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INFORMATIONAL
Network Working Group                                          B. AikenRequest for Comments: 2768                                 J. StrassnerCategory: Informational                                   Cisco Systems                                                           B. Carpenter                                                                    IBM                                                              I. Foster                                            Argonne National Laboratory                                                               C. Lynch                                    Coalition for Networked Information                                                           J. Mambretti                                                                  ICAIR                                                               R. Moore                                                                   UCSD                                                          B. Teitelbaum                                     Advanced Networks & Services, Inc.                                                          February 2000Network Policy and Services:A Report of a Workshop on MiddlewareStatus of this Memo   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this   memo is unlimited.Copyright Notice   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.Abstract   An ad hoc middleware workshop was held at the International Center   for Advanced Internet Research in December 1998.  The Workshop was   organized and sponsored by Cisco, Northwestern University's   International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR), IBM, and   the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of the workshop was   to identify existing middleware services that could be leveraged for   new capabilities as well as identifying additional middleware   services requiring research and development.  The workshop   participants discussed the definition of middleware in general,   examined the applications perspective, detailed underlying network   transport capabilities relevant to middleware services, and then   covered various specific examples of middleware components. These   included APIs, authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)   issues, policy framework, directories, resource management, networked   information discovery and retrieval services, quality of service,Aiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 1]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   security, and operational tools.  The need for a more organized   framework for middleware R&D was recognized, and a list of specific   topics needing further work was identified.Table of Contents   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21.0   Contextual Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32.0   What is Middleware?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43.0   Application Perspective  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64.0   Exemplary Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75.0   Application Programming Interfaces and Signaling . . . . . .86.0   IETF AAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97.0   Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108.0   Directories  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129.0   Resource Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1510.0  Networked Information Discovery and Retrieval Services . . .1711.0  Network QOS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1812.0  Authentication, authorization, and access management . . . .2113.0  Network Management, Performance, and Operations  . . . . . .2214.0  Middleware to support multicast applications . . . . . . . .2315.0  Java and Jini TM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2416.0  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2417.0  Summary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2418.0  Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2619.0  URLs/references  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2720.0  Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2721.0  Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29Introduction   This document describes the term "middleware" as well as its   requirements and scope. Its purpose is to facilitate communication   between developers of both collaboration based and high-performance   distributed computing applications and developers of the network   infrastructure. Generally, in advanced networks, middleware consists   of services and other resources located between both the applications   and the underlying packet forwarding and routing infrastructure,   although no consensus currently exists on the precise lines of   demarcation that would define those domains. This document is being   developed within the context of existing standards efforts.   Consequently, this document defines middleware core components within   the framework of the current status of middleware-related standards   activities, especially within the IETF and the Desktop Management   Task Force (DMTF). The envisioned role of the IETF is to lead the   work in defining the underlying protocols that could be used to   support a middleware infrastructure. In this context, we will   leverage the information modeling work, as well as the advanced XMLAiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 2]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   and CIM/DEN-LDAP mapping work, being done in the DMTF. (The recently   constituted Grid Forum is also pursuing relevant activities.)   This document also addresses the impact of middleware on Internet   protocol development. As part of its approach to describing   middleware, this document has initially focused on the intersections   among middleware components and application areas that already have   well defined activities underway.   This document is a product of an ad hoc Middleware Workshop held on   December 4-5 1998. The Workshop was organized and sponsored by Cisco,   Northwestern University's International Center for Advanced Internet   Research (iCAIR), IBM, and the National Science Foundation (NSF).   The goal of the workshop was to define the term middleware and its   requirements on advanced network infrastructures as well as on   distributed applications. These definitions will enable a set of core   middleware components to subsequently be specified, both for   supporting advanced application environments as well as for providing   a basis for other middleware services.   Although this document is focused on a greater set of issues than   just Internet protocols, the concepts and issues put forth here are   extremely relevant to the way networks and protocols need to evolve   as we move into the implementation stage of "the network is the   computer". Therefore, this document is offered to the IETF, DMTF,   Internet2, Next Generation Internet (NGI), NSF Partnerships for   Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI), the interagency   Information Technology for the 21st Century (IT2) program, the Grid   Forum, the Worldwide Web Consortium, and other communities for their   consideration.   This document is organized as follows:Section 1 provides a   contextual framework.Section 2 defines middleware.Section 3   discusses application requirements. Subsequent sections discuss   requirements and capabilities for middleware as defined by   applications and middleware practitioners. These sections will also   discuss the required underlying transport infrastructure,   administrative policy and  management, exemplary core middleware   components, provisioning issues, network environment and   implementation issues, and research areas.1.0 Contextual Framework   Middleware can be defined to encompass a large set of services. For   example, we chose to focus initially on the services needed to   support a common set of applications based on a distributed network   environment.  A consensus of the Workshop was that there was really   no core set of middleware services in the sense that all applicationsAiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 3]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   required them.  This consensus does not diminish the importance of   application domain-specific middleware, or the flexibility needed in   determining customized approaches. Many communities  (e.g.,   Internet2, NGI, and other advanced Internet constituencies) may   decide on their own set of common middleware services and tools;   however, they should strive for interoperability whenever possible.   The topics in this workshop were chosen to encourage discussion about   the nature and scope of middleware per se as distinct from specific   types of applications; therefore, many relevant middleware topics   were not discussed.   Another consensus of the Workshop that helped provide focus was that,   although middleware could be conceptualized as hierarchical, or   layered, such an approach was not helpful, and indeed had been   problematic and unproductive in earlier efforts.   The better approach would be to consider middleware as an   unstructured, often orthogonal, collection of components (such as   resources and services) that could be utilized either individually or   in various subsets.  This working assumption avoided extensive   theological modeling discussions, and enables work to proceed on   various middleware issues independently.   