Other tasks

From EGI Knowledge Base

O-E-9

Middleware roll-out and deployment, middleware pilot and certification testbeds - mandatory

It is important to ensure that middleware updates move from certification and into production as quickly as possible, while also assuring that the updates are suitable for deployment in the production Grid. EGI.org coordination will be needed for strategy decision, for example to decide significant changes to processes, and to ensure that resource sites are encouraged to upgrade whenever new critical updates of supported middleware stacks are released. Being still in a phase where middleware is subject to frequent bug fixing cycles, prompt alignment of the Grid services and components to the latest releases, contributes to better functionality and availability of the overall infrastructure. In addition to this, the operation by NGIs of facilities for testing and certification of middleware are important for the deployment of high-quality middleware by allowing VOs and site managers to test Grid components during the early development and release phase.

O-E-10

Resource allocation and of brokering support for VOs from NGIs - optional

Global VOs can specify requirements in terms of resources guaranteed by the overall pan-European Grid infrastructure used. In this case, coordination – as required by VOs – contributes to ensure that a suitable production infrastructure (Grid core services and resources offered) is in place, to meet the global VO SLAs agreed upon. Development is still needed to provide tools for the automation of the management and the negotiation of SLAs. EGI.org is responsible of support and coordination of this process.

O-E-11

Interoperations between NGIs and with other Grids - mandatory

Coordination is needed to foster the creation of a seamless operations model across administrative boundaries, in order to pursue pervasiveness and sustainability of the infrastructure. This is of great importance as users who want to cross Grid boundaries need to know that the environments will be similar, and applications must function properly without major changes. Interoperation covers a number of aspects, such as the availability of common tests for monitoring of site status, the interconnection between helpdesks/ticketing systems, etc. “Other Grids” includes Asia-Pacific regional Grids, OSG, Naregi, and related infrastructure projects. This role owns the definition of the middleware and the models allowing the NGI’s to interoperate. EGI aims at continuing the collaboration established with operations centres outside Europe in order to preserve the current integration of non-European sites into the production infrastructure. EGI.org is responsible of support and coordination.

O-E-12

Network support – mandatory

Network operation design, trouble handling, network assessment and improvement, application network requirement assessment, ensure the projects know the state of the network used and that problems raised by the Grid are managed, and that a link is established between Grid operations and network operations.

O-E-13

Definition of best practices, operations procedures, operations requirements - mandatory

Interoperation relies on the definition of best practices and of general operational procedures for daily monitoring activity for sites and federations. EGI.org is responsible of the coordination of these activities.

O-E-14 and O-N-8

Operation of the production Grid core services, catch-all services for global VOs, catch-all VO – mandatory and distributed

Grid core services are components of the Grid technical infrastructure, are software components that typically run on server machines. With Grid service we refer to a software instance (a Web service in many cases) "that is designed to operate in a Grid environment, and meets the requirements of the Grid(s) in which it participates." [7] In particular, core Services are those mandatory components on which the overall Grid functionality relies in order to operate. Catch-all instances can be required to support small user communities. It is a responsibility of EGI.org to ensure that user communities are properly supported by the NGIs of reference. Examples of Grid core services are: the VO management service (e.g. VOMS), the File catalogue and transfer services (e.g. LFC and FTS), Job management services (e.g. WMS), Information services (e.g. BDII), Security services, etc. Authentication is also fundamental to get access to resources in the Grid. This is why a catch-all Certification Authority must be available to any user community in EGI.