CAMPs and on-line deployment materials for directories

18. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 18 NMI-EDIT Findings Consensus on inter-institutional middleware standards and maturing architecture to support collaborative applications Widespread interest in Shibboleth within R&E communities Credential mapping from core enterprise to Grid service Grid adoption of SAML in Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA)

19. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 19 NMI-EDIT Findings (cont.) Creation and maintenance of a heavily referenced set of design and best practices documents Effective linkages with International research communities Discovery and development of campus IT staff Influence on both federal and commercial standards Direct outreach to over 320 institutions

20. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 20 Upcoming Work Authorization –White papers, tools, templates, software to help campuses establish role-based enterprise authorization services that can be leveraged for campus and inter- institutional applications Middleware diagnostics –Architecture, services, software to help trouble shoot inter-institutional IdM-related problems

21. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 21 Upcoming Work (cont.) Virtual organizations –Geographically and enterprise distributed community that shares real resources as an organization –Develop architecture, software, tools and related services to integrate campus IdM systems to enable virtual organizations

22. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 22 The pieces fit together… Campus infrastructure –Developing and encouraging the deployment of identity management components, tools, and support services Inter-realm infrastructure –Leveraging the local organizational infrastructure to enable access to the broader community though Building on campus identity management infrastructures Extending them to contain standard schemas and data definitions Enabling the exchange of access information in a private and secure way Developing diagnostic tools to make complex middleware interactions easier to understand

23. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 23 How can I use it? Review what’s available at www.nmi-edit.org www.nmi-edit.org –Development page links to available components –Getting Started page links to beginning resources Enterprise Directory Implementation Roadmap More information on the NMI is available at www.nsf-middleware.org www.nsf-middleware.org

24. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 24 How can I use it? (cont.) Educate yourself about IdM and its role (cont) –Recent article in EDUCAUSE Quarterly (Vol 26 #4 2003) –Attend an NMI-EDIT conference session or workshop EDUCAUSE Annual and Regional meetings Internet2 Member Meetings –Attend an NMI-EDIT CAMP CAMP Workshop on Shibboleth June 28-30 Advanced CAMP on Authority Architectures June 30 – July 2 –Broomfield CO –www.nmi-edit.org or www.educause.eduwww.nmi-edit.orgwww.educause.edu Next CAMPS November 2004 – San Diego

25. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 25

26. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 26

27. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 27

28. EDUCAUSE SE Regional - 7 June 2004 28 More information….. Renee Woodten Frost rwfrost@internet2.edu Education, participation, and resources questions: Ann West Outreach Coordinator, NMI awest@educause.edu