From markd at ripe.net Mon Oct 15 16:26:53 2007 From: markd at ripe.net (Mark Dranse) Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:26:53 +0200 Subject: [tt-tf] TTM Futures update Message-ID: <471378AD.40101@ripe.net> Dear colleagues, We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have participated in this task force, either in person at the Test Traffic Working Group (TT WG) sessions, publically via this list, or by way of private comments. Those of you present in Tallin last May will remember the presentation on our draft proposal: http://www.ripe.net/ripe/meetings/ripe-54/presentations/TTM_Future.pdf We have now incorporated your feedback into a final proposal that will be presented in the TT WG at RIPE 55 in Amsterdam next week. This will include: - In-depth implementation details for new alarms and ad-hoc testing architecture - Details of work we have completed on improving data presentation We will also discuss the new pricing structure proposal that has been developed as a result of direct user feedback. To stimulate discussion on this, advance details will be sent to this list later today. We look forward to seeing you next week at the TT WG during RIPE 55. Regards Mark Dranse, Information Services Manager, RIPE NCC From markd at ripe.net Mon Oct 15 17:02:18 2007 From: markd at ripe.net (Mark Dranse) Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:02:18 +0200 Subject: [tt-tf] TTM - pricing proposal Message-ID: <471380FA.6030600@ripe.net> Dear Colleagues, At RIPE 54 in Tallinn, we discussed new pricing models for TTM participation. The outcome of those, and other discussions, is as follows. We believe that TTM hardware has a five year lifespan (beyond this its reliability cannot be guaranteed). However, five years is a very long commitment for many organisations. We therefore propose a three year charging model/contract, with a possible two year extension. We propose that this be implemented in the two variations outlined below: 1) Three recurring annual payments of ?1800, which will include all hardware, setup and service costs. 2) One single up front payment of ?5000, which will include all hardware, setup and service fees for three years. This includes a discount for paying up front. Towards the end of year three, hosts will be given the opportunity to purchase up to two years additional service at the prevailing rate at that time. This is currently ?1000pa. All contracts will expire after five years. We recommend entering into a new contract with new hardware at this point. However, if your hardware continues to function reliably, you may opt to participate without a contract. In such cases you will no longer receive software updates or general support. We will ensure that existing test box hosts are treated fairly and favourably during their transition from the old to the new model. We invite any general feedback on this proposal, either on this mailing list or at the Test Traffic Working Group session during RIPE 55. Regards Mark Dranse, Information Services Manager, RIPE NCC From markd at ripe.net Thu Oct 18 14:41:07 2007 From: markd at ripe.net (Mark Dranse) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:41:07 +0200 Subject: [tt-tf] TTM futures - final proposal Message-ID: <47175463.3000907@ripe.net> Dear Task Force, Based on feedback previously provided, below you will find the final outline of our plans for future direction of the TTM network. We appreciate you taking the time to contribute to this, and encourage any final comments either before or during our meeting next week. Key elements of this plan, including some implementation details and interface mockups, will be presented during the TT-WG on Thursday 25th October during RIPE55. 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 dense and 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. These enhancements will operate in unison with the existing full-meshed measurements which we are committed to supporting on an ongoing basis. 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. In addition to this, the NCC will provide various ad-hoc modules which all test box hosts may use to carry out bespoke tests of interest to them - the initial implementation of this will cover private application testing. 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, and others interested in participating, we intend to move to a three year model with two payment options and the possibility to extend by up to two years. Option 1 will be three recurring annual payments of ?1800, which will include all hardward, setup and service costs. Option 2 will be one single up front payment of ?5000, which will include all hardware, setup and service fees for three years, and includes an advance payment discount. Towards the end of year three, hosts will be given the opportunity to extend their service contract by up to two years at the prevailing annual fee at that time (currently ?1000). Hosts extending for just 1 year will be given the option to extend for one further year. All contracts will expire after five years. We recommend entering into a new contract with new hardware at this point. However, if your hardware continues to function reliably, you may opt to participate without a contract. In such cases you will no longer receive software updates, general support, or access to some advanced features of your testbox software. We appreciate the time and effort expended by existing hosts and will obviously ensure a fair and favourable transition for all. -- Mark Dranse Information Services Manager RIPE NCC From markd at ripe.net Thu Oct 18 17:37:52 2007 From: markd at ripe.net (Mark Dranse) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:37:52 +0200 Subject: [tt-tf] TTM futures - final proposal In-Reply-To: <47176CBB.9050405@heanet.ie> References: <47175463.3000907@ripe.net> <47176CBB.9050405@heanet.ie> Message-ID: <47177DD0.60406@ripe.net> Hi Brian, Thanks for your kind comments. I'll respond to your specific questions: On 18/10/2007 16:24, Brian Nisbet wrote: [...] > This is excellent and I'm very happy to see a support and upgrade path > proposed. I think that the two options should suit the various TTM > sites. So, those questions I mentioned... > > I assume that current sites that have been in place for over > three years will be able to avail of new hardware immediately upon > signing a new contract (and, of course, dependent on the new hardware > being available)? Yes, absolutely. We are committed to ensuring a proper phased transition for existing hosts. Obviously, we will all need to be realistic about this - we can't do 70 in one day. > Will all TTM sites be asked to sign a new contract when this plan > comes into effect, regardless of age of hardware? No. Anyone with hardware less than 3 (or 5) years old should carry on regardless, although of course, you might like to take advantage of the new attractive pricing to locate an additional TTM somewhere in your network... > Will the hardware still be adminable only by the NCC? Yes - 100%, this will not change. Regards Mark -- Mark Dranse Information Services Manager RIPE NCC From markd at ripe.net Mon Oct 29 10:47:50 2007 From: markd at ripe.net (Mark Dranse) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:47:50 +0100 Subject: [tt-tf] TTM futures - final proposal In-Reply-To: <18211.11737.661318.969775@switch.ch> References: <47175463.3000907@ripe.net> <18211.11737.661318.969775@switch.ch> Message-ID: <4725AC46.1090006@ripe.net> Hi Simon, Thanks for taking the time to comment. On 27/10/2007 14:23, Simon Leinen wrote: > Sorry for the late followup. > > Mark Dranse writes: >> 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. > > "This setup doesn't allow one-way measurements" seems too strong. > Synchronized clocks are needed for precise one-way delay measurements, > but you could still perform precise (and useful) one-way loss and > delay variation measurements. By way of clarity, what is meant here is that the CBM nodes will not ever be included in the full global TTM mesh to participate in the very precise GPS synchronised one-way measurements as we currently know them. Of course, CBM nodes can do simpler and less precise one way measurements between themselves and their parent TTM node. The original CBM proposal can be found here by way of reference: http://www.ripe.net/ripe/maillists/archives/tt-wg/2005/pdf00001.pdf Kind regards Mark -- Mark Dranse RIPE NCC