Collaboratory Highlights and Issues

Stu Loken

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

Many Faces of Collaboration

• Video Conferences and Seminars

• Small Group Meetings

• Document Preparation

• Model and Software Development

• Data Management and Analysis

• Experiment and Model Validation

• Visualization

Issues

• Need for a broader set of tools– Collaborative Visualization– Data Management– Real-time Analysis– Software Management– Project Management

• Need for integrated tools– Common Interface– Easy to learn and use

DOE2000 Collaboratories

• Focus on a subset of tools and technologies

• Multi-lab projects

• Pilot projects to test tools and gain acceptance

Collaboratory R&D Projects

• Shared Virtual Reality

• Software Infrastructure

• Collaboration Management

• Security Infrastructure

• Electronic Notebooks

• Floor Control

• Quality of Service

R&D Progress

• Projects have made significant progress in the past year reported in DOE2000 pages

• Tools are now being deployed into Pilot projects and into other programs

• A repository has been established at LBNL to distribute emerging tools

Collaboration Tools Taxonomy

• Email• News group• Papers• Mail• Electronic Notebook

• Telephone• Video Conference• Chat/White board• Shared authoring &

applications• Shared VR space• Instrument control

Real Time Information ExchangePersistent Information

Legal andRecordsrequirements

Notebook is a chronological record of ideas, data and events.

Motivation

• can be shared by remote collaborators (WWW access)

• always available for input or reading (can’t be “lost”)

• can contain rich media types (text, images, files, 3D structures, voice, animations, video, ...)

• can take input directly from computers (instrument or editors)

• easy transfer of information from one notebook to another

• simplified notarization process (over the Web)

• allows querying/ searching (complex query possible)

• can include hyperlinks to other data and references

Many advantages of using Electronic Notebook

Project Goals

• Design a common (open) Notebook Architecture– extensible as technology advances

– interoperable with other notebook viewers

– customizable for unique inputs of a given project

• Develop prototype implementations– make them available to DOE collaboratories

– general research community

– education

– industry

Notebook Engine

Plug-ins storageinterface

Notebook Architecture Design

Storageimplementation dependent

storage object

Notebook Client

(Web Browser based)

–familiar interface

–widely used and available

–existing standard

–cross-platform

–lots of existing software

Notebook Object

Common Architecture

Notebook Client Notebook Engine

Advanced Features

HTTPJAVA

Advanced Features

DataAcquisitionSystems

•Text•Images•Equations•Sketches•Data Type N•...

Input Tools

Editor API

mcast

ODB

OPM

Files

Data Storage Interface

Highlights

• Demonstrations• Defined Notebook Object• Defined Editor API• Increased User Base• Released Improved Software • Web distribution for SC’98• Papers• CENSA Electronic Records Specification

Ongoing and Future

• Import/Export between Notebooks• Digital Signatures and Timestamps• Fine-grain Access• Versioning• Software Development• PKI Authentication• Integration of third-party software• Input devices and Voice Annotation

Some other issues

• Notebooks for project management/tracking

• Commercialization of tools

Video Conferencing

• Work continued on MBone Tools developed at LBL

• New Conference Controller enables remote control of conference tools and cameras

• Other tools being used for specific projects– NetMeeting– PictureTalk– Streaming JPEG– CUSeeMe

Floor Management

• Provide Floor Control and Mediation for MBone conferencing tools

• Plug into existing protocol support

• Two coordination models– Moderated meeting– Consensus meeting

• Floor management should be integrated into Session Management

Shared VR: Long Term Goals• Investigate the integration of collaboration technology with

immersive virtual environments• Develop tele-immersion concepts and demonstrate them on

interesting DOE applications areas• Explore the notion of persistence in shared collaborative spaces • Investigate alternative software architectures for developing

tele-immersion applications • Develop new concepts for supporting wide area collaboration

and man-machine interactions• Investigate large-scale VR for collaborative design

ManyWorlds

•

An OO core software environment for developing tele-immersive applications.

• Enables synchronous sharing of VR applications– multiple users, multiple worlds, multiple environments

• Navigation, avatars, control, user interaction, communications and session management services

• Persistent world servers

• CAVE family of display environments

ManyWorlds

Integration Framework

• Produce the distributed computing architecture required to support development of scientific laboratories

• Infrastructure will include common communication library which includes multicast and unicast with various reliability levels

• Group is preparing an Architecture Document to promote standards

Objectives• Facilitate development and interoperability of

collaboratory components by providing:– Convenient access to unicast and multicast messaging– Common communication API for unicast and multicast

communication– Reliable multicast communication– CORBA evaluation and integration– Directory services– Integration of security– Access from multiple languages (Java, C++ and C)

Securityservice

CIF Structure

Reliableunicast

Unreliablemulticast

Reliablemulticast

Unreliableunicast

Directoryservice

Applications

Legenddevelopmentintegration

CIF Communication API

PRE

CORBA

Approach• A requirements analysis:

– Robust implementations of reliable multicast – Communication service providing uniform interfaces

to unicast and multicast communication– Directory services and resource location services – Integration of authentication and authorization services – Investigations of CORBA and Java-based technologies

CIF Highlights

• Development of CIF toolkit components (CIFcomm, CIF shared state)

• Exploratory investigations of technology integration (e.g., Globus security, Akenti, CORBA) and application experiments

• CIF technologies were demonstrated at several major conferences.

• CIF-based collaborative data analysis system part of SC’98 “Best in Show”

Security Architecture

• Distributed security architectures that are flexible, effective and easily deployed, administered and used for:– Authentication– Authorization– Access control– Confidentiality– Infrastructure protection– Distributed enterprise

Common Needs for Security

• Scientific community requirements are very similar to financial services industry (e.g. PKI and general certificate content interpretation)

• We are evolving a use-condition centered model and architecture– Verifiable use conditions– Secure and verifiable satisfaction of conditions

Security Goals• assured, multiple stakeholder representation

• trusted third-party certification of user attributes

• distributed management of all information needed for access decisions

• use of X.509 identity certificates and their generation and management infrastructure from multiple institutions

Security Goals (cont.)

