April 2006 - Ag-tech - mailman3.cels.anl.gov

Re: [AG-TECH] vic and rat encryption
by Thomas D. Uram 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

Reading this thread post-vacation, I was thinking the same thing, so I've made those couple lines of changes in the ag-media cvs code (yes, that will propagate to UCL eventually, if they'll have it). Tom On 3/30/06 9:48 AM, Ivan R. Judson wrote: > > no kidding! :-) > > --Ivan > > On Mar 30, 2006, at 8:38 AM, Colin Perkins wrote: > >> We might want to hack the code to make "AES" an accepted spelling of >> Rijndael? :-) >> Colin >> >> >> On 30 Mar 2006, at 14:26, Derek Piper wrote: >>> Heheh.. yea.. quite right. Ooops. I hate that word for how often >>> I misspell it. I really had to make sure I got it right in the source >>> code for AGVCR. For emails, obviously I'm still having problems. :) >>> >>> Derek >>> >>> Piers O'Hanlon wrote: >>>> Hi, >>>> Just a minor correction - just a typo - to save frustration: >>>> One needs use "Rijndael/" instead of "Rjindael/" >>>> Piers. >>>> On 3/29/06, Derek Piper <dcpiper(a)indiana.edu> wrote: >>>>> You may be better off using Rjindael encryption, which is >>>>> normally used >>>>> on AG Venues when setting the 'encryption' option in the venue server >>>>> config. >>>>> A Rjindael key is passed to VIC and RAT as >>>>> 'Rjindael/passphrase' where >>>>> passphrase should be something random and unguessable, and distributed >>>>> to those needing the key to enter manually. There's a program for >>>>> Debian >>>>> called 'pwgen' that I've used to generate a passphrase before. For >>>>> manually entering the key, you would probably just disable the venue >>>>> encryption and manually key it in. For a DES key, just use a >>>>> passphrase >>>>> that doesn't start with a string 'Rjindael/'. >>>>> Of course you can also use certificates to secure a venue >>>>> too, so not >>>>> just anyone can enter and obtain the encryption key. >>>>> >>>>> Derek >>>>> >>>>> Jeremy Mann wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> We would like to demonstrate encryption in April to some fellow >>>>>> colleagues. I set up a test room on our venue server with encryption. >>>>>> Encryption works fine, but whoever enters the venue gets the >>>>>> encryption >>>>>> key. I would like to "lock" down the room to whoever I give the >>>>>> key to, >>>>>> not whoever enters the room. Can this be done? >>>>>> >>>>>> Also, I know I can manually enter a key into vic and rat. Is there a >>>>>> program that I can run to get DES key? Or can I simply use a >>>>>> passphrase >>>>>> instead? >>>>>> >>>>>> Thanks! >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Derek Piper - dcpiper(a)indiana.edu - (812) 856 0111 >>>>> IRI 323, School of Informatics >>>>> Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana >>>>> >>>>> >>> >>> --Derek Piper - dcpiper(a)indiana.edu - (812) 856 0111 >>> IRI 323, School of Informatics >>> Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana >>> >> > >

1 0

Access Grid Townhall Reminder - April 4
by Thomas D. Uram 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

The April Townhall is scheduled for Tuesday, April 4, at 10:00AM CDT (15:00 UTC). It will be held in the Argonne National Laboratory venue on the institutional venue server (Go to https://ivs.mcs.anl.gov:9000/Venues/default, then Government Institutions Lobby, then Argonne National Lab). We will discuss topics of general interest to the community, including the AG and collaboration in general, and AG2/AG3 and the AG Retreat in particular. This is an open forum for the community to air issues, new collaborations, and innovative ideas; please come prepared to participate. There will be a second session held for those in the Asia-Pacific region, on THURSDAY, APRIL 6 (Note that this is a different day!) at 6:00PM CDT (23:00 UTC). Of course, anyone is welcome to attend this session, if it's more agreeable with their schedules. ANL will be running bridges in the Argonne venue for these meetings.

