News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren Rotman" <>]

Internet2, Collaborators Introduce perfSONAR-PS Beta

Network Performance Framework Now Available in Perl to Enable More Seamless
Integration, Aid in Adoption of Dynamic Networks

HONOLULU, HI. - January 22, 2008 - Internet2 together with its collaborators
has announced the beta release of perfSONAR-PS, a complementary set of
network performance services developed under the umbrella of the global
perfSONAR network performance measurement framework. Implemented in the Perl
programming language, perfSONAR-PS enables network operators and engineers
that already leverage a Perl-based environment to seamlessly integrate
comprehensive performance measurement technology into their existing network
management and measurement systems while still maintaining interoperability
with other standards-based solutions.  perfSONAR development is made
possible through a global collaboration consortium led by ESnet, GEANT,
Internet2, and RNP (Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa) in Brazil.

As a set of software services that implement the perfSONAR network
monitoring protocol, perfSONAR-PS provides users a window into the network
to generate near real time performance traffic monitoring and visualization.
Its ability to be utilized on both IP and optical networks, as well as
hybrid networks like the Internet2 Network or the ESnet network, means that
monitoring and measurement information can span and aggregate information
from different network architectures and debug potential issues across those
separate administrative domains even if those domains are autonomous
measurement systems. Its real-time, global analysis of network performance
problems also makes it possible for users to make immediate adjustments to
their applications during run time.

"The continued proliferation of new hybrid packet and optical networks,
which are today critical for important global scientific applications,
greatly depends upon their ability to maintain the highest levels of
end-to-end performance," said Jeff Boote, Internet2 senior network software
engineer. "By extending perfSONAR in this way, a much greater number of
regional networks and universities will be able to take advantage of
perfSONAR's unique capabilities to automatically identify and help resolve
performance issues. And in doing so, we anticipate more rapid adoption of
new dynamic and hybrid network technologies and architectures."

Designed to be dynamic by nature, perfSONAR includes a discovery service to
allow new performance data to be found rapidly and is designed to
automatically consider and represent the network topology on which it is
operating. In the future, this means that network applications may be
designed to interact with perfSONAR to automatically determine network
performance and make optimization decisions based upon that expected
performance. This capability is critical as Internet2 and other global
research networks move toward dynamically-switched hybrid networks making it
necessary to use a monitoring platform like perfSONAR that can operate as
flexibly as the network can. 

"By providing a unified suite of tools for monitoring intermediate and end
points of the network, these services will enable monitoring and trouble
shooting of the complete end-to-end path including devices at end sites and
along the path. This is a major step forward in our ability to understand
the performance of networks," said Les Cottrell, assistant director at
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's Scientific Computing and Computing
Services. 

In the near term, perfSONAR-PS will provide immediate benefits to Tier-2
universities and Tier-1 laboratory sites participating in High Energy
Physics experiments on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a new particle
accelerator at CERN in Switzerland that will begin operation next year.
Expected to produce potentially tens of thousands of tetabytes of data
annually, LHC researchers at over 70 U.S. universities will need to download
or transmit, about two terabytes of data for analysis within four-hour
windows, every few weeks. perfSONAR will enable these organizations to
exchange near real time network monitoring data, allow for 24x7
troubleshooting of high performance optical links, and provide advanced
application network feedback.

"perfSONAR will prove to be extremely valuable to monitor and troubleshoot
network paths for large data Grid environments such as the LHC," said Brian
Tierney, staff scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "perfSONAR
can also be used to help with resource selection problems such as deciding
which data repository should be used for a given application." 

perfSONAR-PS is being released in a beta version to encourage continued
testing and refinement of the code. A full production version is anticipated
by the end of Q1 2008. The perfSONAR-PS software development is the result
of a collaboration between ESnet, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, The
Georgia Institute of Technology, Indiana University, Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center, University of Delaware, and Internet2. 

For more information, visit: http://e2epi.internet2.edu/pS-PS/

About Internet2(R)
Internet2 is the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium. Led by the
research and education community since 1996, Internet2 promotes the missions
of its members by providing both leading-edge network capabilities and
unique partnership opportunities that together facilitate the development,
deployment and use of revolutionary Internet technologies. Internet2 brings
the U.S. research and academic community together with technology leaders
from industry, government and the international community to undertake
collaborative efforts that have a fundamental impact on tomorrow's Internet.
For more information: http://www.internet2.edu