An important goal of the Workshop was to identify any middleware or   network-related research or development that would be required to   advance the state of the art to support advanced application   environments, such as those being developed and pursued by NGI and   Internet2.  Consequently, discussion focused on those areas that had   the maximum opportunity for such advances.2.0  What is Middleware?   The Workshop participants agreed on the existence of middleware, but   quickly made it clear that the definition of middleware was dependent   on the subjective perspective of those trying to define it. Perhaps   it was even dependent on when the question was asked, since the   middleware of yesterday (e.g., Domain Name Service, Public Key   Infrastructure, and Event Services) may become the fundamental   network infrastructure of tomorrow.  Application environment users   and programmers see everything below the API as middleware.   Networking gurus see anything above IP as middleware. Those working   on applications, tools, and mechanisms between these two extremes see   it as somewhere between TCP and the API, with some even further   classifying middleware into application-specific upper middleware,   generic middle middleware, and resource-specific lower middleware.   The point was made repeatedly that middleware often extends beyond   the "network" into the compute, storage, and other resources that the   network connects.  For example, a video serving application will wantAiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 4]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   to access resource discovery and allocation services not just for   networks but also for the archives and computers required to serve   and process the video stream.  Through the application of general set   theory and rough consensus, we roughly characterize middleware as   those services found above the transport (i.e., over TCP/IP) layer   set of services but below the application environment (i.e., below   application-level APIs).   Some of the earliest conceptualizations of middleware originated with   the distributed operating research of the late 1970s and early 1980s,   and was further advanced by the I-WAY project at SC'95.  The I-WAY   linked high performance computers nation-wide over high performance   networks such that the resulting environment functioned as a single   high performance environment. As a consequence of that experiment,   the researchers involved re-emphasized the fact that effective high   performance distributed computing required distributed common   computing and networking resources, including libraries and utilities   for resource discovery, scheduling and monitoring, process creation,   communication and data transport.   Subsequent research and development through the Globus project of   such middleware resources demonstrated that their capabilities for   optimizing advanced application performance in distributed domains.   In May 1997, a Next Generation Internet (NGI) workshop on NGI   research areas resulted in a publication, "Research Challenges for   the Next Generation Internet", which yields the following description   of middleware. "Middleware can be viewed as a reusable, expandable   set of services and functions that are commonly needed by many   applications to function well in a networked environment". This   definition could further be refined to include persistent services,   such as those found within an operating system, distributed operating   environments (e.g., JAVA/JINI), the network infrastructure (e.g.,   DNS), and transient capabilities (e.g., run time support and   libraries) required to support client software on systems and hosts.   In summary, there are many views of what is middleware. The consensus   of many at the workshop was that given the dynamic morphing nature of   middleware, it was more important to identify some core middleware   services and start working on them than it was to come to a consensus   on a dictionary-like definition of the term.   Systems involving strong middleware components to support networked   information discovery have also been active research areas since at   least the late 1980s. For example, consider Archie or the Harvest   project, to cite two examples. One could easily argue that the site   logs used by Archie or the broker system and harvest agents were an   important middleware tool, and additional work in this area isAiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 5]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   urgently needed in order to improve the efficiency and scope of web-   based indexing services.   "As long ago" as 1994, the Internet Architecture Board held a   workshop on "Information Infrastructure for the Internet" reported inRFC 1862, which in many ways covered similar issues. Although its   recommendations were summarized as follows:   -  increased focus on a general caching and replication architecture   -  a rapid deployment of name resolution services, and   -  the articulation of a common security architecture for information      applications."   it is clear that this work is far from done.   Finally, this workshop noted that there is a close linkage between   middleware as a set of standards and protocols and the infrastructure   needed to make the middleware meaningful. For example, the DNS   protocol would be of limited significance without the system of DNS   servers, and indeed the administrative infrastructure of name   registry; NTP, in order to be useful, requires the existence of time   servers; newer middleware services such as naming, public key   registries and certificate authorities, will require even more   extensive server and administrative infrastructure in order to become   both useful and usable services.3.0 Application Perspective   From an applications perspective, the network is just another type of   resource that it needs to use and manage.  The set of middleware   services and requirements necessary to support advanced applications   are defined by a vision that includes and combines applications in   areas such as: distributed computing, distributed data bases,   advanced video services, teleimmersion (i.e., a capability for   providing a compelling real-life experience in a virtual environment   based for example on CAVE technologies), extensions with haptics,   electronic commerce, distance education, interactive collaborative   research, high-rate instrumentation (60 MByte/s and above sustained),   including use of online scientific facilities (e.g. microscopes,   telescopes, etc.), effectively managing large amounts of data,   computation and information Grids, adaptable and morphing network   infrastructure, proxies and agents, and electronic persistent   presence (EPP). Many of these applications are "bleeding edge" with   respect to currently deployed applications on the commodity Internet   and hence have unique requirements. Just as the Web was an advanced   application in the early 1990s, many of the application areas defined   above will not become commonplace in the immediate future.  However,   they all possess the capability to change the way the network is usedAiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 6]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   as well as our definition of infrastructure, much as the Web and   Mosaic changed it in the early 90s. A notable recent trend in   networks is the increasing amount of HTTP, voice, and video traffic,   and it was noted that voice and video particularly need some form of   QoS and associated middleware to manage it.   A quick review of the requirements for teleimmersion highlight the   requirement for multiple concurrent logical network channels, each   with its own latency, jitter, burst, and bandwidth QoS; yet all being   coordinated through a single middleware interface to the application.   For security and efficiency those using online instruments require   the ability to steer the devices and change parameters as a direct   result of real-time analysis performed on the data as it is received   from the instruments. Therefore, network requirements encompass high   bandwidth, low latency, and security, which must all be coordinated   through middleware.  Large databases, archives, and digital libraries   are becoming a mainstay for researchers and industry. The   requirements they will place on the network and on middleware will be   extensive, including support of authentication, authorization, access   management, quality of service, networked information discovery and   retrieval tools, naming and service location, to name only a few.   They also require middleware to support collection building and   self-describing data.  Distributed computing environments (e.g.,   Globus, Condor, Legion, etc.) are quickly evolving into the computing   and information Grids of the future. These Grids not only require   adaptive and manageable network services but also require a   sophisticated set of secure middleware capabilities to provide easy-   to-use APIs to the application.   Many application practitioners were adamant that they also required   the capability for "pass through" services.  This refers to the   ability to bypass the middleware and directly access the underlying   infrastructure such as the operating system or network), even though   they were eager to make use of middleware services and see more of it   developed to support their own applications.  