perfSONAR User Q&A and Other Discussion

[Szymon Trocha <>]

Chris Welti wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm afraid I have to agree with Warren here.
> I tried to get the java perfSONAR suite 1.0 running investing more than a
>  day and I couldn't even get axis and exist running properly.
> Unless there is a really simple way of installing perfSONAR, you're
> not going to get this tool widely used.
> And by simple, i mean _really_ simple, like a debian package that can
> be installed via apt-get install, or something like make / make install,
> or just a script that does ALL the installation tasks for you.
> The point here is that I want to be able to just execute ONE programm
> that does the installation for me. No worries about which paths to use
> for the different tools, version numbers of programs, setting environment
> variables, configuring port numbers to use, and so on. 
> There are way to many steps involved in the installation process that can
> go wrong.
> The problem is of course that you are depending on java/tomcat/axis/exist
> and you don't have control about it's configuration/installation.
> Well, that's the downside of not having a stand-alone application.
> The perl installation was much less of a hassle and is still running
> fine here at SWITCH.

Dear all,

Users are always very demanding and that is our goal to fulfill their 
requirements. That is why such voices are important.

On the other hand I'm trying to understand the problem also comparing to 
other tools available somewhere. So let me summarize:

- script that does all the installation, one program, single click, etc
I think it's already there. Everything one has to do is to run 
./install.pl and answer questions. That's only one script as you would 
like to see. It installs *perfSONAR".
- No worries about which paths to use for the different tools, version 
numbers of programs, setting environment variables, configuring port 
numbers to use, and so on.
You are right there are many tools where you just run 
configure/make/make install but the point is there are prerequisites and 
many other tools require them too. Let's for example look at RRDtool 
installation: it requires 4 libraries to install and then a couple of 
variables to set. The guidelines is about 3 pages long. I'm even not 
talking about configuration.
You need ports configuration because you have more than 1 service 
installed and you have to specify it somehow.
I don't think the need to install prerequisites and problem with their 
configuration is a voice against perfSONAR. Let's back to RRDtool - if 
you fail with perl libraries installation (which is not always 
straightforward as you may end up with not the right directories) you 
will not be able to use it. But it's not the fault of RRDtool.
Of course it shouldn't prevent us from improving installation scripts 
according to your comments.
- I agree that a separate package of applications necessary to run 
perfSONAR might be a good idea to provide end-users with easier 
installation process.

Best regards,
--
Szymon Trocha

Poznan Supercomputing & Ntw. Center ::: NETWORK OPERATION CENTER
Tel. (+48 61) 8582022
http://noc.man.poznan.pl  ::: http://noc.pionier.gov.pl