March 26, 2002
More Reading...

Here's some more reading:
Experiences with NIMI - Paxson, Adams, Mathis (ResearchIndex)

Posted by ghbrett at 11:43 AM
March 19, 2002
Canadian Network 2002 Conference

Canada's 16th annual Advanced Networking Conference, Net2002, will be held June 2nd to 6th, 2002 at the Wu Conference Cente, University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Net2002 will bring together leaders from research, industry, higher education and government responsible for planning and operating advanced networks. A joint stream will focus on the management of Information Technology in Canadian universities of which networks are a major component. The conference will also be of interest to developers of advanced networking products, applications and services, both in Canada and internationally. This year's event promises to be both informative and fun and is an opportunity to share your experiences and challenges in a supportive and relaxed atmosphere.

Posted by ghbrett at 03:01 PM
March 17, 2002
Visual Lookout

Found this while trolling google for 'network metric'

"For the experienced technician VisualLookout is best described as a real-time Netstat that also provides history and a rich set of features to help locate unwelcome visitors."

Posted by ghbrett at 07:58 AM
GNUtella Meter

The Gnutella Meter monitors the traffic patterns of the Gnutella network. It operates by attaching itself as a passive observer to well-positioned peers in the network and analyzes search queries and identification messages passing through the Gnutella network.

Posted by ghbrett at 07:52 AM
Strategic Technologies for the Internet (STI)

Program Announcement [HTML] [PDF] [TEXT]

Program Scope
The purpose of this announcement is to support the goal of accelerating research and Development in strategic technologies. This announcement updates and replaces Internet Technologies Program NSF 01-90.

The purpose is to improve the operational or functional capabilities of the Internet and to enable related collateral efforts for the benefit of the research and education community. Areas of support include but are not limited to:

> complex network monitoring, problem detection and resolution mechanisms;
> development of automated and advanced network tools, networked applications tools or network-based middleware;
> creation of usable and widely deployable networking applications that promote collaborative research and information sharing.
> innovative access network technologies

Proposal Submission Information
Deadline Dates
06/05/2002 Full Proposals
Program Announcement [HTML] [PDF] [TEXT]

All proposals are due by 5:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) on the deadline date. All proposals are to be submitted via FastLane.

Posted by ghbrett at 07:43 AM
March 16, 2002
Enabling High Performance Data Transfers

Jamshid Mahdavi's paper Enabling High Performance Data Transfers was written while he was at PSC. The last update was September 1999.

Russ, Matt, or Eric, let me know if this is still good information to be added to the web reading list. Thanks.

Posted by ghbrett at 11:34 AM
New Discus Forum

Folks, I've setup a new discussion forum that I mentioned on the call yesterday. Turns out I had to hand build it all over again. Good training, now I know where all the files are hidden. I'll be sending email with the magic word. As usual the logins are your Internet2 email address without the @internet2.edu.

This site should be easier to post to and as I metioned it will permit participation by email --- at least after I figure out how to do it.

Posted by ghbrett at 11:30 AM
March 15, 2002
PC Tachometer

For something different have a look a the PC Tachometer from Xoxide.

"Using a custom software application (designed for use in Windows NT/2000/XP), the tachometer kit will accurately graph your CPU utilization on the car tachometer, redlining at nearly 8000rpm under full load."

Posted by ghbrett at 09:28 AM
March 12, 2002
Scopeware

To find out more about Scopeware for our file and information sharing have a look around their web site.

Posted by ghbrett at 03:40 PM
March 11, 2002
More Weather Maps

Here are some more from the Mostly Cloudy Article:

>> Internet Traffic Report provided by Opnix
>> Keynote Systems's Internet Health Report
>> Matrix.Net's Internet Ratings
>> Matrix.Net's Internet Weather Report, the granddaddy of them all, having been running continuously since the mid 90s
>> Latency statistic for the UUNET network
>> Cable & Wireless performance statistics for its global Internet backbone

Posted by ghbrett at 12:28 PM
Network Weather Maps

Mostly Cloudy, Clearing Later: Network Weather Maps by Martin Dodge, CASA is an article by one of the authors of Atlas of Cyberspace. Very interesting article and footnotes. It points to some maps online. Abilene map is shown here.

Here are a couple other Network Weather Maps that I've found:

Abilene Network Traffic

Indiana Unv System Wide Area Network

CA*net 3 Traffic Map

FASTnet used to be known as MIRnet (USA-Russia)

FSU Campus MRTG maps

Other MRTG User Pages

NORDUnet Peak Traffic Map There is also a NORDUnet Connectivity page which points to a couple E2E tools they have been using.