In addition,   authentication and access control, as well as security, are required   for all of the applications mentioned above, albeit at different   levels.4.0 Exemplary Components   In an attempt to describe middleware and discuss pertinent issues   relating to its development and deployment, an exemplary set of   services were selected for discussion. These services were chosen to   stimulate discussion and not as an attempt to define an exclusive set   of middleware services. Also, it is the intent of this effort not to   duplicate existing IETF efforts or those of other standards bodies   (e.g., the DMTF), but rather to leverage those efforts, and indeed toAiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 7]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   highlight areas where work was already advanced to a stage that might   be approaching deployment.5.0  Application Programming Interfaces and Signaling   Applications require the ability to explicitly request resources   based on their immediate usage needs. These requests have associated   network management controls and network resource implications;   however, fulfillment of these requests may require multiple   intermediate steps. Given the preliminary state of middleware   definition, there currently is no common framework, much less a   method, for an application to signal its need for a set of desired   network services, including quality and priority of service as well   as attendant resource requirements. However, given the utility of   middleware, especially with regard to optimization for advanced   applications, preliminary models for both quality and priority of   service and resource management exist and continue to evolve.   however, without an agreed-to framework for standards in this area,   there is the risk of multiple competing standards that may further   delay the deployment of a middleware-rich infrastructure. This   framework should probably include signaling methods, access/admission   controls, and a series of defined services and resources. In   addition, it should include service levels, priority considerations,   scheduling, a Service-Level-Agreement (SLA) function, and a feedback   mechanism for notifying applications or systems when performance is   below the SLA specification or when an application violates the SLA.   Any such mechanism implies capabilities for: 1) an interaction with   some type of policy implementation and enforcement, 2) dynamic   assessment of available network resources, 3) policy monitoring, 4)   service guarantees, 5) conflict resolution, and 6) restitution for   lack of performance.   Application programmers are concerned with minimizing the interfaces   that they must learn to access middleware services.  Thus the   unification of common services behind a single API is of great   interest to middleware users.  Examples of common APIs that may be   achievable are:   * Environmental discovery interface, whether for discovering hardware     resources, network status and capabilities, data sets,     applications, remote services, or user information.   * Remote execution interface, whether for distributed metacomputing     applications, or for access to a digital library presentation     service, or a Java analysis service.   * Data management interface, whether for manipulating data within     distributed caches, or replication of data between file systems, or     archival storage of data.Aiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 8]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   * Process management interface, whether for composing data movement     with remote execution, or for linking together multiple processing     steps.6.0  IETF AAA   The IETF AAA (authentication, authorization, and accounting) effort   is but one of many IETF security initiatives. It depends heavily on a   Public key infrastructure, which is intended to provide a framework   which will support a range of trust/hierarchy environments and a   range of usage environments (RFC1422 is an example of one such   model).   The IETF AAA working group has recently been formed. IETF AAA working   group efforts are focused on many issues pertaining to middleware,   including defining processes for access/admission control and   identification (process for determining a unique entity),   authentication (process for validating that identity), authorization   (process for determining an eligibility for resource   requests/utilization) and accounting (at least to the degree that   resource utilization is recorded). To some degree, AAA provides for   addressing certain levels of security, but only at a preliminary   level. Currently, AAA protocols exist, although not as an integrated   model or standard. One consideration for AAA is to provide for   various levels of granularity. Even if we don't yet have an   integrated model, it is currently possible to provide for basic AAA   mechanisms that can be used as a basis to support SLAs.  Any type of   AAA implementation requires a policy management framework, to which   it must be linked. Currently, a well-formulated linking mechanism has   not been defined.   Middleware AAA requirements are also driven by the distributed   interoperation that can occur between middleware services.  The   distribution of application support across multiple autonomous   systems will require self-consistent third-party mechanisms for   authentication as well as data movement.  Conceptually, an   application may need access to data that is under control of a remote   collection, to support the execution of a procedure at a third site.   The data flow needs to be directly from the collection to the   execution platform for efficiency.  At the same time, the procedure   will need access permission to the data set while it is acting on   behalf of the requestor.  How the authentication is done between the   remote procedure and the remote data collection entities raises   significant issues related to transitivity of trust, and will require   establishment of a trust policy for third-party mechanisms. This is   exacerbated when a collection of entities, such as is required for   visualization applications, is involved.Aiken, et al.                Informational                      [Page 9]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 20007.0 Policy   The IETF Policy Framework working group is addressing a policy   framework definition language, a policy architecture model, policy   terminology and, specifically, a policy model that can be used for   signaled as well as provisioned QoS. The policy meta-model links   high-level business requirements, such as those that can be specified   in an SLA, to low-level device implementation mechanisms, ranging   from specific access control and management of services, objects and   other resources to configuration of mechanisms necessary to provide a   given service.   Polices are an integral component of all middleware services, and   will be found within most middleware services in one form or another.   Policies are often represented as an "if condition then action"   tuple. Policies can be both complex and numerous; therefore, policy   management services must be able to identify and resolve policy   conflicts.  They also need to support both static (i.e. loaded at   boot time via a configuration file) and dynamic (i.e. the   configuration of a policy enforcing device may change based on an   event) modes.   A generalized policy management architecture (as suggested by the   IETF policy architecture draft) includes a policy management service,   a dedicated policy repository, at least one policy decision point   (PDP), and at least one policy enforcement point (PEP). The policy   management service supports the specification, editing, and   administration of policy, through a graphical user interface as well   as programmatically. The policy repository provides storage and   retrieval of policies as well as policy components. These policy   components contain definitional information, and may be used to build   more complex policies, or may be used as part of the policy decision   and/or enforcement process. The PDP (e.g. resource manager, such as a   bandwidth broker or an intra-domain policy server) is responsible for   handling events and making decisions based on those events (e.g., at   time x do y) and updating the PEP configuration appropriately. In   addition, it may be responsible for providing the initial   configuration of the PEP. The PEP (e.g., router, firewall or host)   enforces policy based on the "if condition then action" rule sets it   has received from the PDP.   Policy information may be communicated from the PDP to the PEP   through a variety of protocols, such as COPS or DIAMETER. A proxy may   be used to translate information contained in these protocols to   forms that devices can consume (e.g., command line interface commands   or SNMP sets). Additional information, contained in Policy   Information Bases (PIBs), may also be used to translate from an   intermediate specification to specific functions and capabilities ofAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 10]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   a device. For example, a policy may specify "if source IP address is   198.10.20.132, then remark traffic with a DSCP of 5". The PIB would   be used to translate the device-specific meaning of the conditioning   specified by the DiffServ code point of 5 (e.g., a specific set of   queue and threshold settings).   Policy requires AAA functions, not only for access control, but also   to establish the trust relationships that will enable distributed   policy interactions.  