Middleware Implementation Case Studies

Middleware Implementation Case Studies

Tom Barton, The University of MemphisRenee Woodten Frost, Internet2 & UMich

Louise Miller-Finn, Johns Hopkins UniversityDewitt Latimer, University of TennesseeTodd Piket, Michigan Tech University

Robert Banz, UMBC

27 October 2001 2

• Introductions - Tom• Setting the Middleware Stage - Renee• Case Studies:

U of Memphis – TomJohns Hopkins – Louise

BREAK 2:30pm• Mini Cases

iPlanet to AD – Rob, UMBCeduPerson – Todd, MTUMulti-campus Directory – Dewitt, TennesseeNetwork Access Services – Tom, MemphisE-Provisioning – Louise, Hopkins

BREAK 3:30pmRound Table Discussions

• Wrap up - Tom • Ongoing Middleware Initiatives – Renee

Agenda Middleware Case Studies

27 October 2001 3

Introductions ….

and tell us about your middleware

“burning issue”

Middleware Case Studies

27 October 2001 4

Core MiddlewareIdentity - unique markers of who you (person, machine, service, group) are

Authentication - how you prove or establish that you are that identity

Directories - where an identity’s basic characteristics are kept

Authorization - what an identity is permitted to do

PKI - emerging tools for security services

27 October 2001 5

Map of Middleware

27 October 2001 6

Organizational Drivers

• Federal government

• E-enterprise functions

• Service expectations

• Resource allocation pressures

• Collaboration

27 October 2001 7

Benefits to the Institution• Economies for central IT - reduced account management,

better web site access controls, tighter network security...• Economies for distributed IT - reduced administration, access

to better information feeds, easier integration of departmental applications into campus-wide use...

• Improved services for students and faculty - access to scholarly information, control of personal data, reduced legal exposures...

• Participation in future research environments - Grids, videoconferencing, etc.

• Participation in new collaborative initiatives - DoD, Shibboleth, etc.

27 October 2001 8

Costs to the Institution• Modest increases in capital equipment and staffing

requirements for central IT• Considerable time and effort to conduct campus

wide planning and vetting processes• One-time costs to retrofit some applications to new

central infrastructure• One-time costs to build feeds from legacy source

systems to central directory services• The political wounds from the reduction of duchies

in data and policies

27 October 2001 9

Nature of the Work• Technology

– Establish campus-wide services: name space, authentication

– Build an enterprise directory service

– Populate the directory from source systems

– Enable applications to use the directory

27 October 2001 10

Nature of the Work• Policies and Politics

– Clarify relationships between individuals and institution

– Determine who manages, who can update and who can see common data

– Structure information access and use rules between departments and central administrative units

– Reconcile business rules and practices

27 October 2001 11

Enterprise Directory Service: What Is It?

• Anti-stovepipe architecture that can provide authentication, attribute, & group services to applications.

• Adds value by improving cost/benefit of online services and by improving security.

• A new & visible flow of administrative data. When someone finally begins to understand what you’re talking about, they react to the prospect of change.

27 October 2001 12

Managed Objects• Objects that describe:

–People–Groups–Aliases, Roles, Affiliations–Network devices–Security policies–Network services–Org structure

• The object classes and source data to populate them are determined by the applications to be directory enabled.

27 October 2001 13

Enterprise Directory Service: How To Build One

• Determine application-driven requirements for authentication, attribute, and group services and then design these four stages to meet the requirements:

1. Data Sources2. Metadirectory Processes 3. Directory Services4. Applications

27 October 2001 14

UoM Core Middleware Stages

HRS

SIS

IDs

1

Ph Rebuild& AMP

BuildUser

cardswipe

2

qi-operutils

mailrouting

RADIUS

tigerlan

addressbooks

webauthNweb

authZ

IMAP/POPmailwebmail

calendar

qiSynch

NDS

LDAP DSPh

SMTPAUTH

whitepages

massmessaging

3

UMDI

dialupwirelessFRS

miscactions

Data sources Metadirectory processes Directories Applications

27 October 2001 15

Notes re: UoM Core Middleware Stages• Data Sources: Attribute selection; negotiation for access;

determination of data access policy; familiarity with semantics of desired data elements & business processes that maintain them.

• Metadirectory Processes: Management of identity; transformational & business logic (resource provisioning); derived attributes & structures (eg, uid’s, email attributes, state variables, org structure groups & attributes, …).

