wiki:MAXREGIONAL-GENI-Status-Report-GEC19

Version 1 (modified by tlehman@maxgigapop.net, 10 years ago) (diff)

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GENI MAXREGIONAL Project Status Report - Post GEC19

MAX REGIONAL
Project Status Report
Project 1860 (MAXREGIONAL)
Post GEC 19 (March 17-19, 2014) Report

I. Major accomplishments

A. Milestones status

MAXREGIONAL.S5.a Continue to support the stitching interoperation and testing between GENI Racks/Aggregates, and across network infrastructures such as Internet2 ION, AL2S, regional networks, and other networks that may be available for GENI stitching use.

Status:
During this period we continued supporting stitching activities in a variety of environments. This include stitching between GENI Racks across ION and as well as stitching to iMinds in Belgium. The iMinds infrastructure is currently connected to ION via static configuration of VLANs across GEANT and the Belgium National network. For the general stitching across ION we worked with Internet2 to upgrade the ION AM to a newer version of the MAX Aggregate Manager software. We also worked with the GPO to define an ION AM Software Release Plan. A high level overview of that plans is included below.

We also continued our discussions with Internet2 regarding support for stitching on AL2S. They are making progress but there is still more for them to complete. There is some indication that Internet2 may be ready to test AL2S GENI stitching sometime in May 2014. We also supported the GPO in the deployment of a new monitoring infrastructure. This included deploying the GPO provided software infrastructure on the MAX Aggregate.


  1. The released/installed version is identified by a SVN branch version number. Currently ION is running this version:

https://svn.maxgigapop.net/svn/geni-aggregate/branches/r2.0/

A tarball from svn export is also included here: https://wiki.maxgigapop.net/twiki/bin/view/GENI/NetworkStitchingSoftware

  1. MAX AM Upgrade Procedure
    • MAX uses a development instance of the MAX AM to test changes as possible in the development environment.
    • The operational MAX AM is upgraded as needed.
    • System Testing. After an upgrade, the MAX AM testing is based on common use case and change specific testing based on experience.
    • If testing was not successful, MAX AM is rolled back to a previous version
    • As a result the above actions, MAX AM will often be running newer software then what ION AM instance is running.
  1. ION AM Upgrade Procedure

Any stable version running on the MAX AM is a candidate for ION AM upgrade. When time for an upgrade, the following will be done:

a) MAX will:

  • generate a summary of the new features and changes as compared to the last release
  • provide information on any recommended test cases based on the new features and/or changes

b) GPO will conduct testing against the MAX AM. This testing will based on GPOs standard testing procedures and any testing procedures which may be unique to the specific release.

c) If testing in item b is successful, then MAX will do the following:

  • Summarize the SFA and MyPLC version and patch level so that Internet2 can verify that the ION AM is at the proper level. MAX may also provide the specific SFA/MyPLC patches needed.

d) Internet2 will then download the new software and use the standard installation instructions as their guide for the upgrade:

e) After the ION AM upgrade, the system is tested. Internet2 and MAX will do some preliminary testing before handing over to GPO to do the formal testing.

f) If testing in item e is not successful, then issues will be resolved, or system will be rolled back to last working configuration.


MAXREGIONAL.S5.b Update the MAX Aggregate Manager to keep up to date with latest GENI AM APIs in use by other GENI Aggregates and GENI Experimenter tools.

Status: We have upgraded a development instance of the MAX Aggregate Manager software to support the version of PlanetLab SFA (v3.x.x) software that includes GENI AM APIv3. This required an upgrade of the base Fedora OS, and required some adaptations of the MAX Aggregate Manager software as well. These changes do enable the MAX AM to support the GENI AM APIv3. However, the SFA AM APIv3 is not backward compatible with the GENI AM APIv2 version. As a result we will likely need to run two instances of the GENI AM API during a transition period. This needs to be discussed further. In addition, we are also evaluating the possibility of switching to be FOAM based as opposed to SFA.

MAXREGIONAL.S5.c Develop designs and prototype systems for facilitating and managing VLAN delegation by statically provisioned network regions. Work GPO and network providers to test and refine designs.

Status: We currently are running and maintaining a script which automatically pulls Advertisement RSpecs from GENI Aggregates and generates a wiki page. This wiki page provides information regarding networks where statically provisioned VLANs are utilized to connect two GENI Aggregates. Information formatted in accordance with a configuration file schema indicates which GENI Aggregates should be included in this process. This wiki page is located here:

B. Deliverables made

During this reporting period we completed the following deliverables:

  • Deployment of the GPO provided monitoring software infrastructure.
  • Development of MAX Aggregate Manager with new SFA with AM APIv3 support

II Description of work performed during last quarter

A. Activities and findings

GENI Stitching capabilities across Internet2 ION and AL2S continues to move forward. We have helped with testing stitching across ION and AL2S. There seems to be a good path forward for networks which include Dynamic Circuit Network (DCN) capabilities to be included in GENI Stitching operations. This is currently accomplished via the use of a GENI Aggregate Manager running on top of the OSCARS provisioning system on Internet2 ION. This same technique would also work for any DYNES deployment, which is also OSCARS based. Future dynamic networks based on other systems/protocols such as NSI could be adapted to the GENI slice instantiation and stitching environment in a similar manner. In addition, Internet2 is making progress on stitching support for AL2S. We have been helping them understand the requirements and architecture. We have also deployed in instance of OESS on the MAX network and will conduct testing once the new OESS software is available.

B. Project participants

Tom Lehman (MAX)
Xi Yang (MAX)

C. Publications (individual and organizational)

No formal publications were funded by this projects during this time period.

D. Outreach activities

The current focus of our outreach activities is thru our collaborations with other Aggregates such as ProtoGENI, ExoGENI, and GENI Rack deployment sites.

We have received and installed the MAX InstaGENI rack. This has been connected to the MAX Aggregate which enables stitching thru Internet2 ION and AL2S. The MAX InstaGENI rack is also connected thru Internet2 AL2S to the GENI Mesoscale infrastructure. This rack has completed acceptance testing and is now available for GENI community use. We plan to conduct outreach to potential experimenters at University of Maryland and other universities in the MAX footprint.

E. Collaborations

As part of the activities and milestones described here, we have had extensive collaborations with many in the GENI community. This includes ProtoGENI, ExoGENI, iMINDS, and GPO developers. A large focus of our milestones during this reporting period revolved around network stitching capability deployment and testing. These activities required collaborations with other GENI aggregate manager developers and network resource providers.

F. Other Contributions

none.