PDPs may require the requesting end systems and   applications to be authenticated before the PDP will honor any   requests. The PDP and PEP must be authenticated to each other to   reduce the probability of spoofing. This will be true whichever   protocol is utilized for supporting communications between these   entities. Audit trails are essential for all of these transactions.   In addition, trust management policies will need to be developed as   well as the supporting middleware mechanisms to enable inter-domain   policy negotiation.   Ultimately, many policy processes link entities to resources, And   therefore require interactions with entity identification mechanisms,   resource identification mechanisms, and allocation mechanisms. The   distributed computing community has already started efforts   developing policy definition languages and systems.  Globus uses its   Resource Services Language (RSL) to define the resources and policies   associated with them. Condor uses a matchmaking bidding technique to   match those providing and those acquiring services. Similarly, the   IETF has several policy definition languages in varying stages of   development, including RPSL, RPCL, SPSL, PFDL, PAX, and Keynote.   Ultimately, these efforts should be merged into a single   specification (or at least a smaller group of specifications) to   enable distributed computing applications to be able to effectively   communicate and utilize network resources and services.   Directories play a crucial role in policy systems. Directories are   ideally suited for storing and retrieving policy information, due to   their exceptionally high read rates, ability to intelligently   replicate all or part of their information, per-attribute access   control, and use of containment.  To this end, the IETF Policy   Framework working group (in conjunction with the DMTF) is developing   a core information model and LDAP schema that can be used to   represent policy information that applications can use. This core   model is used to provide common representation and structure of   policy information. Applications can then subclass all or part of the   classes in this core schema to meet their own specific needs, while   retaining the ability to communicate and interoperate with each   other.Aiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 11]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 20008.0 Directories   Directories are critical resource components that provide support to   many other elements in the middleware environment, especially policy.   As network-based environment evolves, it will no longer be viable to   encode policy information directly into each individual application.   The prevailing model in use today is for each application to store   its view of a device's data (e.g., configuration) in its own private   data store.These data include relevant information concerning network   resources and services as well as clients wanting to use those   resources (e.g., people, processes, and applications). The same   resource (or aspects of that resource, such as its physical vs.   logical characteristics) may be represented in several data stores.   Even if the device is modeled the same way in each data store, each   application only has access to its own data. This leads to   duplication of data and data synchronization problems.   The promise of technologies like CIM and DEN is to enable each   application to store data describing the resources that they manage   in a single directory using a common format and access protocol. This   results in the data describing the resource being represented only   once. Defining a logically centralized common repository, where   resources and services are represented in a common way, enables   applications of different types to utilize and share information   about resources and services that they use.   Not only does this solve the data duplication and synchronization   problems, it also provides inherent extensibility in describing the   characteristics of an object - a single entity can be represented by   multiple directory objects, each representing a different aspect of   the entity. Different applications can be responsible for managing   the different objects that together make up a higher-level object,   even if the applications themselves can not communicate with each   other. This enables these applications to effectively share and reuse   data.  This provides significant benefits for users and applications.   In the short term, users and applications will benefit from having   all of the data in one place. In the long term, users and   applications will be able to take advantage of data managed by other   applications.   Directories are key to supporting advanced network-based application   environments. Directory purists say that the directory is not   middleware; rather, it is a dumb storage device that is made into an   intelligent repository by encapsulating it within middleware.   Although a directory associates attributes with objects, what makes   it different from a database are four key things:Aiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 12]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   -  directory objects are essentially independent of each other,      whereas database objects are related to each other (sometimes in      very complex ways)   -  directories organize their information using the notion of      containment, which is not naturally implemented in databases   -  directory objects can have specific access controls assigned to an      object and even attributes of an object   -  directories, unlike databases, are optimized to perform a high      number of reads vs. writes.   Directories use a common core schema, supporting a common set of   syntaxes and matching rules, that defines the characteristics of   their data. This enables a common access protocol to be used to store   and retrieve data.   Containment can be used for many purposes, including associating   roles with objects. This is critical in order to support a real world   environment, where people and elements may assume different roles   based on time or other context.Containment may also be used to   provide different naming scopes for a given set of data.   Directories use attribute inheritance - subclasses inherit the   attributes of their superclasses. This enables one to define   generalized access control at a container (e.g., a group) and then   refine the access control on an individual basis for objects that are   inside that container (e.g., different objects have different access   privileges).   Currently, directories are used mostly to represent people, servers,   printers, and other similar objects. CIM, DEN, and other similar   efforts have encouraged directories to be used to contain common   objects in a managed environment. For networked applications, this   enables clients of the network (e.g., users and applications) to be   bound to services available in the network in a transparent manner.   The "Grid" community is making extensive use of directory services   for this purpose, using them to maintain information about the   structure and state of not only networks but also computers, storage   systems, software, and people. The DMTF is using directories to   contain CIM and DEN information, which enables a common information   model to be applied to objects in a managed environment. The IETF is   using directories for many different purposes, not the least of which   is to contain common policy information for users and applications of   an environment, as well as services and configuration information of   network devices.Aiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 13]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   CIM and DEN are conceptual information models for describing the   management of entities ranging from network elements to protocols to   hosts and services. CIM and DEN are platform- and technology-   independent. DEN is an extension of CIM that, among other things,   describes how to map CIM data into a form usable by LDAP.   The CIM Specification describes the meta schema, information model,   language, naming, and mapping techniques to other management models,   such as SNMP MIBs and DMTF MIFs.  DEN provides a good start on a   model that addresses the management of the network and its elements;   DEN is an extension of CIM to include the management of networks as a   whole and not just the individual elements. DEN addresses the   requirements for abstracting a complex entity, such as a router, into   multiple components that can be used to manage individual aspects of   that complex entity. The DEN information model, like CIM,   incorporates both static and dynamic information. DEN provides a   mapping to directories for the storage and retrieval of data. DEN   will also rely heavily on the use of AAA services in order to   maintain the integrity of the directory and its policies as well as   to manage the distribution of policies among the policy repositories,   PDPs and PEPs.  Resource managers and applications will also rely   heavily on directories for the storage of policy and security   information necessary for the management and allocation of resources.   Since much of the information associated with a person, agent or   element is stored in a directory, and access to that information will   be controlled with appropriate security mechanisms, many voiced the   need for a single user/process sign on.   Future advanced applications (e.g., NGI, Internet2, PACI, Grids) may   require a variety of PDPs to manage a variety of resource types   (i.e., QOS, security, etc.).  