• Directory Services: Loading & replicating; access controls for directory information; schema extensions to support applications; indexing & performance management; synchronizing other consumers of directory info.

27 October 2001 16

Notes re: UoM Core Middleware StagesApplications. Some boxes represent classes of apps. Tigerlan (800 seats of computer labs); white pages (people search); Library proxy access; postoffice & calendar account building; manage mail account (vacation, quota, …); various web-based utilities for LSPs; ResNet autoregistration; secure discussion groups; campus pipeline; UoM “address book” integrated into email clients; IMAP/POP/web accessible emailboxes; calendar; email routing; off-campus email relay provided only to authenticated users; mass email; dialup & wireless authentication & authorization; card swipe facilitated account self-maintenance; automated account & resource management (“misc actions” in the slide).

27 October 2001 17

Notes re: UoM Core Middleware Stages

Applications - upcoming: WebCT; data warehouse; suite of applications directly managed by AD; shell account, home directory & personal web page access; FASTLane (Faculty & Staff LAN); storage & distribution of digital certificates, a key element of PKI; PIN synchronization??; new UoM ID card based applications??; authentication of Library patrons??

27 October 2001 18

Issues With Current Data SourcesHRS:• All accounts paid from, not

just primary department.SIS:• Select students from

current, future, and previous term and add’l data elements to support 2nd generation group messaging.

• Pull instructor data too.

ADS (Alumni): initiate DRA (Library): initiateAsync (Clientele):• New web based account

self-maintenance to replace card swipes.

• “Challenge” Qs & As for identification in non face-to-face circumstances.

27 October 2001 19

Issues With the Current Metadirectory• NDS update channel is too slow• Ancient, frozen technology (especially Ph)• Anticipate new policy regarding account &

resource management, especially to handle off-campus students & alumni.

• 9 years of spaghetti• Tightly bound to particular source and

directory technologies.

27 October 2001 20

Issues With Current Directories• Must bring Active Directory into this

infrastructure.• Need better representations & procedures

for non-people objects: static groups; dynamic groups; org structure related groups, roles, and people attributes; affiliations & other “correlated” info.

• Need to include new types of metadirectory consumers such as list processors

27 October 2001 21

MetaDirectory Data Pump Overview• Provide complete SOR data-to-directory path;• Push the data through first cycle to kickoff development

process; (prime the pump)– Review first iteration, and prepare next iteration with

updates;• Each iteration flushes more detail to the requirements in a

rapid application development process adding data, business rules and/or policy changes;

• Document and store standard deployment procedures;• Each iteration provides intense unit testing followed by QC

test cycle, then move to production

27 October 2001 22

Payroll (5)

SIS

Alumni

Badging

Libraries

Database Load

OracleRepository

Back End BusinessRules andProcessing

Prepare and exportdata for directory

Directory Files(Add, Change,

Delete)

Directory Loading

EnterrpiseDirectory

ApplicationDatabase

Web Enabled FrontEnd Authentication

Directory UpdateLog to Data

Sources

Directory UpdateHolding Area

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Directory StatusView

Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 7

MetaDirectoryData Flow

27 October 2001 23

Stage 1 – Analyze Data Sources

• Common Identifiers on campus• Identify systems of record and data owners

– What data do we need?– Frequency of the feed– Provide Standard Data Collection Model

• Define database load procedure and produce audit log

27 October 2001 24

Payroll (5)

SIS

Alumni

Badging

Libraries

DatabaseLoad

OracleRepository




Delete)

Directory Loading

EnterrpiseDirectory

ApplicationDatabase



Sources




Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 7


27 October 2001 25

Stage 2 – Database Requirements• Create tables to mirror the feeder files

• Establish key using most common identifier

• Create and use loader scripts that can be re-used

• Track nightly loads to log, reporting exceptional

situations using thresholds

27 October 2001 26

Payroll (5)

SIS

Alumni

Badging

Libraries

Database Load

OracleRepository

Back EndBusiness Rulesand Processing



Delete)

Directory Loading

EnterrpiseDirectory

ApplicationDatabase



Sources




Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 7


27 October 2001 27

Stage 3 – Back End Processing (BEP)• Load data using weighted priority

– Full time affiliation creates the record

• Secondary systems add value to a person’s data

• Eligibility for services determined and flagged

• Unique friendly login id assigned

• Unique opaque id assigned and stored

• Result: one record per person

27 October 2001 28

Payroll (5)

