OMIS Use Case Actors

These are (some of) the actors in the OMIS GENI Use Cases. These may sometimes be called principals or other specific terms, but at this point we're using more informal references. In the same informal way, there are often a couple of different terms that are used almost interchangeably for each actor. Presumably as the GENI design gets more concrete, these will each have an instantiation in that design, and the terms can be adjusted to use those terms.

People

This section lists the people, or groups, that appear in the Use Cases.

GENI Ops

The group responsible for day to day operations of the GENI infrastructure. Sometimes spelled out GENI Operations, also general references to "the NOC" or "NOC staff". In some sense those last 2 are different, "the NOC" refers to everything that's involved in operations: software that tracks activities, a ticket system, etc. while "NOC staff" refers to actual humans who make decisions, and both of those are just a part of GENI Ops. And "NOC" isn't quite right, either, since Network Operations is unlikely to have a Center but is likely to be distributed.

Component Owner

The person (or group) that owns a component and contributes it for use in the GENI environment.

Aggregate Ops

The group (or individual) responsible for day to day operations of some aggregate within the GENI infrastructure. Sometimes spelled out Aggregate Operations or abbreviated further to Agg Ops. For small aggregates contributed by a lab this might be the PI and/or graduate students that populate the lab. For large aggregates contributed by a large commercial venture it might, for example, be their normal NOC.

RP (Responsible Party)

The person (or small set of people) who are responsible for some equipment or activity. For an experiment (actually the slices within which an experiment runs) this might be the PI or a designated grad student, for a component it might be the owner or the operator. Since this can vary, the RP for each item should be called out seperately. The RP has an email address registered which is used to contact the RP when needed. There may also be an emergency contact phone number for extreme cases (see GeniOmisUseEmergShut).

Researcher

The person actually conducting the experiment in a slice. This may or may not be the same as the RP for the slice.

Equipment

Two types of equipment appear in the Use Cases, both with standard GENI meanings from the GENI Glossary:

Component

A device (either physical or logical) that is part of the GENI infrastructure.

Aggregate

An aggregate is an object representing a group of components. For the OMIS Use Cases, primarily aggregates that are used for common O&M are of interest. Internally, aggregates may use any O&M systems they find useful.

Service Entities

These are the various automated services that appear in the Use Cases:

Slice Registry

Maintains info on slices. There are many slice registries, arranged in a hierarchy. Usually we just refer to them all as a group.

CM (Component Manager)

The software that provides access to a component.

Component Registry

Maintains info on components, specifically who to contact when there's a problem.

Researcher Portal

The service that a researcher uses to allocate slices and slivers, and to set up and operate their experiment in that slice.