In this case, a general model would   have to be developed that defines the protocols and mechanisms used   by cooperating resource managers (i.e., PDPs) of different domains   and different genres of resource (i.e., network, security, storage,   proxy agents, online facility, etc.). For policies to be implemented   in a coherent fashion, it is necessary to have a mechanism that   discovers and tracks resources and utilization.   There is an architectural issue of central importance, which has most   recently surfaced in the directory area. Many applications, and many   middleware components, need what is essentially a highly scalable,   distributed database service. In other words, people want to take the   best of what directories and databases have to offer. This would   result in a distributed, replicated database that can use containment   to effectively organize and scope its information. It would be able   to have exceptional read response time, and also offer transactional   and relational integrity. It would support simple and complexAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 14]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   queries. Such a service has never been defined as a middleware   component; the complexities involved in specifying and implementing   such a service are certainly formidable. However, in the absence of   such a general service, many middleware components have attempted to   use the closest service available, which is deployed - historically   first using DNS, and more recently, directory services.   It will be important to clarify the limitations of the appropriate   use of directory services, and to consider whether a more general   data storage and retrieval service may be required, or whether   directory services can be seamlessly integrated (from the point-of-   view of the applications using them) with other forms of storage and   retrieval (such as relational databases) in order to provide an   integrated directory service with these capabilities.9.0 Resource Management   Policy implementation processes need to be linked to Resource   Managers in a more sophisticated way than those that currently exist.   Such processes must be dynamic, and able to reflect changes in their   environment (e.g., adjust the quality of service provided to an   application based on environmental changes, such as congestion or new   users with higher priorities logging onto the system). We need to   determine how different types of resource managers learn about one   another and locate each other - as well as deal with associated   cross-domain security issues.  Another aspect of this problem is   developing a resource definition language that can describe the   individual elements of the resource being utilized, whether that is a   network, processor, agent, memory or storage. This will require   developing an appropriate metadata representation and underlying meta   schema that can be applied to multiple resource types.   Some models of resource managers are currently being used to provide   for the management of distributed computing and Grid environments   (e.g., Condor, Globus, and Legion).  These resource managers provide   languages, clients, and servers to support accessing various types of   distributed computing resources (e.g. processors, memory, storage and   network access).  There is a broad interest in the distributed and   parallel computing communities in developing an automated access   control architecture, using policies, to support the evolving IETF   differentiated services architecture. However, this work has not yet   been incorporated into any IETF working group charter. The term   "bandwidth broker" has been used to refer to the agents that will   implement this functionality through network resource management,   policy control, and automated edge device configuration.  The IETF   Policy Framework working group is currently working on a policy   architecture framework, information model, and policy definition   language that is targeted initially at policy management within aAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 15]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   single domain. However, this work is fundamental in defining inter-   domain policy management issues, such as those that are required in   implementing a network resource manager / bandwidth broker.  Many   resource managers being deployed today rely on directory services for   storing policy information as well as X.509 for certificate-based   authentication and authorization to these resources. Middleware will   be required to translate the needs of distributed and parallel   computing applications within and across different policy domains. It   is crucial that a standard means for representing and using resource   management be developed.   Advance reservation of resources, as well as dynamic requests for   resources, is a crucial aspect of any resource management system.   Advance reservations are more of a policy issue than a provisioning   issue; however, the mechanisms for exchanging and propagating such   requests between resource managers located within different   administrative domains is a currently unsolved problem that needs to   be addressed. In addition, it is important to address the issue of   possible deadlock and/or the inefficient use of resources (i.e., the   time period between a request, or set of requests, being initiated   and honored and resources being allocated). There is also a need for   rendezvous management in resource allocation services, where an   application must gather resource reservations involving multiple   sites and services.   A mesh of cooperating resource managers, which interact with each   other using standards based protocols (e.g. COPS), could be the model   for a resource management infrastructure. Each of these may manage   different sets of resources. For example, one may be a bandwidth   broker that only manages network bandwidth, while another may be a   general-purpose resource manager that manages security, IP address   allocation, storage, processors, agents, and other network resources.   There are already plans for middleware resource managers that not   only allocate the resources but also manage the composition of a   group of services that may include security services, billing   services, shaping of multimedia composite images, etc.). Another form   of resource manager may provide mapping between a set of related   services (i.e., mapping an IP based RSVP request to an ATM SVC, as   was demonstrated in a pilot project on the vBNS).   Resource managers depend on the use of locator services to find other   resource managers as well as to locate the AAA server(s) for the   requestor and the associated directories containing applicable policy   information. They may also need to query the network to determine if   a policy request for bandwidth can be satisfied. It is essential that   these (and other) different uses of resource management be integrated   to provide an end-to-end service for applications and users alike.Aiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 16]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 200010.0 Networked Information Discovery and Retrieval Services   There are a wide range of middleware services broadly related to the   discovery and retrieval of networked information. Because such a   broad range of applications (and not just high-performance,   distributed, or parallel applications) requires these services, this   area is under very active development and new requirements are   constantly emerging.   Perhaps the most basic service in this area is persistent naming and   location services (and infrastructure) that can resolve names to   locations (i.e., URLs). The IETF has done considerable work in   defining a syntax for Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), which are   intended to be persistent name spaces administered by a wide range of   agencies. URIs are resolved to URLs using resolver services; there   are a number of different proposals for such resolver services, and   some implementations exist such as the CNRI Handler Service.  Many   organizations are beginning to establish and manage URI namespaces,   notably the publishing community with their Digital Object Identifier   (DOI). however, there are many unresolved questions, such as how to   most effectively deal with the situation where the resource named by   a URI exists in multiple places on the network (e.g., find the   "closest" mirror in terms of network connectivity and resource   availability). There is a need for an extensive set of infrastructure   around resolvers, including how resources are registered and   identifiers are assigned, the ongoing management of data about the   current location of resources that are identified by a specific URI,   and the operation of sets of resolvers for various name spaces.   Finally, given a URI, one needs to locate the resolver services that   are connected with that namespace; the IETF has done initial work on   resolution service location for URI namespaces.   URIs are intended to be processed primarily by machines; they are not   intended to necessarily be easy to remember, though they are intended   to be robust under transcription (not sensitive to whitespace, for   example). More recently, the IETF has begun work on defining   requirements for human friendly identifier systems that might be used   to register and resolve mnemonic names.   