SIS

Alumni

Badging

Libraries

Database Load

OracleRepository


Prepare andexport datafor directory

DirectoryFiles

Directory Loading

EnterrpiseDirectory

ApplicationDatabase



Sources




Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 7


27 October 2001 29

Stage 4 – Database Table Export

• Compare today’s data with yesterday (t vs t-1)

– Insert operation into record

• Add, Update, Delete, No Change

• Write the export file if status = active in any

primary system of record

27 October 2001 30

Payroll (5)

SIS

Alumni

Badging

Libraries

Database Load

OracleRepository



DirectoryFiles

DirectoryLoading

EnterrpiseDirectory

ApplicationDatabase



Sources




Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 7


27 October 2001 31

Stage 5 – Directory Import• Process export files using generic (PERL) script to

import/update enterprise directory;– Keep code free of business rules;

• Provide web base report interface to track activity and status;

• Provide audit log• Found that mass deletes would crash the system

27 October 2001 32

Payroll (5)

SIS

Alumni

Badging

Libraries

Database Load

OracleRepository




Delete)

Directory Loading

EnterrpiseDirectory

ApplicationDatabase



Sources




Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 7


27 October 2001 33

Stage 6 – Directory Status

• Web interface into the operational integrity of the data pump– Monitor thresholds of activity

– Monitor backups

– Monitor replication services

– Monitor application proxy server load/failovers

27 October 2001 34

Payroll (5)

SIS

Alumni

Badging

Libraries

Database Load

OracleRepository




Delete)

Directory Loading

EnterpiseDirectory

ApplicationDatabase

Web EnabledFront End

Authen


Sources




Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 7


27 October 2001 35

Stage 7 – Front End Processing (FEP)• Define and deploy access control (ACL);

– Define JHI policy for the global user, the person, and the administrator;

– Develop and document scope and visibility to the directory attributes;

• Develop and deploy common web enabled directory access (a common ‘look and feel’ to the front end);– Use a common set of development tools (e.g. ColdFusion);

• Apply front end application level business rules (more specific rules than the back end process);

27 October 2001 36

Stage 7 – Front End Processing (FEP)• Developer Tool Kit

– Registration application – EDIR– Example code snip-its for authN and authZ

• Cold Fusion, JAVA, ASP, VB

• Directory-enabling an application ‘process’– 10-12 applications in the queue– Demanding of our time– May outsource

27 October 2001 37

Payroll (5)

SIS

Alumni

Badging

Libraries

Database Load

OracleRepository




Delete)

Directory Loading

EnterrpiseDirectory

ApplicationDatabase



Sources




Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 7


27 October 2001 38

Stage 8 – Directory Updates

• Our Holy Grail…..we receive the updates and feed them back to the systems of record.

• We are no longer held accountable for their “bad data” and the institution has a central site for all updates, no matter who they are.

27 October 2001 39

Summary•Don’t underestimate the need to keep repeating the message

•Support from the top is critical

•Continual auditing: data feeds will disappear or show up corrupted

•Hire the best, otherwise you will waste much time and $$$

•Maintain KISS principle

27 October 2001 40

Synchronizing iPlanet and AD

Rob Banz

Mini Case I

27 October 2001 41

Background

• UMBC’s Stats:• Enrollment of approx. 11,200• 750 full & part-time faculty, 1500 staff

27 October 2001 42

Existing Infrastructure• iPlanet-based LDAP directory• Kerberos 5 used for authentication• Campus-wide AFS-based file-store

– For instructional, research, and other use• LAN file & print services provided by

Novell 4– Used by administrative & academic

departments

27 October 2001 43

Why Not AD Everywhere?• Pros:

– Reasonably well performing LDAP server– Already part of Win2k Server– Powerful schema managment

• Cons:– Objectclass/Attribute definitions not 100% standard

• ex: cn (Common Name) not Multi-Valued

– New, “unproven” technology

27 October 2001 44

The Problem• Integrate:• Existing campus directory and account

management system, based on the iPlanet directory server

• Existing campus-wide authentication, based on MIT Kerberos 5

27 October 2001 45

Kerberos 5 Integration

• Already “supported” by Microsoft!• http://www.microsoft.com/technet/

prodtechnol/windows2000serv/deploy/confeat/kerbstep.asp

• Solves “most” of the authentication problem … more on this later.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/deploy/confeat/kerbstep.asp











27 October 2001 46

Resources• Directory Team

– Experienced with LDAP– Existing directory tools & connectors written in Perl– Group generally takes on software development

projects• Windows/LAN Team

– Little LDAP experience– Little Active Directory experience … does anyone

have a lot ?– Not a software development oriented group

27 October 2001 47

Choices…• Updates:

– Batch, or – “real time” ?