Unv of Alberta - Dept of Physics

Network Weather Service @ UCSB

From Mostly Cloudy Article:
» Internet Traffic Report provided by Opnix
» Keynote Systems's Internet Health Report
» Matrix.Net's Internet Ratings
» Matrix.Net's Internet Weather Report, the granddaddy of them all, having been running continuously since the mid 90s
» Latency statistic for the UUNET network
» Cable & Wireless performance statistics for its global Internet backbone

Posted by ghbrett at 11:52 AM
ITEC H.323 Beacon Info

The ITEC H.323 Beacon is listed among projects on their Projects Page, but it goes no further.

Found a power point presentation from Jan 10, 2002 about the ITEC H.323. Beacon. It has more info than what I have seen recently, including some screen snapshots.

Posted by ghbrett at 07:44 AM
March 08, 2002
ORNL TCP Web100 Bandwidth tester

This is a java applet to test inbound and outbound TCP bandwidth (Kilobits/sec) from your browser to this web server. Each test takes about 10 seconds. Click on "start" to start tests. Speeds may vary as server and network traffic loads vary. Links that do compression may give unreasonably high data rates since we send the same packet over and over. The applet connects to three non-http ports on the web server, if your browser is behind a firewall, such connections may be denied. The server supports a Web100 linux kernel as part of our research in bulk transfers and associated Web100 experiments. The Web100 data shows you various TCP kernel variables for the transfer from the server to your client applet. Since this is an experimental service, it may also happen that the "bandwidth server" is not running at the time of your test. Your browser's "Java console" may provide additional clues.

Posted by ghbrett at 03:24 PM
Abridged NSF Guidelines (2)

SECTIONS

* Information About Principal Investigators/Project Directors and co-Principal Investigators/co-Project Directors

* List of Suggested Reviewers or Reviewers Not to Include (optional)

* Cover Sheet for Proposal to the National Science Foundation

A. Project Summary

The proposal must contain a summary of the proposed activity suitable for publication, not more than one page in length. It should not be an abstract of the proposal, but rather a self-contained description of the activity that would result if the proposal were funded. The summary should be written in the third person and include a statement of objectives, methods to be employed and the potential impact of the project on advancing knowledge, science and mathematics education, and/or human resource development. It should be informative to other persons working in the same or related fields and, insofar as possible, understandable to a scientifically or technically literate lay reader.

B. Table of Contents

C. Project Description (including Results from Prior NSF Support)

All proposals to NSF will be reviewed utilizing the merit review criteria. The main body of the proposal should be a clear statement of the work to be undertaken and should include: objectives for the period of the proposed work and expected significance; relation to longer-term goals of the PI’s project; and relation to the present state of knowledge in the field, to work in progress by the PI under other support and to work in progress elsewhere. The statement should outline the general plan of work, including the broad design of activities to be undertaken, an adequate description of experimental methods and procedures and, if appropriate, plans for preservation, documentation, and sharing of data, samples, physical collections and other related research products.

The statement also should indicate any broader impacts of the proposed activity, addressing the following: indicate how the project will integrate research and education by advancing discovery and understanding while at the same time promoting teaching, training, and learning; discuss any ways in which the proposed activity will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups; if relevant, discuss how the project will enhance the infrastructure for research and/or education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships; indicate how the results of the project will be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding; and, identify potential benefits of the proposed activity to society at large.

D. References Cited

E. Biographical Sketches

F. Proposal Budget (cumulative and annual budgets, including subaward budget(s), if any, and up to three pages of Budget Justification)

G. Current and Pending Support

H. Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources

I. Special Information and Supplementary Documentation

J. Appendices (Include only if approved in advance of proposal submission by NSF Assistant Director/Office Head, or designee, or by program solicitation)

FORMATTING

Proposals must have 2.5 cm margins at the top, bottom and on each side. The type size must be clear and readily legible, and conform to the following three requirements: 1) the height of the letters must not be smaller than 10 point; 2) type density must be no more than 15 characters per 2.5 cm; (for proportional spacing, the average for any representative section of text must not exceed 15 characters per 2.5 cm); and 3) no more than 6 lines must be within a vertical space of 2.5 cm. The type size used throughout the proposal must conform to all three requirements. While line spacing (single-spaced, double-spaced, etc.) is at the discretion of the proposer, established page limits must be followed.

Posted by ghbrett at 03:02 PM
Abridged NSF Guidelines (1)

The proposal should present the (1) objectives and scientific or educational significance of the proposed work; (2) suitability of the methods to be employed; (3) qualifications of the investigator and the grantee organization; (4) effect of the activity on the infrastructure of science, engineering and education; and (5) amount of funding required. It should present the merits of the proposed project clearly and should be prepared with the care and thoroughness of a paper submitted for publication. Sufficient information should be provided so that reviewers will be able to evaluate the proposal in accordance with the two merit review criteria established by the National Science Board:

(1) What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?

How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields? How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of prior work.) To
what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity? Is there sufficient access to resources?

(2) What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?

How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well does the proposed activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society?

Posted by ghbrett at 03:01 PM
Grant Proposal Guide

The NSF 01-2 - Grant Proposal Guide maps out the required information for a proposal to the National Science Foundation.

