Grouper Developers Forum

[Emily Eisbruch <>]

Grouper Call 2-Sep-09

 

 *Attending*

Tom Barton, U. Chicago (chair)

RL Bob Morgan, U. Washington

Shilen Patel, Duke  

Chris Hyzer, U. Penn  

Jim Fox, University of Washington 

Tom Zeller, U. Memphis  

Steve Olshansky, Internet2 

Emily Eisbruch, Internet2 (scribe)   

*New Action Items*

[AI] (Shilen) will work with Chris on web services versioning strategy.

[AI] (SteveO) will update the new Grouper website based on input received during the call.

*Carryover Action Items*

[AI] (Gary) will check in his changes to audit queries. 

[AI] (Shilen) will do performance measurements related to factoring out effective memberships started.

[AI] (Chris) will investigate viability of integrating the Lite UI into Grouper 1.5. 

[AI] (Shilen) will think about the membership upgrade process from Grouper 1.4 to 1.5 and make a proposal.

[AI]  (TomZ)  write up information on the wiki regarding the Shibboleth / Grouper interface. 

[AI] (Gary) will update the Grouper source adapter filtering to address the COmanage use case. (Note: this is complete for Grouper 1.5, but not yet for 1.4).

[AI] (Everyone) will update JIRA to accurately reflect the work being done.

[AI] (TomZ) and (Bert) will email Chris their use cases for priv mgmt.

**DISCUSSION**

**Subversion**

There was agreement with the move from CVS to Subversion being undertaken by the Internet2 TSG Group.

**Versioning for Web Services Interfaces**

Chris sent out an email on web services versioning strategy

https://mail.internet2.edu/wws/arc/grouper-dev/2009-08/msg00031.html

The web services interface will not change in a major way for Grouper 1.5. There may be small changes (perhaps the addition of a parameter), depending on Shilen’s plans for namespace transitions.

For Grouper 1.6 there will be more major changes to web services .

[AI] (Shilen) will work with Chris on web services versioning strategy.

**Real Time and Caching Issues**

https://mail.internet2.edu/wws/arc/grouper-users/2009-08/msg00009.html

Paul G of NAU emailed about caching that led to unexpected results.  The group discussed issues related to real time performance and the need to be responsive to expectations. 

Caching is a balancing act.

What about loading or maintaining membership lists from external sources? Right now, the Grouper loader is chron based, but it could be made messaging based or otherwise changed to allow for asynchronous loading.

Would be good to have a use case. Could conceive of one, but it’s better to develop based on real use cases. There is a trend in the direction of asynchronous loading, so perhaps a use case will emerge in the future.

What about having an option on web services to turn off caching? (And if better performance is desired, then the  option to use cache should be chosen)

What about distributed caching, though this has some complexities?

Chris noted that the plan is that in Grouper 1.6, there will be highly available web services or point in time auditing, which can mean more intelligent notification.

**Ldappc Release**

TomZ he isn’t certain he can finish bundling the new Ldappc and have it fully tested for performance for the Grouper 1.5 release.  Suggestion to include both the old and new Ldappc in grouper 1.5 and allow deployers to choose. 

This is the approach we are hoping to take with the Grouper UI: offering both the older and the new lite version. (Chris needs to spend a few hours on the new lite version to determine if it's ready to be included in Grouper 1.5)

It was noted that in the past, we’ve had experimental status for new features. It was decided to include good documentation so users understand the status and choices for Ldappc.

**Freeze Date For Grouper 1.5**

Freeze date of Sunday, Nov. 1 was chosen for Grouper 1.5.  It was agreed that this must not slip.

Hope to announce the Grouper 1.5 release on Monday, Nov 9.

**Improved Grouper Website**

http://webdev0.internet2.edu/grouper/

Suggestions/feedback for the new Grouper website included:

- Add “download” button under software.  

- Make language consistent with new UI lang.  (Talk about folders instead of stems). Use table on Grouper wiki to get new verbage.

[AI] SteveO will update website based on language changes

The new Grouper website is scheduled to go live prior to the Internet2 Fall Member Meeting

The Grouper wiki will be updated and moved to the federated spaces platform.  The updated Grouper wiki will probably be ready in early November.

**Fall Member Meeting Planning**

Important sessions at FMM:

- Grouper Working Group Session

Monday 5-Oct 9:15 – 10:15 am

- Grouper 1.5 : What’s New? A Lot

Tues. 6-Oct. 3:00 – 4:00

- Discussion with Eric Westfall from Kuali Rice re KIM interfaces with Grouper.

Note: This is a small group session, not on the published program.  Emily or TomB will send a reminder email with the room #.

Wed. 7-Oct., 2:30-4:30 pm 

- Identity Services for Open Source Software

Thurs., 7-Oct. 8:45 - 10:00 am

http://events.internet2.edu/2009/fall-mm/agenda.cfm?go=session&id=10000767&event=980

Next Call: Wed. 16-Sep-09, Noon ET   

Emily Eisbruch, Technology Transfer Analyst

Internet2

office: +1-734-352-4996 | mobile +1-734-730-5749

Fall 2009 Internet2 Member Meeting, October 5-8
Hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio and LEARN
http://events.internet2.edu/2009/fall-mm/