Exporting NICE/NT to other Institutes: Bologna, INFN, CIEMAT

1. Exporting NICE/NT to other Institutes: Bologna, INFN, CIEMAT Gian Piero Siroli, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Bologna and INFN HEPNT Days, CERN, Geneva

2. Porting - phase I (LAN) • Physics Department at University of Bologna and local INFN branch • total of about 200PCs installed and managed individually • More heterogeneous environment than CERN, different services, different language for O.S. and applications • Replica of NICE application server • Hard disk shipped and then resynchronized over the net • ~8GB compressed (~11GB total) on NTFS (being tested also at CERN, currently Netware based) • Local installation of NICE (source) • 5 nodes dedicated domain, 10BaseT Ethernet LAN • Site specific code dependencies resolved on 6 projects Gian Piero Siroli

3. Phase I (LAN) • Site configuration • Security related issues (pair SiteKey/MagicKey) • User creation and configuration • NICE services • Replicated: Application Support, Scheduled Job Service, Extensions to “System Policies”, Broadcast Message Service, Server Replication Service, Accounting Service • Not replicated (because of no immediate interest or CERN specific): Automated Client Installation (Netware), User Registration (private version), Printing Support Gian Piero Siroli

4. Phase I (LAN) • Post installation • Integration into NICE running 2 executables (remote maintenance, NICE desktop installation) • Update shortcuts, some applications removed • Accounting Service reconfigured • W/95 PC reinstalled with Italian version of O.S. (for administrative staff) • Logo modification • Applications starting correctly • Fail-over test PDC-BDC and back • Byproduct: some CERN related services immediately available (mail, CERN phonebook, news) Gian Piero Siroli

5. Phase II (WAN) • INFN Computing Committee Working Group • Feasibility project of porting and extending NICE infrastructure within INFN (26 sites and 4 labs) • Possibility to manage PCs in remote sites with very little or no local manpower • Possible mechanism for collaborative work and integration of computing tools within HEP collaborations • INFN-NICE test domain • One single 18 nodes domain over WAN (<2Mb lines) + 1 resynchronization node on a dedicated domain • 3 BDCs, 3 NICE Application Servers, 2 Home Servers Gian Piero Siroli

6. INFN-NICE test domain Gian Piero Siroli

7. Phase II (WAN) • Tests, problems and evolution: • Remote authentication over WAN (even with only one PDC/BDC) • Correct behavior if PDC temporarily unavailable • Very slow remote application execution => application servers installed at remote sites • Home servers installed at remote sites • Centralized accounting over WAN after reconfiguration • Site random load balancing and temporary fail-over to remote application servers (if needed) • Complete resynchronizations (3 times) of applications and NICE source over the net Gian Piero Siroli

8. Domain architecture (WAN) • Goal: minimize overall management load • Personal desktop should follow users on any INFN site • Sites must be independent for low level management • 1 single domain: centralized management for high level functions (synchronization, homogeneity of services, security) and better optimization of resources • N domains: complete site independence, trust relationships, security • Models: Single Domain, Single Master Domain, Multiple Master Domains, Independent Domains with trust rel. • Consequences on synchronization procedures Gian Piero Siroli

9. Resynchronization • Periodic resynchronization with CERN • Applications (reference server) • NICE source (recompile and reconfigure) • Scheme depends on domain architecture • Semi-automatic procedure under development Gian Piero Siroli

10. INFN-NICE Architecture Appl. Server CERN Site 1 User INFN Reference Server Home Server Appl. Server 1 User Home Server Site 2 Administrator User Appl. Server 2 INFN Synch. Server Gian Piero Siroli

11. More topics • Accounting and license control • Important for heterogeneous environments and different institutions • Printers configuration • Printer Wizard or native W/NT printing tools • Generic NICE configuration for sites or institutions outside CERN • Servers, accounting, synchronization, application menu • Installation disk Gian Piero Siroli

12. CIEMAT / CENIT (I)CENTRO de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (Madrid) • Under deployment • Currently running on 60 PCs; 100 to 120 by next week, more will be integrated later • Switched Ethernet LAN; maybe another site in the future • NICE installation disk generated for 3 models of 3COM network cards • TCP/IP protocol, NTFS file system • Printer Wizard: UNIX server running Samba Gian Piero Siroli

13. Computación en un ENtorno Integrado de Trabajo Gian Piero Siroli

14. CIEMAT / CENIT (II) • Roaming profiles • Spanish version of W95 and some applications • Developed Visual C++ application for user registration • Automatic procedure to integrate PCs running Win3.1 Gian Piero Siroli

15. Summary (I) • NICE ported to 2 different environments: Phys. Dept. and Research Center • Relatively easy porting and configuration (few days) • Little new code development for non ported services • “Development/Test” systems in production with satisfactory results • Extension to WAN • “Stretching” of original CERN-NICE architecture • Positive tests • Domain architecture: Single Domain • INFN W/G proposal: endorsement of CNTC, decision in a short time by CC Gian Piero Siroli

16. Summary (II) • Overall positive experience • Very flexible original NICE architecture • Robustness • Easily exportable: tools and procedures under development to automate installation of NICE in a non-CERN environment Gian Piero Siroli

17. References • Report on phase I, CERN-IT/97/10 http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/doc/ITReports/1997/10 • CHEP98 Proceedings: http://www.hep.net/chep98/paper98/90/proc_90.doc (slides: siroli.ppt) • CIEMAT: Enrique Avila e.avila@ciemat.es, Fernando Blanco blanco@ciemat.es Gian Piero Siroli