Posted by ghbrett at 01:41 PM
March 07, 2002
Web100 in the news

Here's a Web100 Article in Chronicle for Higher Education

New Software for Linux Machines Speeds Connections to High-Speed Networks
By JEFFREY R. YOUNG

"What good is a high-speed research network if your computer is not ready for life in the fast lane? A new free software tool gives a popular computer operating system a tuneup so it can make better use of the fast computer networks that many universities have linked to."
[The rest of the article]

Posted by ghbrett at 10:39 AM
March 06, 2002
Polycomm Bandwidth Meter

Use the Polycom - Bandwidth Meter to see how your connection to the internet is working today. Simply press the "Start Test Now" button and wait for the results.

With the results you can:
> Determine if you need a different type of connection to the internet to see, hear, and stream content from the internet
> Pinpoint throughput related issues on your network or home computer
> Support your decision to move to a higher-performance internet connection

I ran it with a reading of 784Kb limit for the DC office. Showed that to Greg Wood and he said, "George, your the end to end guy --- where is that test going to? What's it really testing." Gosh, I said, I don't know. Oh well.

By the way Polycomm now offers Version 3.0 software for Via Video.

Posted by ghbrett at 03:30 PM
MRTG Map for FSU

Would theFla State Unv Campus Network - MRTG map be the sort of thing that we are trying to do??

Posted by ghbrett at 12:16 PM
March 04, 2002
Stone & Partridge -- CRC/TCP Checksum Disagreement

When The CRC and TCP Checksum Disagree - Stone, Partridge (ResearchIndex)

"When The CRC and TCP Checksum Disagree" Stone and Patridge paper and citations at ResearchIndex.

Abstract:
"Traces of Internet packets from the past two years show that between 1 packet in 1,100 and 1 packet in 32,000 fails the TCP checksum, even on links where link-level CRCs should catch all but 1 in 4 billion errors. For certain situations, the rate of checksum failures can be even higher: in one hour-long test we observed a checksum failure of 1 packet in 400. We investigate why so many errors are observed, when link-level CRCs should catch nearly all of them."

This paper was recommended by: "Victor Reijs" <@mail.heanet.ie>

Posted by ghbrett at 02:40 PM
March 01, 2002
EDG Work Packages

Work Package Information
The EDG has 12 projects in 4 areas:

Middleware
1 Grid Work Scheduling -- Francesco Prelz
2 Grid Data Management Peter -- Zoltan Kunszt
3 Grid Monitoring Services -- Steve Fisher
4 Fabric Management -- Olof Barring
5 Mass Storage Management -- John Gordon

Infrastructure
6 Testbed and Demonstrators -- François Etienne
7 Network Services -- Pascale Primet

Applications
8 HEP Applications -- FedericoCarminati
9 Earth Observation Applications -- Luigi Fusco
10 Biology Applications -- Christian Michau

Management
11 Dissemination -- Maurizio Lancia
12 Project Management -- Fabrizio Gagliardi

Posted by ghbrett at 02:10 PM
European Data Grid (EDG)

The DataGrid Project
from their page:
""DataGrid" is a project funded by European Union. The objective is to enable next generation scientific exploration which requires intensive computation and analysis of shared large-scale databases, from hundreds of TeraBytes to PetaBytes, across widely distributed scientific communities."

Posted by ghbrett at 02:07 PM
SNUPI

NPACI SNUPI Project
From the front page:
"SNUPI, the System, Network, Usage and Performance Interface, provides an interface for resource utilization reporting for heterogeneous computer systems, including Linux clusters. SNUPI provides data collection tools, recommended RDBMS schema design, and Perl-DBI scripts suitable for portal services to deliver reports at the system, user, and job for heterogeneous systems across the enterprise, including Linux clusters. This paper will describe the background of process and project accounting systems for UNIX and Linux, process and batch accounting (JOBLOG) capabilities available for Linux, and describe the collection tools, the RDBMS schema and portal scripts that make up the Open Source SNUPI grid accounting and performance system as employed on the Linux cluster and other systems at NPACI/SDSC. "

Posted by ghbrett at 01:34 PM
European Data Grid WP6 Schema

ldapservices/edg-info-main/src/schema/

This recommendation just arrived on the DAMED mailing list as a better resource for European Data Grid.

Posted by ghbrett at 12:19 PM
DaMED WG info list

DAMED Related Projects

This is a list of Projects with description and URLs that are in some way related to the DaMED WG goals. The list includes grid schema, network metrics, metacomputing directory service info, and other types of projects related to schema and common data sets.

Posted by ghbrett at 08:18 AM
E2Epi Blog

This web space will be used by the E2Epi staff as a repository to collect URLs for the initiative. Using the blog tools we will be able to quickly capture a link and when necessary comment on the value or point of interest about the site.

When we feel comfortable about this space, we should make it public and share with others.

Posted by ghbrett at 07:55 AM