Grouper Developers Forum

[Emily Eisbruch <>]

Grouper Call 14-Oct-09

 

 *Attending*

Tom Barton, U. Chicago (Chair)

Gary Brown, Bristol 

Shilen Patel, Duke 

Bob Morgan, University of Washington

Michael Pelikan, Penn State

James Cramton, University of Arizona

Tom Zeller, U. Memphis

Ann West, EDUCAUSE/Internet2 

Emily Eisbruch, Internet2 (scribe)   

**New Action Items**

[AI] (Gary and Shilen) will work on testing the UI for Grouper 1.5.

[AI] (Shilen and Chris) will work on implementing handling of change logs for effective memberships (preference on call was to include in change log the flattened changes as opposed to all changes)

[AI] (Chris) will verify which of these databases he will test the API for:

    * MySQL windows

    * MySQL unix with case sensitive table names

    * Postgres

    * Oracle

    * Hsql

    * MsSQL (new)

[AI] (Gary and Chris) will discuss what the new Lite UI should be called in the Grouper 1.5 release (end-user UI?, simple-UI?), and how expectations should be set in describing how experimental it is.

[AI] (TomZ) will document Ldappc in the wiki.

[AI] (Shilen) will document Grouper Loader, its new role, and how to monitor it in the wiki.

[AI] (Shilen) will document Upgrade Steps in the wiki.

[AI]  Gary will document the Administrative UI and Audit in the wiki.

[AI] (Chris) will document the new Lite UI in the wiki.

[AI] (All) record information on release steps on release steps page.

https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/GrouperWG/Release+steps

**Carry Over Action Item**

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

__________________________________

**CODE FREEZE DATE FOR GROUPER 1.5 is Oct 30**

__________________________________

**Reminder of Key Questions discussed on call**

How configurable will the change notification be?

How should we structure the two UIs and one web app?

How should the operational architecture look ?  (tied to questions about the Grouper Loader)

How will privilege management-related features be represented?

**Discussion**

*Logistics for Release*

Code freeze date remains Oct 30.

Testing and tagging involves testing a variety of systems and reporting back to the group on results.

 [AI] (Gary and Shilen) will work on testing the UI for Grouper 1.5.

Release Step wiki page has info on testing. Everyone should contribute to this page as we go along.

https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/GrouperWG/Release+steps

[AI] (All) record information on release steps on release steps page.

https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/GrouperWG/Release+steps

Shilen will test on Oracle. Chris needs to verify which databases he will test.

[AI] (Chris) will verify which of these databases he will test the API for:

    * MySQL windows

    * MySQL unix with case sensitive table names

    * Postgres

    * Oracle

    * Hsql

    * MsSQL (new)

A week should be long enough for testing. So with code freeze on Oct 30, by Fri Nov 6 of Sat Nov 7 we can package release code.

**Open Items for Grouper 1.5**

*Change Log and Effective Memberships*

Fo the change log for effective memberships:

Should an effective membership deletion be reflected when there is another effective membership for that same pair that is still in tact? In other words, is it sufficient to show net changes to group membership and structure and not show every internal step? 

Q: Could amount of detail shown be configurable?

A: Perhaps, though probably this should be for a future release. We should choose a single method for Grouper 1.5.0.

Decision was to just show net (“flattened”) changes in change log for the upcoming release.

[AI] (Shilen and Chris) will work on implementing handling of change logs for effective memberships (preference on call was to include in change log the flattened changes as opposed to all changes)

*UI*

How should the new Lite UI be presented in Grouper 1.5? 

Should we look into making a hybrid UI? Should we can graft some workflows from the Lite UI into the original UI ? What about configuration options allowing the user to decide if/where they want the Lite UI? Can this be done and explained simply? Concern was expressed that it’s too complicated to knit together the two UIs. Gary would like to test this approach of combining the two UIs in one web application.

TBD: how much of original UI can be overlayed with new Lite UI.

Possible issue is that the new Lite UI doesn’t handle effective memberships as clearly. The existing UI is still essential as an admin UI.  

Chris and Gary will discuss the best name for Lite UI in the release and whether it should be presented as highly experimental. 

[AI] (Gary and Chris) will discuss what the new Lite UI should be called in the Grouper 1.5 release (end-user UI?, simple-UI?), and how expectations should be set in describing how experimental it is.

 

*Change Log Issues* 

There are some open issues on change logs and the operational architecture. What are parameters on using the change notification capability? Shilen stated that the current direction is that the change log is a temp table and user’s use a loader process to access and read the data.

Could the flattened representation of groups get filtered based on user criteria?  That could be more efficient, but there are questions on how to set that up.

Need to document how the user can monitor the Grouper Loader and make sure it’s operating properly.

Should Grouper Loader be renamed to be called Grouper Grouper D, “Grouper Chron” or “Grouper Scheduled.”

“Grouper Background”

*Priv Mgmt*

Q: How will the extended privilege management features be represented in this release? Will they be fully documented and considered ready to go? 

A: Capabilities will be there, but we should put an experimental caveat around it. It’s a substantial enhancement. We invite experimentation and feedback. There will be documentation for Java developers. There will be nothing in the UI in 1.5 for using the new priv mgmt capabilities. 

*JIRA and Documentation*

Reminder to keep up with updating Jira. This is essential for release notes.

All work on Grouper 1.5 documentation:

 [AI] (TomZ) will document Ldappc in the wiki.

[AI] (Shilen) will document Grouper Loader, its new role, and how to monitor it in the wiki.

[AI] (Shilen) will document Upgrade Steps in the wiki.

[AI]  Gary will document the Administrative UI and Audit in the wiki.

[AI] (Chris) will document the new Lite UI in the wiki.

With recent restructure of Grouper website, the software download is now on web, not wiki.We have several places where we tell people to download from CVS. In the future, people should download the release from SVN. 

Next Call: 28-Oct-09 noon ET

Emily Eisbruch, Technology Transfer Analyst

Internet2

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

SC09: Visit the Internet2 Booth #1355
November 14-20, 2009
Portland, Oregon Convention Center
http://events.internet2.edu/2009/sc09/