Grouper Developers Forum

[Emily Eisbruch <>]

Apologies for errors in the attendees list in the Draft Minutes sent on March 24, 2014

Draft Minutes: Grouper call of March 12, 2014

Attending

Tom Barton, University of Chicago (chair)

Chris Hyzer, University of Pennsylvania

Dave Langenberg, University of Chicago

Jim Fox, University of Washington

Scott Koranda, Spherical Cow Consulting

Emily Eisbruch, Internet2, scribe

New Action items  

[AI] (Chris) respond to the Maven Pubic repo issue on the list.  (DONE)

https://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/grouper-users/2014-03/msg00000.html

[AI) (DaveL) look at PSP ChangeLogDataConnector Inconsistency issue

 https://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/grouper-users/2014-02/msg00047.html

[AI] (Scott) review the Grouper wiki documentation on handling error messages and statuses and make improvements if needed.

[AI] (Chris) investigate adding a status servlet for the new Grouper 2.2 UI

Carry Over Action items

[AI] (Chris) follow up again with CMU on search terms issue 

[AI] (Chris) remove from the Grouper distribution the code for the uPortal connector, since it's now included with uPortal

[AI] (DaveL) write up the doc related to the Shib Grouper question.

https://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/grouper-users/2014-02/msg00004.htmlhttps://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/grouper-users/2014-02/msg00044.html

[AI] (Chris) look at POST and GET parameter issues, identified as a flawed design pattern from the PEN testing 

[AI] (DaveL) work on the PSP aspect of GRP 914.  

DISCUSSION

Issues from the Grouper Users List

[AI) (DaveL) look at PSP ChangeLogDataConnector Inconsistency issue

 https://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/grouper-users/2014-02/msg00047.html

Maven question on the list: Some Grouper modules are currently in  Maven, including the Grouper Client and PSP and Grouper API. The Grouper UI and the web services are not in Maven yet. UCLA has a standard requiring Maven for all deployments.  But they have a workaround. The Grouper project should eventually use Maven for all components, but it's not urgent in light of other current Grouper project priorities.

[AI] (Chris) respond to the Maven Pubic repo issue on the list. (DONE)

https://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/grouper-users/2014-03/msg00000.html

Grouper Error Messages

Scott has been working with a group at Boston College on their Grouper deployment and they are interested in knowing what error messages might come from Grouper. The idea is to put Grouper error messages in log files that get  monitored, with action triggered for critical errors.

Jim: at University of Washington we watch the log files for messages that we recognize. Error messages often lack consistency. We have learned from experience of what to look for and how to fix it. We don't provide an alert without providing instructions on what to do. With experience, you can develop automated responses to certain error messages, but at first it's ad hoc.

Chris suggested using the status servlet for Grouper web services as described on this wiki page:

https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/Grouper/Grouper+diagnostics

Penn uses the approach of having Nagios monitor the diagnostic output every 5 minutes or so. If it does not returns a 200,  then an alters is generated.  Chris noted that one problem with using logs of error messages is that If the system is down then there will be no logs. Also it's a challenge to distinguish between the various error messages.

Scott: the plan was to use the servlet, but also to monitor log files of error messages. Based  on this discussion, Scott will propose to start by using the web services status servlet and then to study the log files over time to consider additional monitoring if needed.

Q: For the new Grouper 2.2 UI, has thought been put into error message levels that can be used for logging?

Chris: The Grouper UI does not have a status servlet. Will look into this. 

[AI] (Chris) investigate adding a status servlet for the new Grouper 2.2 UI

[AI] (Scott) review the Grouper wiki documentation on handling error messages and statuses and make improvements if needed.

Jim: Is the status page available on the UI to browsers? Sometimes customers (technical users) have problems with their own applications. It is helpful if they can view a status page to see if the group service is running.

Grouper v2.2

Grouper UI (https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/Grouper/Grouper+UI+v2.2+tasks)

Chris is making good progress on the new Grouper UI, working on the import screen.

Upgrade Process 

Scott has volunteered to help Shilen by reviewing the upgrade documentation for Grouper 2.2. 

Chris: Eventually (after the new Grouper UI is finished) the Grouper Installer could potentially be used to help with upgrades.

Grouper BOF at Internet2 Global Summit

 Wed, April 9, 7:30am-8:30am

  https://meetings.internet2.edu/2014-global-summit/detail/10003190/

Emily Eisbruch, Technology Transfer Analyst

Internet2

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