• integrated with existing security protocols

• capable of action and object-level access

• easily integrated with applications

• capable of supporting emerging approaches

Technical Progress

• Akenti prototype is operational and has been deployed in several testbeds– It is used in the Diesel Combustion

Collaboratory – It is used to allow restricted access to download

the Akenti code – It has been integrated with a collaboratory

camera management system

Technical Progress (cont.)

• We have implemented SPKM for secure communications between end peers– Also, the security context establishment is

coupled with Akenti access control for authorization decisions as a part of the protocol itself

– We have two applications that use the SSL protocol.

Technical Progress (cont.)• Integrated with several standard server / gateway

mechanisms – we have developed an Akenti enhanced Apache Web

server that uses the SSLeay patches – Web user and password access control replaced with one

implemented by Akenti and based on the ID certificate the user passed in, and the distributed Use Conditions that have been created by the stakeholders for the documents.

– A pilot integration of Akenti with a CORBA ORB using the (OMG) defined interceptor mechanism has been built.

Technical Progress (cont.)

• Demonstrated in several prototype applications– We are using the Akenti/Apache Web server to

secure a prototype Image Library and a prototype implementation of a secure file uploading facility.

– We demonstrated the use of Akenti to control access to a collaboratory instrument resource.

Issues

• Broad deployment needed to support collaborative work

• Export issues for international collaboration

Session Management• Presenting collaboration tools as parts of a single,

coordinating, collaborative environment can make them much simpler to use, and can help preserve the natural, informal nature of small group interactions.

• By gathering functionality for tracking users, providing security, managing control of resources, etc., into a central session manager for the user, one can make development of new tools much easier.

Approach• PNNL is collaborating with the National Center

for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) on the development on a Java-based Collaboration Management Engine.

• The work is based on software developed at PNNL and NCSA’s Habanero environment.

• PNNL has obtained source and distribution licenses to Habanero and is developing CORE, a hybrid system with advanced capabilities.

CORE Functionality

• The functionality of CORE is available through two standardized development APIs:– Collaboration Management API: provides access

to collaboration management capabilities and allow development of alternate user interfaces

– Collaborative Tool API: allows the integration of new collaborative applications

Highlights

• Fifth Release of CORE2000

• Cross-platform Application Sharing

• Web Session Directory

• Remote Camera Operation

• Directory Schema for User, Session, and Instrumentation Information

• Demonstration of Collaborative Scientific Instrument Control

CORE2000 Tools:

• TeleViewer (Shared Screen Viewer)

• Video (vic - video option for Multicast Backbone users)

• Audio (vat - audio option for Multicast Backbone)

• CU-SeeMe

• WhiteBoard

• Chat

• Voting Tool

• Molecule Modeler (PDB file viewer)

• 3D XYZ (XYZ file viewer)

• Camera Controller

Some issues

• Multiple tools need to fit into a standard architecture

• Interoperability standards

Quality of Service

• Deploy Differentiated Services on selected ESnet links to support collaborative work

• Implement a Bandwidth Broker to provide sustained bandwidth to collaborative or distributed application

• Link to authentication architecture

Accomplishments

• Design and implementation of bandwidth broker with authentication

• Interaction with IETF to establish standard

• Demonstrated capability with Cisco routers on ANL-LBNL link

• Now looking at deployment issues on ESnet and on I2

Pilots

• Designed to test emerging technology and give feedback to technology developers

• Major Projects:– Diesel Combustion Collaboration– Materials Microcharacterization Collaboratory

• Some other efforts are going ahead with other (limited) funds

Diesel Collaboratory

• Focus on next generation of engines which must meet very tight emissions limits

• Collaborative computation as well as experiments to validate models

• Strong connection to industry, labs and university

Diesel Collaboratory Features

• Shared Combustion Models

• Computational Steering

• Library of Combustion Images

• Video Conferencing

• Electronic Notebooks

Accomplishments• Client/Server for remote execution

• Multiple combustion codes available as “collaboratory-wide” resources

• Secure collaboration environment (phase I)

• LBNL PRE-server hosting ChemkinII/soot

• Security definition and implementation

• Secure Image Library

• Data archive loaded with complete data from Cummins/SNL optical diesel engine

Diesel Collaboratory Issues

• Security especially for proprietary data

• Infrastructure at industrial partners

• Concerns about connections to Internet

Materials Collaboratory Features

• Common interface to instruments at all sites

• Remote control of instruments

• In-situ experiments using computer control

• Electronic notebooks

• Video conferencing

Accomplishments

• Outreach at all levels!

• Improvements to Instrumentation

• Uniform Architecture

• Security Infrastructure

• Video Everywhere

• Online Research Sessions

Materials Collaboratory Issues

• Security to protect instruments

• Some concern with proprietary data

• Avoiding “least common denominator” for instrument features

• Diversity of platforms

• Macintosh legacy

Observations

• Pilots must use a mix of commercial software and custom applications

• None of the tools is a perfect fit to needs

• Collaboratory tools are not well integrated with each other or with other packages already in use

Deployment Issues

• Integrating emerging tools into on-going science program

• Who supports the tools?– Installation– Training– Infrastructure

• Commercialization• Interoperability and Standards

Signs of Progress

• Despite problems and rough edges, the tools are being used

• Industry partners do seem to be joining in the collaborations although less quickly than university and lab scientists

• Other collaboratory projects are starting even with absence of new DOE funding