[tt-tf] TTM futures - new draft

Dear Task Force,

Based on feedback previously provided, below you will find the new 
outline of our plans for future direction of the TTM network. We 
appreciate you taking the time to read this draft proposal, and are very 
eager to receive any and all feedback you may have on the general plan, 
or any specific element of it. We expect this discussion phase to be 
completed by RIPE 54 in May, and therefore would appreciate you feedback 
by 27th April.

Vision
~~~~~~

Our goal is to expand and maintain the TTM network, increasing the value 
of the service to the community at large and to the owners of the 
probes. This will be achieved by making improvements in the following areas:
-    Enhancing the measurement architecture
-    Enhancing the TTM network architecture
-    Improving alarms and reporting
-    Improving the business model

These changes will require a radical rethink in probe and measurement
architecture, resulting in new structures for the probes themselves, and 
the tests they carry out.

TTM network infrastructure
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The TTM network is the foundation of the TTM and associated services.
Therefore, these services strongly depend on reliability and coverage of
the network. In particular it is essential that there are many active 
probes at interesting locations, that probes are well maintained, and 
that coverage can be further increased by deploying simpler devices. 
Let's consider these goals separately.

1. For the services that the TTM provides, it is essential that there 
are enough active probes at interesting locations. At present, we are 
relatively limited by the availability, and geography,of those willing 
to sponsor probes, and as a result, some rather denseand unhelpful 
clustering has occurred. A possible solution to mitigate this problem is 
to install a number of probes at important locations for free. The NCC 
will fund the hardware and service contract, while the host will support 
the probe with power, connectivity and remote-hands. Rough criteria for 
hosting a box:

- Major AS or IX
- Only one free box per AS – if a site wants more, they have to pay
- Commitment from the site to operate the box for a minimum 3 year period
- Selection will be a “beauty contest”, and at the discretion of the NCC

2. However this alone will not ensure sustained growth of the network.
This needs to be addressed by increasing the number of sponsored probes
and ensuring that those probes are well maintained and upgraded when
necessary. Therefore It is important to make the TTM services attractive
to sponsors of the TTM probes to increase stability and steady growth of
the network. Several incentives can be provided:

- Allow the sponsor to define their own measurement mesh and specific
routine measurements (level of detail and frequency). Management of
gathered data will be the responsibility of the sponsor.
- Support the sponsor in creating dynamic meshes to monitor their own
applications and services, providing a global picture of availability.

3. To further expand the network in the areas where support and
technical expertise are limited (e.g. small/residential customers), a
probe itself should be as lightweight as possible (no GPS, embedded
systems). The CBM proposal fits well in this category. This setup
doesn't allow one-way measurements, although an aggregated view from a
cluster of such lightweight probes can enhance the TTM and add-on services.

TTM Measurements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Near real-time measurement of application services
The TTM network will continue to act as a measurement platform for 
critical Internet public service and infrastracture applications (e.g. 
root and ccTLD DNS monitoring and of multicast performance). These 
independent tests are of benefit to the service administrators, the end 
users, and to the hosts of TTM probes. We will improve this service by
- Considering measuring new applications as the need arises
- Making reporting clearer (see below)
- Enhancing alarm functionality (see below)
- Implementing the CBM proposal (see infrastructure section)

2. Global one-way measurement platform
The TTM network will continue its one-way measurements of the 
delay/jitter/loss between the distributed probes. These independent 
tests are of benefit to the hosts of the TTM probes, to the broader 
community, and to specific interested organisations who rely on neutral 
views (e.g. regulators and governments). We will improve this service by
- Introducing custom measurement meshes (see infrastructure section)
- Introducing support for OWAMP. This will allow the TTM network to 
interact with other compatible networks, and will facilitate 
measurements on demand (subject to access restrictions)
- Setting up data quality checks to ensure the sanity of presented data
- Making reporting clearer (see below)
- Enhancing alarm functionality (see below)

3. General purpose distributed measurement platform for ad-hoc experiments
The TTM network will be developed to enable interested parties (e.g. 
CAIDA) to conduct a variety of time-limited, global, local, or mid-range 
experiments (for example the k-root anycast studies). An outcome will 
typically be an analytical report that will be open to the community.

Reporting
~~~~~~~~~

We consider the current reports to be complex and overwhelming. We will 
simplify the presentation of results to include fewer pre-generated 
plots, and shift our focus to the identification of trends and changes 
in gathered data. We will continue to support tools to generate plots on 
demand, and raw data will continue to be available for analysis. DQM 
will be used to verify data sanity. In addition to this, we are 
investigating ways to merge TTM data with that from other services - 
such as RIS - combining data from these powerful platforms to display 
broader and more representative pictures of Internet behaviour in near 
real-time.

Alarms
~~~~~~

We consider the current alarm functionality to be complex and 
overwhelming. This will be re-engineered to provide more powerful 
network and application alarms. We will enable users to run a variety of 
NCC defined tests, limited by number, frequency and longevity, so as to 
ensure that these tests do not impact public TTM network operation. As 
with reporting, we will simplify presentation of generated alarms to 
make them clearer.

Admin and pricing model
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As a result of feedback from existing TTM hosts, we intend to move to a 
single up front payment. This payment will cover hardware, setup, and 
three years of service fees. After three years, the host may 
re-subscribe, or opt to stop participating.

-- 
Mark Dranse
Information Services Manager
RIPE NCC