Another set of issues revolves around various types of metadata -   descriptive, ratings, provenance, rights management, and the like,   that may be associated with objects on the network. The Resource   Description Framework (RDF) from the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C)   provides a syntax for attaching such descriptions to network objects   and for encoding  the descriptions; additional middleware work is   needed to locate metadata associated with objects that may be stored   in repositories, and to retrieve such  metadata. Validation of   metadata is a key issue, and both IETF and W3C are working on XMLAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 17]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   canonicalization algorithms that can be used in conjunction with   public key infrastructure to sign metadata assertions. However, such   an approach implies a complex set of trust relationships and   hierarchies that will need to be managed, and policies that will need   to be specified for the use of these trust relationships in   retrieval.   There is specific work going on in defining various types of metadata   for applications such as rights management; ultimately this will   imply the development of middleware services. It will also impact the   use of directory, database, and similar services in the storage,   access, and retrieval of this information. Similarly, there will be a   need for services to connect descriptive metadata and identifiers   (URNs).   (See also the NSF/ERCIM report on metadata research issues athttp://www.ercim.org/publication/ws-proceedings/EU-NSF/metadata.htmlhttp://www.ercim.org/publication/ws-proceedings/EU-NSF/metadata.pshttp://www.ercim.org/publication/ws-proceedings/EU-NSF/metadata.pdf   Finally, there is a need for a set of middleware services which build   upon the research work already integrated into services such as   Archie and Harvest. These services permit the efficient extraction of   metadata about the contents of network information objects and   services without necessarily retrieving and inspecting those   services.  This includes the ability to dispatch "indexing agents" or   "knowbots" that can run at a site to compute such indexing, under   appropriate security and authentication constraints.  In addition, a   set of "push-based" broker services which aggregate, filter and   collect metadata from multiple sites and provide them to interested   applications are also required.  Such services can provide a massive   performance, quality, comprehensiveness and timeliness improvement   for today's webcrawler-based indexing services.11.0  Network QoS   As noted earlier, applications may need to explicitly request   resources available in the network to meet their requirements for   certain types of communication, or in order to provide service with   an appropriate guarantee of one or metrics, such as bandwidth,   jitter, latency, and loss. One type of request that has been the   focus of much effort recently is for services beyond best effort,   particularly with respect to services running over IP. This is   particularly important for the advanced applications noted previously   (e.g., visualization and teleimmersion) as well as the emerging   importance of voice and video, especially voice and video operating   with lower bandwidth or voice and video co-mingled with data. One   perspective on this issue is to consider the effect of multiple dropsAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 18]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   in a single RTT, which is catastrophic for TCP applications but may   be of no special significance for real-time traffic. Providing for   improved services can be accomplished through a variety of quality of   service (QoS) and class of service (CoS) mechanisms.  The first IETF   model was the Integrated Services (IntServ) model, which used RSVP as   the signaling mechanism. Since this model requires state in every   router for every session and to manage the traffic flows, it is   generally recognized to have scaling limits.  However, it is very   appropriate for certain situations.   Differentiated Services, or DiffServ, grew out of a reaction against   the perceived scalability problems with the IETF IntServ model.   DiffServ is an architecture for implementing scalable service   differentiation in the Internet. Scalability is achieved by   aggregating traffic through the use of IP-layer packet marking.   Packets are classified and marked to receive a particular per-hop   forwarding behavior on nodes along their path.  Sophisticated   classification, marking, policing, and shaping operations need only   be implemented at network boundaries or hosts.  Network resources are   allocated to traffic streams by service provisioning policies which   govern how traffic is marked and conditioned upon entry to a   differentiated services-capable network, and how that traffic is   forwarded within that network. These simple PHBs are combined with a   much larger number of policing policies enforced at the network edge   to provide a broad and flexible range of services, without requiring   state or complex forwarding decisions to be performed in the core and   distribution layers.   Recently, the idea of "tunneling" RSVP over a DiffServ-capable   network has generated significant interest. This attempts to combine   the best features of both IntServ and DiffServ while mitigating the   disadvantages of each. This in turn has led the IETF to study ways to   ensure that Differv and Inteserv can not only coexist, but are also   interoperable.   The practical realization of either or both architectures depends on   many middleware components, some of which are described in this   document. The workshop discussion mainly focused on DiffServ   mechanisms and on what effect such mechanisms would have on   middleware and its ability to monitor and manage the network   infrastructure for the benefit of the applications. Both IntServ and   DiffServ only fully make sense if linked to a policy mechanism. This   mechanism must be able to make policy decisions, detect and resolve   conflicts in policies, and enforce and monitor policies.   Workshop participants almost unanimously agreed that they also   required a scalable inter-domain resource manager (e.g., a bandwidth   broker). Currently, if an RSVP session is run, each router along aAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 19]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   path becomes involved, with flow policing at each hop. Bandwidth   Broker models include the bandwidth broker, a policy decision point   (which makes admission control and policy decisions) and the policy   enforcement points (i.e., edge routers) which provide for policing at   the first hop and for remarking aggregate flows so that subsequent   routers need only deal with the aggregate flows.   IETF protocols that could be used to implement a Bandwidth Broker   model (e.g., COPS, Diameter, and others) were also discussed.  The   Diameter protocol is interesting in this context, because it provides   set up mechanisms for basic network resource allocations and   reallocations, as well as optional allocations.- All of these can be   used for various types of bandwidth broker implementations, including   those directed at QoS, using RSVP type information. Diameter   currently does not provide path information, but instead relies on   network pathway information established at ingress and egress nodes.   However, the status of Diameter is still open in the IETF.   COPS was initially developed as a mechanism for establishing RSVP   policy within a domain and remains intra-domain centric. It is a   useful intra-domain mechanism for allocating bandwidth resources   within a policy context. Work is now being conducted to use COPS for   establishing policy associated with a DiffServ-capable network. COPS   is designed to facilitate communication between the PDP and the PEP,   carrying policy decisions and other information.   To implement any type of Bandwidth Broker model, it is necessary to   establish a mechanism for policy exchanges.  The Internet2's Qbone   working group is currently working to define a prototype inter-domain   bandwidth broker signaling protocol. This work is being coordinated   with IETF efforts.   Another mechanism is required for traffic shaping and SLA policing   and enforcement.  One mechanism is fair queuing in its various forms,   which has been described as TDM emulation without the time and space   components. Techniques have been used for several years for fair   queuing for low speed lines. For DS-3 with 40 byte packets and OC-3c   speeds with 200-byte packets, weighted fair queuing uses a deficit   round-robin algorithm that allows it to scale. It is capable of flow   discrimination based on stochastically hashing the flows. An   additional expansion of this technique is to preface this technique   with class indicators. Currently, classification techniques are based   on IP precedence. However, classification will soon be achieved in   many routers using Diffserv code points (DSCPs) to specify the type   of conditioning to be applied.  The complete requirements of policing   for DiffServ implementations, e.g., via bandwidth brokers, have not   yet been fully explored or defined.Aiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 20]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   Network monitoring capabilities (i.e., querying the network for state   information on a micro and macro level) that support middleware and   application services were identified as a core requirement. In fact,   a network instrumentation and measurement infrastructure, upon which   a set of intelligent network management middleware services can be   built, is absolutely critical.   