BGrep and BDiff: UNIX Tools for High-Level Languages

The rise in high-level languages for system administrators requires us to rethink traditional UNIX tools designed for these older data formats. We propose new block-oriented tools, bgrep and bdiff, operating on syntactic blocks of code rather than the line, the traditional information container of UNIX. Transcending the line number allows us to introduce longitudinal diff, a mode of bdiff that lets us track changes across arbitrary blocks of code. We present a detailed implementation roadmap and evaluation framework for the full version of this paper. In addition we demonstrate how the design of our tools already addresses several real-wold problems faced by network administrators to maintain security policy

Investigating Configuration Management Tools Usage in Large Infrastructure

The large variety of configuration management (CM) tools available makes it difficult for the customers to select the appropriate one for their needs. Thus this research investigated the users’ perception of CM tools in order to gain information useful for customers and CM tool developers. In total 72 system administrators were sampled and qualitative data was collected through structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to find the best CM tool according to selected criteria. The most desired deployment properties were installability, configurability, scalability and stability and the most appreciated specification management properties were language, access control, monitoring and testing properties. Another important factor was whether the CM tool vendors provided good customer support. However, on the basis of people’s perception CFEngine was the best tool to use in large infrastructure

CloudMan as a platform for tool, data, and analysis distribution

Background Cloud computing provides an infrastructure that facilitates large scale computational analysis in a scalable, democratized fashion, However, in this context it is difficult to ensure sharing of an analysis environment and associated data in a scalable and precisely reproducible way. Results CloudMan (usecloudman.org) enables individual researchers to easily deploy, customize, and share their entire cloud analysis environment, including data, tools, and configurations. Conclusions With the enabled customization and sharing of instances, CloudMan can be used as a platform for collaboration. The presented solution improves accessibility of cloud resources, tools, and data to the level of an individual researcher and contributes toward reproducibility and transparency of research solutions

A Review of the Literature on Configuration Management Tools

Configuration management tools help administrators in defining and automating system configurations. With cloud computing, host numbers are likely to grow. IaaS (infrastructure as a service) offerings with pay-per-use pricing models make fast and effective deployment of applications necessary. Configuration management tools address both challenges. In this paper, the existing research on this topic is reviewed comprehensively. Readers are provided with a descriptive analysis of the published literature as well as with an analysis of the content of the respective research works. The paper serves as an overview for researchers who are new to the topic. Furthermore, it serves to identify work related to an intended research field and identifies research gaps. Practitioners are provided with a means to identify solutions to their organizational problems

Virtual Organization Clusters: Self-Provisioned Clouds on the Grid

Virtual Organization Clusters (VOCs) provide a novel architecture for overlaying dedicated cluster systems on existing grid infrastructures. VOCs provide customized, homogeneous execution environments on a per-Virtual Organization basis, without the cost of physical cluster construction or the overhead of per-job containers. Administrative access and overlay network capabilities are granted to Virtual Organizations (VOs) that choose to implement VOC technology, while the system remains completely transparent to end users and non-participating VOs. Unlike alternative systems that require explicit leases, VOCs are autonomically self-provisioned according to configurable usage policies. As a grid computing architecture, VOCs are designed to be technology agnostic and are implementable by any combination of software and services that follows the Virtual Organization Cluster Model. As demonstrated through simulation testing and evaluation of an implemented prototype, VOCs are a viable mechanism for increasing end-user job compatibility on grid sites. On existing production grids, where jobs are frequently submitted to a small subset of sites and thus experience high queuing delays relative to average job length, the grid-wide addition of VOCs does not adversely affect mean job sojourn time. By load-balancing jobs among grid sites, VOCs can reduce the total amount of queuing on a grid to a level sufficient to counteract the performance overhead introduced by virtualization

Managing Real-World System Configurations with Constraints

Managing large computing infrastructures in a reliable and efficient way requires system configuration tools which accept higher-level specifications. This paper describes an interface between the established configuration tool LCFG, and the experimental configuration tool PoDIM. The com-bined system is used to generate explicit real-world con-figurations from high-level, constraint-based specifications. The concept is validated using live data from a large pro-duction installation. This demonstrates that a loosely-coupled, multi-layer approach can be used to construct con-figuration tools which translate high-level requirements into deployable production configurations.

Tietotekniikan kehitysprojekti eräässä tutkimusorganisaatiossa

Organisaatioiden käyttämä informaatioteknologia (IT) on työntekijöiden tuottavuuden kannalta kriittinen tekijä erityisesti tutkimustyössä, joka on hyvin riippuvainen IT -infrastruktuurin toimivuudesta. Tämä diplomityö kuvaa IT -kehitysprojektin, joka toteutettiin Lääketieteellisen tekniikan ja laskennallisen tieteen laitoksella Aalto-yliopiston teknillisessä korkeakoulussa. Tutkimuksessa käytettiin toimintatutkimus-menetelmää, joka yhdistää tutkimuksen ja organisaation kehityksen käytännön ongelmatilanteessa. Tutkimuksen alussa IT -ympäristön ongelma-alueet kartoitettiin kyselyllä ja käyttäjähaastatteluilla. Organisaatiossa ilmeni useita kehitysalueita, ja toteutettavat parannustoimenpiteet priorisoitiin käyttäjien tarpeiden perusteella. Tutkimuksen laajuuden rajaamiseksi vain tärkeimmät parannustoimenpiteet valittiin toteutettavaksi tässä tutkimuksissa. Tärkeimmät toteutetut toimenpiteet tutkimuksen aikana olivat IT -palveluportfolion luominen, Linux-työasemien päivittäminen ja lähiverkon rakenteen uudistaminen. Linux-työasemien päivittämiseen kuului sopivan Linux-jakelun sekä konfiguraationhallintatyökalun valitseminen. Muita toteutettuja toimenpiteitä olivat sähköpostipalvelun siirtäminen yliopiston keskitetylle IT -organisaatiolle sekä tulostimien ja skannereiden luotettavuuden parantaminen. Toimenpiteiden vaikutusta arvioitiin toisessa kyselyssä, joka osoitti käyttäjien tyytyväisyyden parantuneen tilastollisesti merkittävästi Linux-työasemien, sähköpostipalveluiden ja IT -tuen vasteaikojen osalta. Tutkimuksen luotettavuutta arvioitiin sekä tilastollisen päättelyn että toimintatutkimuksen kriteereiden perusteella. Työssä pohditaan myös tulosten siirrettävyyttä muihin samankaltaisiin lähtötilanteisiin.An IT -environment of an organization is a critical element for the productivity of the employees, especially in research work which is very dependent on IT -infrastructure. This Master's Thesis presents an IT improvement project that was carried out at the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science (BECS) at Aalto University School of Science and Technology. The project was carried out using Action Research -methodology, that combines the goals of conducting scientific research and improving subjects in a practical situation. The improvement areas were investigated using a survey and user interviews. Several development areas were identified and improvement actions to solve the problems were prioritized according to the user needs. Major improvements implemented during the project include an IT service portfolio for managing the IT services, upgrading the Linux-workstations and renewing the structure of the network. Upgrading the Linux-workstations also included selecting a suitable Linux distribution and a tool for centralized configuration management. Other improvement actions include migrating the email service to a centralized system and improving printer and scanner reliability. The results of the actions were evaluated in a follow-up survey, which showed statistically significant increases in user satisfaction for Linux-workstations, email services and response times for IT -support. The validity of the research is analyzed according to both statistical and Action Research criteria. Also the transferability of the results to other similar situations is discussed