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Enterprise Sakai: Research and Development for a National Learning Grid. Mr. Josh Baron, Director, Academic Technology, Marist College Mr. Joseph Davey, Marist Graduate CS Student. MARIST COLLEGE. We are NOT a large research university!
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Enterprise Sakai:Research and Development for a National Learning Grid Mr. Josh Baron, Director, Academic Technology, Marist College Mr. Joseph Davey, Marist Graduate CS Student
MARIST COLLEGE • We are NOT a large research university! • Founded 1929 – small complex liberal arts college • Approximately 5700 FTE student population • 200 full-time faculty, 500 part-time • Long history of incorporating technology into the teaching and learning process
Learning from the past… • In 1996 the digital horizon was foggy… • We have a better view today… watch out! • Use and production of digital media will grow exponentially over next decade: • Electronic portfolios (oh yeah…“for life”) • Rich media learning objects (IVT Demo) • IdentityQuest Project (Podcasting Demo) • Next Up: Mobile authoring tools?
A National Learning Grid State and Local Consortia Museums, science centers, etc. Colleges and Universities K-12 District Schema for Provisioning the Sharing of Resources/Tools Student content Certification Exams Online Courses “Raw” Video Content Sakai Repository
Marist/IBM Joint Study • Well Established Relationship, First Project – 1988 • Living Lab for New Technologies • Research projects, IBM Academic Initiative support, Marist grant initiatives • IBM program manager provides overall project management • IBM researchers, developers, business execs, and Marist faculty, IT staff, and students collaborate on numerous projects • Marist students hired as IBM interns • Opportunities for full-time positions
Recent Joint Study Projects • IBM Academic Initiative/Scholars Program • z/OS Hub/Course Creation/Test Drive Images/Instructor Training • Mainframe Contest – 700 Students/85 Colleges/Universities • z/OS Certificate Program – Series of Online Courses (via IDCP) • Extensive Use of Linux Virtual Servers for Course Instruction • 600+ Images on Marist Mainframe • Open Source Development Lab • Marist based lab for Linux on z projects • 2003 SUR Grant – Project Greystone • Teacher and Student Portals – Grown to 11 Local School Districts • Several Rich Media Applications/CISCO Integration • 2005 SUR Grant – Sakai Project • Open Source LMS Integrated with IBM’s WAS, DB2, RCI/Content Mgr • Grid Computing • Course Creation/ NSF Grant Participation • Marist Grant Initiatives – Support and Collaboration • NYSTAR Funded CART – Center for Collaborative and On Demand Computing • NSF Funded – Institute for Data Center Professionals
Global Campus Students Administrators Educators Customized Portals App 1 App 2 App 3 App 1 App 2 App 3 Collaborative Learning Environment Sakai Vision Sakai Tools & Development Environment Core Services: content, user, security, site Distributed Environment Core Infrastructure
Marist Sakai Goals • How do we create a scalable, enterprise version of Sakai capable of handling future digital repository needs? • Port Sakai to IBM WebSphere • Content Integration with DB2 Content Manager and RCI
Main Porting Issues • Classloaders • Tomcat decided to go against specification • Looks in local classloader first unless resource contains certain package keywords (javax, org.xml.sax, etc) • If resource not found, request is delegated to parent classloader • WebSphere is the opposite, but allows the administrator to adjust the classloading policy
Main Porting Issues • Deployment Descriptors • Tomcat is much more lenient with invalid deployment descriptors • If a web.xml file does not match the servlet specification it overlooks the error and allows the web application to function normally • WebSphere is much more strict • Will not allow an application to be installed unless there are no errors in the web.xml file
Main Porting Issues • Filters • The Servlet Specification states that any filter that maps to a url-pattern should be applied before any filter that maps to a servlet name. • Some Sakai components do not follow this spec • Tomcat applies filters in the order in which the Sakai Application is expecting • WebSphere applies the filters according to specification
Content Hosting Legacy Service Integration • The legacy Content Hosting service manages files and attachments for the Sakai 2+ tools.