• Development platform– Windows w/ADSI, or– UNIX w/Perl ?

27 October 2001 48

Our Choice

• Develop on Unix with Perl – our platform of choice

• Aim for near “real time” updates

27 October 2001 49

Components Needed• Interface to the iPlanet Directory Server’s

“changelog” (already have)• Logic to create Active Directory account

“objects” from a “umbcAccount” object• Interface to the Active Directory

27 October 2001 50

Translation Logic• Perl module• Given a “umbcAccount” LDAP entry,

generate an appropriate Active Directory entry

• Includes a “standard” API used by the changelog interface

27 October 2001 51

AD Interface• AD accepts LDAP and SSL-LDAP

connections• “All” AD attributes can be queried and

modified via the LDAP interface• Microsoft’s ADSI uses this interface too!

27 October 2001 52

The Completed System• Consists of:• A script to populate/mass modify all Active

Directory account objects, and• A daemon to monitor the LDAP

changelog, and write appropriate changes to Active Directory

27 October 2001 53

Pre Windows 2000 Clients

• Windows 2k/XP can use Cross Realm Kerberos 5

• Win 3.1,95,98, NT 4? Fat Chance.• Requires the account password be stored in

Active Directory

27 October 2001 54

Implementing eduPerson

Todd Piket

Mini Case II

27 October 2001 55

Mini Case IIImplementing eduPerson

• Pitfalls and Snares– Use Latest Version– What attributes to populate?– What to populate the attributes with?

• Benefits– Standards Conformance– Reduce Data Redundancy– Application Integration (possibly across institutions)

27 October 2001 56

Multi-Campus Implementation

Dr. Dewitt Latimer – University of Tennessee

Mini Case III

27 October 2001 57

About UT

• R1 State Land-grant Institution• Main campuses in Knoxville & Memphis

– Regional campuses in Chattanooga & Martin– Research Institutes in Knoxville & Tullahoma– 44K Students & 15K faculty/staff

27 October 2001 58

Problem Statement

• How to build a directory service that can efficiently handle the needs of a 5 campus university system yet still permit individual campus autonomy & administrative control where necessary.

27 October 2001 59

Preexisting Constraints

• Legacy whitepage information in ph databases

• Multiple sources of student data (vs. Single source of HR data)

• Lack of unique identifier across UT system• Conflicting policies and politics at the local

campus level

27 October 2001 60

Solution

• Distributed directory that appears and behaves as a unified directory.– One which permits local administrative control

of directory sub-trees.– One which reflects multiple campus

associations to permit robust authorization services at the application level.

27 October 2001 61

Design Issues -- Architecture

• Thin person master registry with a sub-dividable master directory which permits campus-level mastering when/if necessary

27 October 2001 62

Design Issues – Unique NetID• Getting political buy-in from campuses• Permutation issues with 8 character

identifier• Issues associated with single HRIS and

multiple campus SIS systems• Different longevity policies

– Staff vs. student– Per campus vis a vis student NetIDs

27 October 2001 63

Design Issues -- Schema

• Multi-campus Conundrum– If people must be unique, then how do you

represent multiple campus associations across separate campus subtrees.

– Has implications with ASPs when they access directory for their authorization roles.

27 October 2001 64

Design Issues -- Schema

• Person (locality or “L” attribute for office location)

• inetorgperson• eduperson

• tneduperson(tnstudentcampus, tnemployeecampus)

• [campus]eduperson

27 October 2001 65

Namespace

o u= P e op le o u = U n its o u = G rou ps o u = D e v ices

o u= K n oxv i lle o u = M em ph is o u= T u lla hom a o u = C ha ttan oo ga o u= M ar tin

d c= te n ne sse e,d c= e du

27 October 2001 66

Known Issues

• Out-of-the-box applications whose authorization capabilities are limited to “search base” methods will not be able to handle multi-campus associations.– Might deny where it should permit

• Multi-campus directories will require multi-mastering available in iPlanet V5 to keep data in sync

27 October 2001 67

Authentication for Network Access Services

Dr. Tom Barton

Mini Case IV

27 October 2001 68

Authorizing Network Access Services

The Problem. Off the shelf RADIUS servers provide LDAP-based authentication service to dialups and wireless access points, but support for a finer grained access control policy was needed. Examples: Different virtual modem pools; wireless access servers covering selected locations.