1 0

Re: [AG-TECH] vic and rat encryption
by Thomas D. Uram 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

I would recommend using as much of existing solutions as possible: - Restrict access to the venue by identity using the mechanism built into the AG software. This will prevent unwanted AG users from entering the venue. - Enable encryption on the venue, so AG users get the key and it is used by their media tools. The encryption key can be set in Venue Management so it is DES instead of Rijndael, simply by leaving off the 'Rijndael/' prefix. This will prevent AG users from having to enter the key into vic and rat manually. You can then hand the encryption key to insors users via email or somesuch so they can apply it manually. Tom Uram On 3/29/06 10:28 AM, Jeremy Mann wrote: > Derek Piper said: >> You may be better off using Rjindael encryption, which is normally used >> on AG Venues when setting the 'encryption' option in the venue server >> config. >> A Rjindael key is passed to VIC and RAT as 'Rjindael/passphrase' where >> passphrase should be something random and unguessable, and distributed >> to those needing the key to enter manually. There's a program for Debian >> called 'pwgen' that I've used to generate a passphrase before. For >> manually entering the key, you would probably just disable the venue >> encryption and manually key it in. For a DES key, just use a passphrase >> that doesn't start with a string 'Rjindael/'. >> Of course you can also use certificates to secure a venue too, so not >> just anyone can enter and obtain the encryption key. > > The certificate security can not be done because half the participants are > inSORS nodes. I'll try out this pwgen and test it out. Thanks! > >

1 0

Re: [AG-TECH] Setting web proxy for AG2 ?
by Thomas D. Uram 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

You should only need to set the web proxy for requesting certificates, which can be done directly in the certificate request tool. If you're having a particular problem getting started, you can submit a bug report (from the Help menu) which will include relevant portions of the AG logfiles so we can understand the problem. Tom On 3/30/06 8:12 AM, Thierry Delaitre wrote: > Hi, > > I've installed AG2 under windows & MACOSX and was wondering how to set the > web proxy for connecting to a venue server ? Our university does not have > a transparent web proxy and we need to specify the url of the web proxy > for applications otherwise applications like AG2 cannot contact web > servers directly. > > I tried to set the http_proxy env var under Windows but to no avail. Any > help would be grately appreciated. > > Thanks, > > > > ---------------------------------------- > Dr Thierry DELAITRE > Systems and Services Manager, CSCS > University of Westminster > 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1W 6UW > > Tel: 020 7911 5000 ext: 3586 > Fax: 020 7911 5089 > Mobile short dial code 1788 > > http://www.cscs.wmin.ac.uk/~delaitt > ---------------------------------------- > > This e-mail and its attachments are intended for the above named only > and may be confidential. If they have come to you in error you must > not copy or show them to anyone, nor should you take any action based > on them, other than to notify the error by replying to the sender. > >

1 0

Re: [AG-TECH] Gentoo build
by Thomas D. Uram 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

I've been busy with other things (read: AG3), but given that we need to maintain 2.x for some time, it'd be great if someone attached a patch to that bug report. Tom On 3/31/06 2:57 PM, Colin Macdonald wrote: > On Fri, 31 Mar 2006, Niall Moran wrote: > >> Then I got more build errors about insecure binaries. I got around these >> by adding -static directives to the globus-data-management-client so > > http://bugzilla.mcs.anl.gov/accessgrid/show_bug.cgi?id=1431 > > See the attached (to the bug) ebuild for how I fixed this problem. I've > later learned there are better ways to do this (using a tool in paxutils > (emerge paxutils)), but I haven't updated the ebuild yet. > > Cheers, > Colin > > -- > Colin Macdonald > Graduate Student, Dept. of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University > mail: cbm[at]sfu[dot]ca, phone: 604.268.6689 (office) > >