Current mechanisms (e.g. ICMP, SNMP) were not deemed robust enough   for middleware and applications developers to determine the state of   the network, or to verify that they were receiving the specific type   of treatment they had requested.  This was judged especially true of   a network providing QoS or CoS. Indeed, it is not at all clear that   SNMP, for example, is even the right architectural model for   middleware to use to enable applications to determine the state of   the network. Other capabilities, such as OcxMon, RTFM, new MIBs, and   active measurement techniques (e.g., IPPM one-way delay metrics) need   to be made available to middleware services and applications.   The provisioning of differentiated services takes the Internet one   step away from its "dumb" best effort status.  As the complexity of   the network increases (e.g. VPNs, QoS, CoS, VoIP, etc.), more   attention must be paid to providing the end-user/customer or network   administrator with the tools they require to securely and dynamically   manage an adaptable network infrastructure. Differentiated services   means that theoretically some traffic gets better service than other   traffic; subsequently, one can expect to pay for better service,   which means that accounting and billing services will be one of the   important middleware core components that others will rely upon. The   model and protocols necessary to accomplish this are not developed   yet.12.0  Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting   The IETF's AAA working group is focusing on the requirements for   supporting authentication, authorization, accounting, and auditing of   access to and services provided by network resource managers (e.g.,   bandwidth brokers). These processes constitute an important security   infrastructure that will be relied upon by middleware and   applications. However, these components are only basic security   components. A public key infrastructure (PKI) was identified as a   crucial security service infrastructure component. For example, the   PKI will be required to support the transitivity of authentication,   authorization, and access control and, where appropriate, accounting   and billing.  It was noted that, except for issues dealing with group   security and possibly more efficient and simple management, there are   no real technical challenges preventing the wide scale deployment of   a PKI support structure at this time. Instead, the main obstacles to   overcome are mostly political and economic in nature. However,Aiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 21]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   additional middleware may be required to better facilitate a PKI.   That being said, some people believe that we do have some large   technical security challenges, revocation lists and security with   respect to changing group memberships being two examples.   Middleware and security support is also required for newer   applications (e.g., proxy agents that would act on a process or   application's behalf and gather the necessary certificates for access   and using resources). A particularly difficult example is remote   collaboration. Accessing a particular resource may require a user   and/or application to gather certificates from more than one policy-   controlling agent. It is also true that an entity may have various   identities that are dependent on the task they are performing (usage   or role based) or the context of the application.  In order for the   PKI to become truly functional on a ubiquitous level, there needs to   exist a set of independent signing authorities that can vouch for the   top-level certificate authorities.   There are also higher-level middleware services which will build on   public key infrastructure, notary services and provenance   verification.  As we move from a relatively dumb network (e.g. best   effort IP) to an Internet with embedded intelligence (e.g., DiffServ,   IntServ, bandwidth brokers, directory-enabled networks, etc.), the   secure exchange of information will become even more important.  In   addition, as we start to provide differentiated services, accounting   and statistics gathering will become much more important. We also   need to provide for the integrity and security of collecting,   analyzing, and transporting network management and monitoring   information.  And the issues of data privacy and integrity, along   with addressing denial of service and non-repudiation, cannot be   ignored.13.0   Network Management, Performance, and Operations   Network management capabilities were identified as being paramount to   the success of middleware deployment, and subsequently to the success   of the application. Many of the issues addressed here are not part of   standard NOC operations. In a more complex world of QoS, CoS, and   micro prioritization, reactions to network failures must be handled   differently than current procedures. Allocations are more dynamic,   especially additions, deletions, and changes with additional sets of   requirements, such as priorities and new types of inter-domain   interactions. These will inevitably increase the complexity of   network management.   There are many microscopic and macroscopic network management   projects focusing on making both active and passive network   statistics and information available to end-users. Current visualAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 22]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   debugging and analysis capabilities (e.g., those developed by   NLANR/CAIDA) are crucial tools for network administrators and   designers for understanding their networks. In addition, current   network management techniques and mechanisms, which were designed for   network designers and managers, need to be adapted to provide a   dynamic and relevant set of information to the middleware or   application service software. This will allow the programs to   dynamically adapt to the changing state of the network infrastructure   while ensuring the integrity and security of the network and other   resources.   Another aspect of network management that has not received the   necessary attention, is the need for modeling and analysis tools for   network and middleware designers. CIM and DEN show great promise in   providing a common framework for modeling the management of network   elements and services as well as users, applications, and other   resources of the network. Undoubtedly, middleware designers will   place new requirements on CIM and DEN that will cause these   approaches to evolve.14.0  Middleware to support multicast applications   IP multicast - that is, the routing and forwarding of mutlicast   packets in an IP-based network, is in the view of the workshop part   of the basic network infrastructure. The Internet Group Multicast   Protocol, which manages the joining and leaving of multicast groups,   could also be considered a basic network service. However, there is a   tremendous need for middleware services to make multicast useable for   various applications, much like TCP played a key role in making IP   applications useable. Specifically, one might reasonably want   middleware services to provide authenticated control of multicast   services. Examples of these services include the creation and joining   of multicast groups, multicast address management, multicast channel   directories (there has already been considerable work in this area),   various forms of reliable multicast services (this has been an IRTF   research area), and to secure multicast groups through various   cryptographic strategies. In addition, because of the large impact   that multicast can have on a network, multicast management middleware   services, particularly in conjunction with QoS, will be needed, as   will services to link together multicasting within various networks   that do not directly interchange multicast routing information. It   should be noted, however, that several security issues with   multicast, especially groups with dynamic membership policies, still   need to be resolved.Aiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 23]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 200015.0 Java and Jini   Java was chosen as an example of a heterogeneous runtime support   system for the sake of discussion as to whether it could be qualified   as a development language particularly suitable for the development   of middleware. The consensus was that the Java language and compilers   are important in the current distributed model of the Internet and   for the support of middleware (i.e., middleware written using Java).   Also, a virtual Java machine located on a system can be considered   middleware as much as any operating system or network operating   systems would be considered middleware. Jini middleware technology   not only defines a set of protocols for discovery, join, and lookup,   but also a leasing and transaction mechanism to provide resilience in   a dynamic networked environment.  