27 October 2001 69

Authorizing Network Access Services, 2Approach: Create special objects in LDAP directory that express access control policy for each NAS. Use a RADIUS server that supports conditional execution of LDAP queries.Conclusion: Works great, permits delegated administration of NASes using existing standard tools. Helped us to manage CodeRed & Nimda, too!

27 October 2001 70

E-Provisioning

Louise Miller-Finn

Johns HopkinsJohns HopkinsU n i v e r s i t yU n i v e r s i t y

Mini Case V

27 October 2001 71

E-ProvisioningStatement of the Problem:

Provide accounts for 1500 incoming students 200 new faculty who normally line up at the Business Office and wait for hours to get an account each Fall Semester

Solution:

Automate the creation of the account, not in advance, but just in time.

Johns HopkinsJohns HopkinsU n i v e r s i t U n i v e r s i t yy

27 October 2001 72

E-ProvisioningUser education:getting the word out

Smart Web Interface: based on eligibility rulesNew Object Classes:inetmailuser,inetlocalmailrecipient,

userpresenceprofileAttributes: mailDeliveryOption=mailbox

mailUserStatus=active inetUserStatus=active mailhost= JohnsHopkinseduLocalid=

Johns HopkinsJohns HopkinsU n i v e r s i t U n i v e r s i t yy

27 October 2001 73

Wrap Up

Parking Lot issues

27 October 2001 74

NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI)•NSF award for integrators to

–Internet2, EDUCAUSE, and SURA

–The GRIDs Center (NCSA, UCSD, University of Chicago, USC/ ISI, and University of Wisconsin)

•Build on the successes of the Internet2/MACE initiative and the Globus Project

•Three year cooperative agreement effective 9/1/01

•To develop and deploy a national middleware infrastructure for science, research and higher education

•Separate awards to academic pure research components

27 October 2001 75

NMI: The Problem to Solve •To allow scientists and engineers the ability to transparently use and share distributed resources, such as computers, data, and instruments

•To develop effective collaboration and communications tools such as Grid technologies, desktop video, and other advanced services to expedite research and education

•To develop a working architecture and approach which can be extended to Internet users around the world

Middleware is the stuff that makes “transparently use” happen, providing consistency, security, privacy and capability

27 October 2001 76

Map of Middleware

27 October 2001 77

NMI•Work products

–Community standards–Best practices–Schema and object classes–Reference implementations–Open source services–Corporate relations

•Work areas–Identifiers–Directories–Authentication–Authorization–GRIDs–PKI–Video

27 October 2001 78

I2 Early Adopters Activities• Early Harvest / Early Adopters - http://middleware.internet2.edu/earlyharvest/ http://middleware.internet2.edu/earlyadopters/• Middleware Business Case and Writer’s Guide

version 1.0 http://middleware.internet2.edu/earlyadopters/ Review and send comments to:

[email protected]

27 October 2001 79

Related I2 Directory Activities• MACE-Dir http://www.middleware.internet2.edu/dir/• LDAP Recipe

http://www.georgetown.edu/giia/internet2/ldap-recipe/

• eduPerson http://www.educause.edu/eduperson• Directory of Directories for Higher Ed

http://middleware.internet2.edu/dodhe

27 October 2001 80

Related I2 Middleware Activities• Shibboleth http://middleware.internet2.edu/shibboleth/• WebISO (Web Initial Sign-on) http://middleware.internet2.edu/webiso/• PKI: HEPKI-PAG, HEPKI-TAG http://www.educause.edu/hepki/• PKI Labs http://middleware.internet2.edu/pkilabs/• Middleware for Video http://middleware.internet2.edu/video/

27 October 2001 81

For More Information

• Tom Barton

[email protected]

• Renee Woodten Frost

[email protected]

• Louise Miller-Finn

[email protected]

•Dewitt Latimer

[email protected]

•Rob Banz

[email protected]

•Todd Pikett

[email protected]

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Middleware Implementation Case Studies

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