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The Lambda Station Application

Purpose

The issue of integrating existing production-use computing facilities connected to the local network infrastructure with advanced, high bandwidth research networks has remained not yet addressed. Fundamentally, there is a last mile problem between HEP experiment production-use computing facilities and the advanced research network infrastructure. One of several goals of Lamda Station project is to resolve that gap.

Main Capabilities

lambda Dealing with the local area network last-mile problem.

lambda Bringing real-world, production-use facilities and application into the advanced research network environments.

lambda Developing flow-based alternate network path selection capabilities.

lambda Support both dynamic and static configurable networks.

lambda Alternate path in LAN based on Policy Based Routing technology.

lambda Configuring multiple devices at once, multiple PBR policies per device and per destination (based on model of network).

lambda Advance and immediate reservation of resources.

lambda Multiple requests for forwarding of same flows are collapsed in one service ticket if resources are available.

lambda Extending already active service tickets without necessity to reconfigure network infrastructure.

Areas of Application

lambda Multiple WAN paths available to site networks.

lambda Dynamic Circuit Network Service is available.

lambda The need for selective forwarding of traffic for only specified traffic (based on protocol, protocol's ports or destined IP addresses.

Implementation Details

lambda Policy Based routing for selective forwarding within LAN/Border for specific flows.

lambda Flows are identified by combination of any the following parameters: list of source IP blocks; list of destinationIP blocks; list of protocol ports applied to source IP addresses; list of protocol portsapplied to destination IP addresses; DSCP Code point.

lambda Web-Services available for applications and users to request alternative path, monitor status of service.

lambda Configuring of Local Area Network infrastructure is based on a logical model of network and is described by XML schema.

lambda Web service client for WAN Control plane.

lambda Network Awareness in applications.

lambda Analysis application behavior based on netflow information.

lambda Preemptive ticket requesting based on prediction of traffic.

Lambda Station In Action

Lambda Station awareness was added into dCache/SRM software to enable our very large, production-use mass storage systems, running full-scale SciDAC applications, to exploit advanced research networks. It also created the capability to selectively forward designated data flows between our capacious storage systems across our local network infrastructure and a dynamically provisioned Internet2/ESNET Dynamic Circuit Network by using OSCAR web services. Concurrently, other traffic flows from the same storage system would be forwarded across the same local network infrastructure onto our conventional, routed wide area network path. This allows us to use the multi-million dollar installed base of oft-renewed computing facilities running the applications we will study and develop.