Java and Jini will be dependent on   a functioning PKI, especially for signed applets. That being said,   there are security concerns with both Java and Jini that need to be   addressed, such as allowing the downloading of applets and servlets.16.0  Security Considerations   This document is a report of a workshop in which security was a   common theme, as can be seen by the references to security through   out the document; but the workshop did not reach any specific   recommendations for new security-related terminology.17.0 Summary   Middleware may have components and services that only exist in the   persistent infrastructure, but it will also have components that   enable and support end-to-end (i.e. application to application or   host to host) interaction across multiple autonomous administrative   domains. A set of core persistent middleware services is required to   support the development of a richer set of middleware services which   can be aggregated or upon which applications will be based (e.g., an   onion or layered model). This set of core middleware services will   help applications leverage the services and capabilities of the   underlying network infrastructure, along with enabling applications   to adjust in changes to the network. The particular set of such   services utilized by an application or process will be a function of   the requirements of the application field or affinity group (e.g.,   network management or high energy physics applications) wishing to   utilize the network or distributed data/computation infrastructure.   This document discusses some of the basic and core middleware   services, which include, but are not limited to: directories,   name/address resolution services, security services (i.e.,   authentication, authorization, accounting, and access control),   network management, network monitoring, time servers, and accounting.   Network level capabilities, such as multicast and DiffServ, are notAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 24]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   classified as middleware; rather, they are enabling infrastructure   services upon which middleware will be built or which middleware may   use and manage.  A second level of important middleware services,   which builds upon these core set of services, may include   accounting/billing, resource managers, single sign-on services,   globally unique names, metadata servers, and locators.   A recognized goal is to provide a set of middleware services that   enable access to and management of the underlying network   infrastructure and support applications wishing to make use of that   network-based infrastructure. It appears necessary to agree to a   framework of services for the support, provisioning and operations,   and management of the network. Today, we have piecemeal activities   already being pursued in various standards organizations. These   include efforts in the IETF and DMTF (e.g., AAA, Policy Framework,   DiffServ, DEN, CIM, etc.), as well as in the advanced application   environments (e.g., Grid Forum, the PACIs, NGI, Internet2, etc.).   Both of these efforts require the integration and management of many   infrastructure components, not just networks; however, we have no   overall framework that pulls all of these together, or a mechanism to   coordinate all of these activities.  We are just embarking on the   development of a rich plan of middleware services. Consequently, we   have a lot of work yet to be done. For instance, as we move into an   electronic persistent presence (EPP) environment where multiple   instances of an identity or person (or even their proxy agents) are   supported, we will require enhanced locator and brokering services.   The directory (e.g., DNS or X.500) and locator services of today may   not be appropriate for this task.   One goal of the workshop was to identify research and development   areas in middleware that federal agencies and industry may choose to   support. The workshop highlighted a few areas that may benefit from   additional R&D support.  These areas include, but are not limited to:   -  inter-domain resource management architecture and protocols (e.g.,      inter-domain bandwidth brokers)   -  resource languages that describe and enable the management of a      wide variety of resources (e.g., networks, data bases, storage,      online facilities, etc.   -  avoiding deadlock and ensuring efficiency with resource managers   -  network management tools and APIs that provide macroscopic and      microscopic real-time infrastructure   -  information to middleware services and applications (not just MIBs      and SNMP access)   -  domain and inter-domain accounting and billing   -  monitoring and verification services of contracted infrastructure      services   -  enhanced locators that can locate resources and resource managersAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 25]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   -  cross administrative policy negotiation and authentication   -  middleware bypass (i.e. access to raw system or network resources      metadata (i.e., data that is used to describe data found in      directories or exchanged between services such as resource      managers, PDPs, PEPs, directories, accounting and billing      services, etc.)   -  middleware support for mobile or nomadic use   -  support for availability of resources (i.e. replication and load      balancing   This workshop was just one small step in identifying relevant   middleware topics, technologies and players.  Even though this   workshop did not arrive at a consensual definition of middleware, it   did identify the need for additional work. Specifically, further work   is needed to identify and qualify middleware services for specific   affinity groups (e.g. Internet2, Education, the PACIs, Grids, etc.)   as well as to define a macroscopic framework that incorporates the   middleware work of the IETF, DMTF and other relevant organizations   such as the Grid Forum.18.0  Participants   Deb Agarwal <deba@george.lbl.gov>, Bob Aiken <raiken@cisco.com>, Guy   Almes <almes@internet2.edu>, Chase Bailey <chase@cisco.com>, Fred   Baker <fred@cisco.com>, Pete Beckman <beckman@lanl.gov>, Javad   Boroumand <jborouma@nsf.gov>, Scott Bradner <sob@harvard.edu>, George   Brett <ghbrett@mindspring.com>, Rich Carlson <racarlson@anl.gov>,   Brian Carpenter <bcarpent@uk.ibm.com>, Charlie Catlett   <catlett@ncsa.uiuc.edu>, Bill Cheng <wtcheng@us.ibm.com>, Kim Claffy   <kc@caida.org>, Bill Decker <Wdecker@nsf.gov>, Christine Falsetti   <cfalsetti@arc.nasa.gov>, Ian Foster <foster@mcs.anl.gov>, Andrew   Grimshaw <grimshaw@cs.virginia.edu>, Ed Grossman   <egrossma@ncsa.uiuc.edu>, Ted Hanss <ted@internet2.edu>, Ron Hutchins   <ron@oit.gatech.edu>, Larry Jackson <jackson@ncsa.uiuc.edu>, Bill   Johnston <Wejohnston@lbl.gov>, Juerg von Kaenel <jvk@us.ibm.com>,   Miron Livny <miron@cs.wisc.edu>, Cliff Lynch <cliff@cni.org>, Joel   Mambretti <j-mambretti@nwu.edu>, Reagan Moore <moore@sdsc.edu>, Klara   Nahstedt <klara@cs.uiuc.edu>, Mike Nelson <mrn@us.ibm.com>, Bill   Nitzberg <nitzberg@nas.nasa.gov>, Hilarie Orman <ho@darpa.mil>, John   Schnizlein <jschnizl@cisco.com>, Rick Stevens <stevens@mcs.anl.gov>,   John Strassner <johns@cisco.com>, Ben Teitelbaum <ben@advanced.org>,   George Vanecek <g.vanecek@att.com>, Ken Klingenstein   <Ken.Klingenstein@Colorado.EDU>, Arvind Krishna   <akrishna@us.ibm.com>, Dilip Kandlur <kandlur@us.ibm.comAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 26]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 200019.0   URLs/references   Please seehttp://www.mcs.anl.gov/middleware98  for copies of the   slides presented at the workshop as well as a list of related URLs on   applications, middleware and network services.20.0 Authors' Addresses   Editor:  Bob Aiken            EMail: raiken@cisco.com   Authors:   Bob Aiken   Cisco Systems, Inc.   6519 Debold Rd.   Sabillasville, Md.  21780 USA   Phone: +1 301 271 2919   EMail: raiken@cisco.com   John Strassner   Cisco Systems, Inc.   170 West Tasman Drive   San Jose, CA  95134   Phone: +1 408 527 1069   EMail: johns@cisco.com   Brian E. Carpenter   IBM United Kingdom Laboratories   MP 185, Hursley Park   Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2JN, UK   EMail: brian@hursley.ibm.com   Ian Foster   Argonne National Laboratory   The University of Chicago   Argonne, IL 60439  USA   Phone: +1 630 252 4619   EMail: foster@mcs.anl.govAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 27]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 2000   Clifford Lynch   Coalition for Networked Information   21 Dupont Circle   Washington, DC  20036   Phone: +1 202 296 5098   EMail: cliff@cni.org   Joe Mambretti   International Center for Advanced Internet Research   1890 Maple, Suite 150   Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201   Phone: +1 847 467 3911   EMail: j-mambretti@nwu.edu   Reagan Moore   University of California, San Diego   NPACI/SDSC, MC 0505   9500 Gilman Drive   La Jolla, CA 92093-0505   USA   EMail: moore@sdsc.edu   Benjamin Teitelbaum   Advanced Networks & Services, Inc.   EMail: ben@internet2.eduAiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 28]

RFC 2768          A Report of a Workshop on Middleware     February 200021.0  Full Copyright Statement   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other   Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of   developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for   copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than   English.   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING   BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.Acknowledgement   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the   Internet Society.Aiken, et al.                Informational                     [Page 29]

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