Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of sppReport-4Q09

Timestamp:

01/14/10 12:36:48 (14 years ago)

Author:

Vic Thomas

Comment:

--

sppReport-4Q09

@@ +1 @@
+= Internet Scale Overlay Hosting Progress Report 9/1/2009-12/31/2009) =
+
+== 1. Project Activities this Quarter ==
+
+=== Checkout of Deployed SPP Nodes ===
+
+Three SPP nodes were deployed in the previous quarter.
+We have gone through a fairly comprehensive testing and verification
+cycle to ensure that the systems will operate reliably when we open
+them up for general use. We have had to deal with several issues,
+including some hardware failure, configuration problems and
+several software bugs that only became evident in the deployed systems.
+Most of these problems have been taken care of, although we still need
+to have two of the GPEs replaced. This should happen early this
+quarter.
+
+=== Preparation for GEC 6 Demonstration ===
+
+The largest part of our effort this quarter went into preparation of
+the demonstration that we did at GEC 6. This demo included two overlay
+networks, one that used an NPE fastpath, and another that ran exclusively
+on the GPEs. These demonstrations used all three of the SPP nodes, and used
+about 20 PlanetLab nodes as traffic generators for the SPP-network.
+
+=== SPP Configuration Tools ===
+
+Our experience with the demonstration made it clear that we need to make
+some improvements to the command line tools that are provided to allow users
+to configure experimental networks on the SPPs. While the current tools 
+provide
+all the required capabilities, the provided functions are needlessly 
+fragmented
+among several different programs and the interfaces are not entirely 
+consistent.
+We have begun restructuring these programs to make them simpler to use,
+and expect to have the new versions in place early in this quarter.
+
+=== User Documentation ===
+
+We have made substantial progress on the user documentation for the SPP 
+nodes.
+We will be updating the documentation as we improve the configuration tools.
+We plan to add several complete example system configurations that users 
+can extend
+in order to create their own experimental overlay networks.
+
+=== Flow Monitoring ===
+
+The preparation for the GEC-6 demos limited the time we could spend on
+the flow monitoring software. While we have made some progress, this work
+will not be completed until the middle of the first quarter.
+This needs to be completed before we can open up the SPPs for general use.
+
+=== Development of Second Version of Network Processor Datapath Software ===
+
+We have made little progress on version 2 of the NPE software this quarter.
+While work is continuing, we have not been able to devote the time needed
+to complete this. We currently expect this work will be completed sometime
+in the second quarter of this year.
+
+=== Bug Fixes ===
+
+Tracking down and fixing bugs is a continuing process in a project like 
+this. There have been no major new issues this quarter, but this 
+continues to occupy a signficant amount of staff time.
+
+== 2. Milestones achieved ==
+
+Demonstration of Installed SPP nodes as part of GEC 6
+
+== 3. Deliverables made ==
+
+Nothing new
+
+== 4. Project participants ==
+
+Jon Turner – PI (unsupported) [[br]]
+Patrick Crowley – PI (unsupported) [[br]]
+John Dehart – technical staff (40% support level) [[br]]
+Dave Zar – technical staff (25% support level) [[br]]
+Ken Wong – technical staff (15% support level) [[br]]
+Mike Wilson – graduate student (unsupported) [[br]]
+Mart Haitjema – graduate student (unsupported) [[br]]
+Ritun Patney – graduate student (unsupported) [[br]]
+
+== 5. Publications (individual and organizational) ==
+None yet.
+
+== 6. Outreach activities ==
+None yet.
+
+== 7. Collaborations ==
+
+Working to establish connections between SPP nodes and the GPENI and MAX
+networks.
+
+Have begun using Plush/Gush tools for configuring SPP nodes.
+
+Have demonstrated experiments that use combination of SPP and PlanetLab 
+nodes.
+
+Have had initial discussions with Jim Griffoen of the University of 
+Kentucky,
+about using SPPs in support of his Post-Modern Internet Architecture.