GÉANT2 has released the latest software bundle that is used to deliver the perfSONAR multi-domain monitoring (MDM) service across a number of key European National Research and Education Network (NREN) sites.
This release is the result of collaborative efforts from 11 different organisations around the world and forms the first stage of the full deployment of the perfSONAR MDM service across the whole GÉANT2 pan-European backbone.
The perfSONAR MDM service enables fast troubleshooting by providing secure, user-friendly access to standardised network performance metrics from multiple domains. Using its customised web-interfaces, network problems and performance bottlenecks can be tracked and resolved, and potential performance issues can be identified. Specifically, information that network administrators access through perfSONAR MDM has the same meaning across the board enabling operators to discuss problems which span multiple domain boundaries on a communal basis and to collaborate more successfully.
International research collaboration is now reliant on high speed connections across multiple local, national and international networks. This growing complexity makes being able to pinpoint and eliminate problems much more difficult, due to the number of dissimilar networks involved. The new perfSONAR tools and infrastructure have therefore been created to enable network administrators to quickly find and deal with issues, irrespective of domain and location, to ensure fast, reliable and uninterrupted connections at all times for researchers across Europe.
The perfSONAR MDM bundle comprises a full package of open-source based software, usage support and deployment/configuration support. It is currently aimed at network administrators in the global research community with the future option of deployment in the commercial sector.
perfSONAR MDM is made up of an advanced user interface layer, a modular set of web services to access performance metrics and a layer of domain-specific measurement tools. These can all be accessed through a range of visualisation tools which allow users to query and view network end-to-end performance data in an intuitive, user-friendly way.