Content Hosting Services Db Content Services Sakai V2.0 Implementation June, 2005 “Charon” (precursor to uPortal) As the User Interface Legacy Tools contributed by: -U of Mich -CHEF -MIT -OKI -U of Ind -Stanford -X-Platform O/S -Fedora, other Linux, Windows -Tomcat Application Server -My SQL Database + Others Relational Databases File Systems
What is RCI? • Rich Content Infrastructure (RCI) is middleware supporting the creation of rich content solutions. • High level APIs, tools, and enhanced media functions • Allows application providers to easily adapt their applications to a common infrastructure • Simpler and more cost efficient way to create, manage and distribute content. • Built on top of DB2 Content Manager
Benefits of RCI • Common management and distribution utility for rich content solutions • Provides a single repository for different types of data • Multiple views and use of the same content. • Simpler and easier set of interfaces into existing CM repositories. • More efficient way to create or update enterprise applications.
Sakai Content Hosting Servicemodified for Content Manager • BaseContentService • Storage Interface • C - Create • R - Retrieve • U - Update • D - Delete
Storage Interface • Defined in BaseContentService • Implemented in RciContentService • 20 Methods defined • 90% of time implementing • Communicate with RCI • Some trivial, some very tricky
JSR168 Portlet as the User Interface Legacy Tools + LMS -(alternative to Educator Enhanced Functions) -Streaming Media Greystone/RCI -SuSE -WebSphere -Portal Server -Web Service Remote Portal -Application Server -DB2 /Content Manager -Content Distribution Networks Domain Independent Rich Content Infrastructure Web Services Content Hosting Services Content Managing Services RCI_Content Services RCI_Managing Services Information and Content Integration Relational Databases Content Repositories File Systems Marist College/IBM/Sakai V2.1.2 Implementation Sept, 2006
Preparations for Production • Migration from existing Sakai • MySQL pull from existing server • MySQL -> RCI • RCI -> MySQL • Verification • Backup and Recovery • 4 Databases on three servers • Resource Data
The Next Phase • New Sakai Tools • New Sakai Services - Like EMU
EMU: Extensible Media Utility • The Goals • Create a Rich Media application capable of handling (uploading, streaming, serving) any type of media across many repositories. • Make it extensible and dynamic so that new features may always be added. • Give faculty and media personnel the capability to load and tag their own content. • Give faculty and media personnel the ability to update meta-data on previously loaded content. • Make content accessible through courseware systems.
EMU: Extensible Media Utility • Why EMU? • The growing needs of professors called for an application that could search many repositories and create media lists that would be available to students through their online courseware. • This utility also needed to be able to be updated by faculty and media staff who were looking to create their own content.
EMU Transcode Video Grid Service • Marist plans to maintain the grid environment and exploit the new grid applications. • They recently used the Grid Transcoding application to encode their collection of MPEG-2 videos, including their Emmy videos. • The transcoder application ran on the Marist grid of 6 servers. • Nearly 78 hours saved over a single processor environment!
A National Learning Grid State and Local Consortia Museums, science centers, etc. Colleges and Universities K-12 District Schema for Provisioning the Sharing of Resources/Tools Student content Certification Exams Online Courses “Raw” Video Content Sakai Repository
Contact Information Mr. Josh Baron Josh.Baron@marist.edu Mr. Joseph Davey Joseph.Davey@marist.edu
iLearnCM Implementation • Began in September 2006 with System z Program (iLearnCM System) • Fully online non-credit “cohorted” program • 25 students, IBM employees are instructors • Provided “real world” test of system • Conducted extensive testing before launch • Had plan in place for troubleshooting • “Double click” issue in Test & Quizzes
iLearnCM Implementation • Provided students with online orientation • Trained instructors in one-on-one sessions • User support is critical: • MOTD used for support information • “Check-in” phone conferences • Easy to blame technology in “experimental” system • Surveys being administered now…