1. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Operating systems and Information Services OIS Proposed Drupal Service Definition IT-OIS group Christian Isnard ENTICE Meeting August 3 rd, 2010

2. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Strategy for a Drupal service A pilot version to be offered quickly –A standard Drupal 6 installation including MySQL as an embedded component –For ENTICE forum members Migrate to a more scalable solution in the medium term –Future Drupal 7 - interfacing with a central Oracle database maintained by the IT-DB service 2

3. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Main functionality – Phase 1 The user will have access via a web browser to their Drupal site and will be able to: –Modify the parameter settings of the website including access permissions –Create/modify the structure of the website –Provide contents –Use Single-Sign-On to authenticate Remarks: –This is meant to be for development purposes - not a production quality service No guarantee concerning availability –Single set of modules for all sites during Phase 1 i.e. Core modules plus small additional list from ENTICE –MySQL database backup: Database in read-only mode during data backup to the file system 3

4. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS The user will have access via a web browser to the Drupal site and will be able to: –Modify the parameter settings of the website including access permissions –Create/modify the structure of the website –Provide contents –Use Single-Sign-On to authenticate In addition: –Change management of modules made via ENTICE “Private” modules may have an impact on stability –Define a process for site Theme management Main functionality – Phase 2 ( with additional resources) (1) 4

5. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Main functionality – Phase 2 (with additional resources) (2) 24 / 7 availability –Except during maintenance of centrally managed resources: installation of updates upgrades of infrastructure –Unattended outside working hours As many other services The operator on shift in the computer centre can restart a server if needed 5

6. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Service Components Hardware Platform Components Machines provisioned by IT-PES with Linux SLC5/SLC6 within a Quattor infrastructure Installation in the Computer centre (IT-CF) Software Platform Components In Phase 1: Linux SLC5, Apache v2.2, PHP 5.1, Drupal v6, MySQL v5.077 provisioned by IT-OIS –Investigating PHP 5.2 The underlying database will be a local MySQL database as an embedded component 6

7. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Software Platform Components (1) In Phase 2: Linux SLC6, Apache v2.2.15, PHP v5.2/3, Drupal v7, provisioned by IT-OIS The underlying database will be a central Oracle database maintained by the IT-DB service. Detailed migration path to be investigated 7

8. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Software Platform Components (2) In Phase 2, With additional resources: The users will be provided with a user-friendly, integrated web-based interface to get a pre-configured Drupal environment The integration of the Drupal application with other CERN applications (like CDS, Indico, EDMS, Oracle HR / Foundation) will be studied, tested and documented Drupal roles will derive from e-groups A repository of core shared modules will be maintained –i.e. The modules that will be proposed via ENTICE will be validated and included in the above repository The users will be able to install additional modules and themes in the scope of their website A Backup/Restore functionality will be provided to the site owners 8

9. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Known Constraints Scalability and performance may be an issue –Especially for highly visible websites being advertised in large public events –Especially in Phase 1 with a MySQL database on the same server as Apache and Drupal –The analytics of the services need central monitoring –Choice of external modules (that the users have the flexibility to install in the scope of their website) may lead to instability or unavailability of all sites on the same server. Central actions that may be taken: –Introduce dedicated servers as needed –As for other web sites, detected security violations may lead to a suspension of a website by CERN Computer Security Team. 9

10. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Shared vs Dedicated Servers Dedicated servers for high-traffic sites –e.g. CERN main site –And scale-out architecture to accommodate high-visibility events e.g. First Physics Day (~ 100 M requests) Shared service where possible –i.e. several Drupal sites per server Investigate use of virtual servers to isolate potential issues To be balanced with required stability and scalability –Learning phase at the beginning, based on service monitoring 10

11. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Additional resources required in IT-OIS Two fellows to be requested: –"Fellow 1" in charge of the integration into the infrastructure: Implementation of service procedures e-groups for authorization Quattor configuration and template definition, implementation of Quattor components, Monitoring, Backup / Restore, etc... Investigate Drupal7, SLC6 and Oracle –"Fellow 2" in charge of The provisioning of the Drupal environment via a user- friendly Web interface The validation and integration of the optional Drupal modules proposed within ENTICE The integration of the Drupal application –E.g. with CDS, Indico, EDMS, Oracle HR / Foundation –Development of read-only/read-write modules to interface with these applications 11

12. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Longer Term Perspective Further service evolution following future Drupal developments This service is a long-term commitment Stable manpower resources required in the long term 12

13. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Timescale Sept. 2010: Beginning of Phase 1 Providing Drupal 6 and MySQL software Providing documentation on how to configure them at CERN Oct. 2010: Start a Pilot service –Depending on the hardware availability (IT-PES) and installation in the computer centre (IT-CF) 1Q2011: Arrival of the two requested fellows Start implementing production service (Phase 2) 13

14. CERN - IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t O OIS Questions, Comments? 14