1 0

Re: [AG-TECH] AG Toolkit 2.4 fails to start
by Thomas D. Uram 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

I suspect this has to do with proxy server settings on your machine. If you file a bug from within the software (Help->SubmitBugReport), a recent portion of your VenueClient.log file will be included and we'll be able to identify and resolve the problem. I'd encourage you to do this so we can fix it for you and anyone else who might encounter it. I believe I already understand the problem and can help you get it fixed quickly. Thanks, Tom On 3/30/06 1:27 PM, Nagykaldi, Zsolt F. (HSC) wrote: > > I installed an AG Toolkit v2.4 on an XP SP1 machine according to specs > and when I try to start the venue client, it will abort. In debug mode > it says "Initialization Error: unpack list of wrong size" right after > it started the Certificate Request Wizard. Anybody knows what the heck > this is? I am lost and would need a solution real quick! > > Thanks! > > Zsolt > > > _ _ _ > > Zsolt Nagykaldi, PhD > Research Associate, Clinical IT Specialist > University Of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center > Department Of Family And Preventive Medicine > Oklahoma Center For Family Medicine Research > > 900 NE 10th Street > Oklahoma City, OK 73104 > Phone: (405) 271-8000 Ext.:1-32212 > Fax: (405) 271-1682 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* owner-ag-tech(a)mcs.anl.gov on behalf of Derek Piper > *Sent:* Thu 3/30/2006 7:26 AM > *To:* Piers O'Hanlon > *Cc:* jeremy(a)biochem.uthscsa.edu; ag-tech(a)mcs.anl.gov > *Subject:* Re: [AG-TECH] vic and rat encryption > > > Heheh.. yea.. quite right. Ooops. I hate that word for how often I > misspell it. I really had to make sure I got it right in the source code > for AGVCR. For emails, obviously I'm still having problems. :) > > Derek > > Piers O'Hanlon wrote: > > Hi, > > > > Just a minor correction - just a typo - to save frustration: > > One needs use "Rijndael/" instead of "Rjindael/" > > > > Piers. > > > > On 3/29/06, Derek Piper <dcpiper(a)indiana.edu> wrote: > > > >> You may be better off using Rjindael encryption, which is > normally used > >>on AG Venues when setting the 'encryption' option in the venue server > >>config. > >> A Rjindael key is passed to VIC and RAT as > 'Rjindael/passphrase' where > >>passphrase should be something random and unguessable, and distributed > >>to those needing the key to enter manually. There's a program for Debian > >>called 'pwgen' that I've used to generate a passphrase before. For > >>manually entering the key, you would probably just disable the venue > >>encryption and manually key it in. For a DES key, just use a passphrase > >>that doesn't start with a string 'Rjindael/'. > >> Of course you can also use certificates to secure a venue > too, so not > >>just anyone can enter and obtain the encryption key. > >> > >> Derek > >> > >>Jeremy Mann wrote: > >> > >>>We would like to demonstrate encryption in April to some fellow > >>>colleagues. I set up a test room on our venue server with encryption. > >>>Encryption works fine, but whoever enters the venue gets the encryption > >>>key. I would like to "lock" down the room to whoever I give the key to, > >>>not whoever enters the room. Can this be done? > >>> > >>>Also, I know I can manually enter a key into vic and rat. Is there a > >>>program that I can run to get DES key? Or can I simply use a passphrase > >>>instead? > >>> > >>>Thanks! > >>> > >>> > >> > >>-- > >>Derek Piper - dcpiper(a)indiana.edu - (812) 856 0111 > >>IRI 323, School of Informatics > >>Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana > >> > >> > > > > > > -- > Derek Piper - dcpiper(a)indiana.edu - (812) 856 0111 > IRI 323, School of Informatics > Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana >

