The Future of Federations and Networked Applications NORDUnet conference 2008-04-10

1. The Future of Federations and Networked Applications NORDUnet conference 2008-04-10 Ingrid Melve, Uninett CTO

2. The future • Networked applications are here to stay • People need to communicate • Applications need to communicate • Federations are here to stay • Organizations need to interconnect • Security mindset mutates with user population

3. Local apps e-learning portals wireless access Local apps with outside users All of the above Project workspace Where are networked applications? • Shared apps • Self service interfaces • Library services • Administrative services • Reporting systems • National apps • Government portal

5. Wireless at home Facebook LinkedIn SAS Norwegian Thon hotell company account iGoogle Dopplr Sourceforge Hjertevekst (forum) Where do I log in on Tuesday? • Windows • Wireless network • eduroam • Uninett • Calendar at Uninett • Feide wiki • Uninett internal portal • Liberty Alliance • Uninett mailing list

6. Federations in education • Authentication (login) • Establish trust • Policy for information flow • Attributes, roles • Privacy support • Share across institutional borders • Standardized integration • Security solution • Well-known integration path • Multi vendor support • Equal access to market for all services

7. Next steps for federations • Interconnections • Kalmar eIdentity Union (building in 2008) • eduGAIN (testing 2007-2009) • Change standard to SAML2.0 • Upgrade underlaying software at each site • simpleSAMLphp, Shibboleth2.0, FAM (open) • Shrink-wrap software (vendor specific) • Integrate attributes from multiple sources • Learning from user centric identity • OpenID: self-asserted ID across services • Use case: controlled blog commenting • CardSpace: consistent credential user interface • Use case: user selects/reuse ID for specific service • … then integrate the useful parts

8. Identity managed by organization • Norwegian king Olav II Digre • Greed, revenge, brutality • Womanizer, dandy • Leader of men, viking • Invader of London • Church takes over IdM • Olav did wonders: Certified process • Olav is sanctified: Quality control • St. Olav is honored today and is Norway’s patron saint

9. Campus Identity Management • Authoritative data sources • BAS (CIMS) is hub in information flow • All updates and changes flows through CIMS • CIMS is a necessary component • Local updates propagate to all systems

10. Major application changes in the last decade • Applications talk to each other • Web 2.0, SOA, networked apps • Users expect web GUI • Point and click • Always on, always updated • Software-as-service • Users have their own laptop(s) • Always online, always disconnecting • The Google generation • Information is at your fingertips • Migrating from service to service

11. The Inside, The Outside and The Wilderness • Old university model: professor + books + students • University provides education • E-Learning • E-Mail for communication • Web portal • Content services • Library services • Subject specific databases • Open information • University administration • Self service interfaces • Administrative systems • Clear interface to the world

12. The Inside, The Outside and The Wilderness • Outside service providers • National services: • libraries, databases, web portals • ASP/outsourced service • International services • Google apps for education • Collaborative organizations • Clear interface to the University (inside)

13. The Inside, The Outside and The Wilderness • The great wide open Internet • No clear (security) borders • Anything can happen • Self-asserted Applications • Self-asserted Identity • Applications network, mutate and evolve • Technology is entertainment driven • Technology is not research driven • Prediction: • Plenty • We will be surprised • Control is mutating • Content is king

14. The Inside, The Outside and The Wilderness

15. Trust is transitive • Your university can force you to trust parties of their choosing • During work hours • Feel free to protest • Applications frameworks lets an application act on your behalf • You choose(?) to delegate trust • Pragmatic security choices propagate • ”Trust is transitive because I told you so”

16. Outsource E-learning CPU/HPC In house services Bandwidth on campus License agreements Domain names ? Print ? Wilderness Email Storage Calendar Project support Collaboration support University passive role

17. Outsource Anything you may buy better somewhere else Advanced user support University purpose Quality, stability, neutrality, privacy Focus on supporting Learning process Research Efficient administration In house services Bandwidth on campus License agreements Project support Collaboration support Wilderness Private lifes Testing concepts Students University active role

18. Federations • Single Sign On (and happy users) • Because security domain is extended • Transform Wilderness to Outside • Scales for parts of Wilderness • Integrate Outside with Inside • Common integration • Operates for organizations • Inside and Outside • Networking Outside applications

19. Federation-enabled application

20. Scientific database SPSS Illustrations (birds) 50% of her work is ICT trouble Photoshop Databases Statistics Learning management Publishing Journals Libraries Reporting service Flickr Email Co-workers Research partners Friends Anne, the researcher

21. Journals and publication Publish or perish Closed information Tools Databases Laboratories Project web page Institute web Library Formal affiliation 50% of the time of PhD students spent on sorting out tools (mostly ICT) ”If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research” - Einstein Research

22. Scientific computing http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/large_hadron_collider.png

23. Researcher lessons • Research needs the Outside on the Inside to do their job • Advanced user support is needed • Remember the 50% trouble • Tailor solution to the actual needs • Researcher spend much time Inside, some in collaboration with Outside, little time in the Wilderness • Projects are important

24. Researcher future - how to handle Outside Inside • Federations for integration of services • Support tools: labs, databases • Integrate organizations • Make it easy to build virtual organizations • Collaboration tools • Research projects • Support wide variety of communication • Researchers from different generations • Change will happen • Reflect on university needs • Stability, neutrality, privacy? • Attribute information to right person

25. Heavy MSN usage Facebook, MySpace Google search Flickr GMail, Google Calendar Yahoo portal File sharing NeoWeb64k Knut enters university University takes away his tools, and brand him as an outlaw University gives him outdated tools and lock his information away from his tools Is Knut working efficiently? Knut, the student

26. Social networking • Homo ludens • Learning • Testing • Communicate • Connect people • Migrate to next application

27. Migrating user population: An example

28. Student lessons • It is not our network anymore • Students bring the Wilderness inside our institutions (and inside our security domains) • Universities have stability, neutrality and trustworthiness • Students come with a Internet past • Know their tools • Tailor solutions to the needs of universities (and students) • Students mutate • We cannot predict wishes • We may predict their needs in learning and research

29. Student future- how to handle Wilderness • The Wilderness is here to stay • Admire the wild things • Unpredictable network • Security sort of goes away • Safe Zones get break-in • Laptops and cell phones are body parts • Live with ephemeral services • Ignore, dissect and research

30. Who can you trust? Trust university and your federation!

31. Contact information • ingrid.melve@uninett.no • Thanks to • Users for mutating the Internet • Norwegian higher education ICT departments for arguing with me about this • Technology vendors for building the solutions