1 0

REMINDER: AG Retreat 2006 - Call for Participation
by Susanne Lefvert 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION The 6th Annual Access Grid Retreat - May 15-17, 2006 http://www.mcs.anl.gov/fl/flevents/ag/agr06 Ann Arbor, MI, USA Co-hosted by Internet2 DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: Friday April 7, 2006 The 6th Annual Access Grid (AG) Retreat will be held May 15-17 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. This year's meeting will be co-hosted by Internet2. The Access Grid is an ensemble of resources including multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive environments, and interfaces to Grid middleware and to visualization environments. These resources are used to support group-to-group interactions across the Grid. For example, the AG is used for large-scale distributed meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials, and training. The Access Grid began as a community effort in terms of development, support, education, and training and it continues to grow as a result of this approach. The AG Retreats, an annual tradition, reflect this community involvement and are critical to the continued development, utility, and improvement of the AG. The AG Retreat program provides an interactive forum for the Access Grid community including developers, node operators and users. This year's Retreat will include information about the current state of the Access Grid software and community, and the road ahead, including the next major release of the Access Grid software, AG3. Presentations in the following subject areas are encouraged: - Technology presentations Extensions of core Access Grid software Shared Applications and Services Distributed systems Streaming audio and video Networking: Multicast and multicast bridging Meeting archiving Security issues Scheduling - Innovative uses of the AG Medicine Visualization Scientific domains Remote access to instruments - Distance education - Regional updates - User requirements and improvements - Requirements from diverse communities (Presentations outside of these areas will be given equal consideration) The Access Grid Retreat is an ideal environment for the AG community to share recent experiences and research findings, to present ideas for future AG technical directions, and to train and educate AG newcomers. Two tracks of sessions allow participants to focus on either AG technical issues or activities related to AG operations. This annual meeting will not be broadcast over the Access Grid, but, as with past retreats, focus on bringing the global community together with face-to-face discussions on topics ranging from AG collaboration experiences to node installation and troubleshooting to AG development directions. Given that this year's AG Retreat will be located in Internet2 facilities, presenters are encouraged to include demonstrations that leverage the excellent network capabilities available. The most impressive presentations, as decided by the Program Committee, will be awarded with a prize. HOW TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS Speakers are requested to submit extended abstracts of no more than 1000 words, not including figures or references. Speakers should define their interest in submitting a proposed panel discussion (including title and proposed speakers), or an individual presentation (including title). Abstracts should be written so as to be self-contained and to provide the technical substance required for the program committee to evaluate the presenter's contribution, and to provide sufficient detail for the program. Presentations including live demonstrations, for example introducing a new shared application or service, must list the hardware and network requirements necessary for the demonstration. Abstracts must be submitted by Friday, Apr il 7, 2006. Please submit to agr2006(a)accessgrid.org. Speakers will be selected by Friday, April 14, 2006. Confirmations will be sent via email. For more information, please contact the AG Retreat Program Committee at agr2006(a)accessgrid.org.

1 0

NCSA VenueServer and AGSchedule outage
by Michael Miller 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

Hello Everyone, Due to a severe storm last night(3 tornados in our area), NCSA lost power to it's main computational facility where the NCSA VenueServer and AGSchedule are hosted. These systems are now back online. If you have further trouble connecting to the venue server or AGSchedule, please contact the AGSchedule Administrator: agschedule(a)ncsa.uiuc.edu. Also, due to the Daylight Saving Time change, those using Gecko based browsers and others to connect to AGSchedule may see a problem where the setup pages get caught in a loop. If this occurs, delete all cookies for agschedule.ncsa.uiuc.edu and try again. Please let me know if you have further questions. -- Thanx, Michael Miller System Engineer Video Technology Services Persistent Infrastructure Directorate National Center for Supercomputing Applications University of Illinois - UC 217-649-0747 "If you're clear in your vision and trust the people in your team with clear objectives, they will invariably do their best to achieve everything desired, and usually deliver everything you could have hoped for and even more." -Paul Debevec

1 0