MonIPÊ Service enabling perfSONAR deployment in Brazilian

institutions through the usage of low cost devices and virtual

environment to support the monitoring of the last mile

connectivity

Iara Machado1, Fausto Vetter1, Alex Moura1, Michael Stanton1,4, Edison Tadeu Lopes Melo2,

Guilherme Eliseu Rhoden3, Murilo Vetter3, Rodrigo Pescador3, Paulo Brandtner3, Luis Cordeiro3

1Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP)

Rua Lauro Müller, 116 sala 1103

22290-906 – Botafogo – Rio de Janeiro – RJ – Brasil

Phone Number: +55 21 2102-9660 {iara.machado, fausto.vetter, alex, michael.stanton}@rnp.br

2Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)

Centro Tecnológico – Campus Universitário – Trindade

Caixa Postal 476 – 88.040-900 – Florianópolis – SC – Brasil melo@ufsc.br

3Ponto de Presença da RNP em Santa Catarina (PoP-SC)

Centro Tecnológico – Campus Universitário – Trindade

Caixa Postal 476 – 88.040-900 – Florianópolis – SC – Brasil

{murilo, pescador, paulo, luis}@pop-sc.rnp.br

4On secondment from Computing Institute,

Universidade Fereral Fluminense (UFF)

Keywords: perfSONAR, MonIPÊ, Miniature Computing, Rasberry Pi, CuBox, Performance

Monitoring

Abstract

RNP (Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa) (1) supports quality of service and measurement

endeavours since 2002, when the first research and development working group was

established to study and develop an infrastructure to deliver passive flow measurements for

the backbone for the Brazilian National Research and Education Network (NREN) (2). In 2003,

these efforts included active measurements and studies with passive capture cards (3). The

first prototype of a measurement infrastructure was developed in 2004, delivering piPEs-BR

and nSLA, the latter being an environment to monitor Service Level Agreements (SLAs) (4).

Between 2005 and 2007, this environment was made compatible with perfSONAR (5), an

emerging protocol defined by NRENs around the world to enable the performance monitoring

data sharing (6) (7). The main components developed were the Command Line Measurement

Point (CL-MP), ICE and CactiSONAR, which were piloted in few Points of Presence (PoPs) of

RNP network and for the EELA project. Following these developments, between 2008 and

2009, RNP deployed the monitoring service experimentally, to evaluate better the solution

developed and ensure the service would meet the users’ needs. Finally, between 2010 and

2012, the service was deployed in all PoPs of RNP and became a production service. The

service delivered enabled monitoring of the backbone links. The service was composed of a

measurement portal and several latency and achievable bandwidth Measurement Points

(MPs). The infrastructure deployed in the PoPs consisted of two servers and a GPS antenna to

synchronise the clock.

With the aim of extending the service to reach the last mile of connectivity to RNP customers,

the MonIPÊ service was revised in 2013 to ensure that performance measurements could

reach the customers connecting to the backbone (8). The main intention was to reduce the

burden of deployment, reduce the investment cost of the necessary infrastructure to deliver

the service, and improve the user experience of the service.

The main results of these efforts were:

A low cost measurement kit, illustrated in

Fig. 1, composed of a latency MP built using the credit-card-sized single-board

computer Raspberry Pi (9), a low cost GPS antenna from Adafruit (10) and an

achievable bandwidth MP built using a mini desktop provided by SolidRun known as

Cubox (11);

The homologation of MPs to run on virtual environment;

The evaluation of 10 Gbps Enabled MPs, and

A new user interface to control and display the results of the measurements being

done using the service.

Fig. 1 - Low Cost Measurement Kit

The new user interface, seen below in Fig. 2, is called perfSONAR Measurement Portal. This

interface is a web-based portal that allows the user to navigate through different portals in

different domains, trigger on-demand tests, retrieve results of stored on-demand tests, and

retrieve data from archived regular tests.

Fig. 2 - perfSONAR Measurement Portal

The monitoring tools developed and used in the MonIPÊ service are compatible with similar

developments done jointly by Internet2 (12) and ESnet (13), and by GÉANT (14), respectively

known as perfSONAR-PS (15) and perfSONAR MDM (16).

Based on the achieved results, in 2013 the MonIPÊ service was revised and restructured to

expand its coverage and deliver the performance service to its customers. It is expected that

the service will enable users to run measurement tests in different scenarios:

International: from 1G and 10G enabled MPs to other NRENs;

Backbone: between different PoPs and;

Institutions: from the closest PoP to the customer premises.

Measurements can be scheduled using the service in different manners:

On-Demand: solicited on user request for network diagnostics and investigation;

Periodic: scheduled and stored for a specific amount of time ideal for specific

evaluations and periodic diagnostics, and

Permanent: scheduled and stored for long term enabling a proactive performance

measurement approach.

The main metrics delivered by the service are: packet loss, one-way delay, round-trip time and

TCP/UDP achievable bandwidth.

The technical architecture of the MonIPÊ service is structured in different levels:

International: 10G enabled MPs;

Backbone: measurements portal, information services (perfSONAR Lookup Service).

virtual MPs and some 10G enabled MPs located at the PoPs, and;

Institutions: low cost measurement kit.

The service presented in this paper is being piloted in a few institutions connected to two of

the PoPs of the RNP backbone. The PoPs are deploying a new MP and visualisation tool, while

the institutions are deploying the low cost measurement kits built and provided by the MonIPÊ

project. The 10 Gbps capable MP is not being used in this first pilot.

Table 1 presents the participants in the pilot:

Participant Connecting PoP Bandwidth

Point of Presence of RNP in Minas Gerais (PoP-MG) 10 Gbps

Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá PoP-MG 8 Mbps

Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) PoP-MG 310 Mbps

Point of Presence of RNP in Santa Catarina (PoP-SC) 10 Gbps

Instituito Federal Catarinense (IFC) - Videira PoP-SC 4 Mbps (Upgrading to 20 Mbps)

Laboratório de Camarões Marinhos (LCM) – Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)

PoP-SC 10 Mbps

Table 1 - Measurement Pilot Participants

Fig. 3 presents a map containing the PoPs (green markings) and the institutions (red markings)

that participated in the pilot:

Fig. 3 - Pilot Participants Map

Fig. 4 shows the infrastructure deployed for the pilot:

Fig. 4 - Pilot Infrastructure

MonIPÊ Pilot

MP PoP

GPS

MP PoP

GPS

Delay(Raspberry PI)

Bandwidth(Cubox)

GPS(Adafruit

)

UFV

Delay(Raspberry PI)

Bandwidth(Cubox)

GPS(Adafruit

)

Mamirauá IFC-Videira

Delay(Raspberry PI)

Bandwidth(Cubox)

GPS(Adafruit

)

LCM

Delay(Raspberry PI)

Bandwidth(Cubox)

GPS(Adafruit

)

PoP-MG PoP-SC

IPÊ Network

Scenario PoP-PoP(Recurrent & On-Demand)

ScenarioPoP-Institution

(Recurrent & On-Demand)

ScenarioPoP-Institution

(Recurrent & On-Demand)

Scenario Institution-Institution(On-Demand)

The main results of the pilot are being observed and will be presented at the conference.

Following these results, the roadmap includes improvements in the measurements portal

interface to support new tools such as traceroute and Network Diagnostics Tester (NDT).

Besides that, there is an effort to build a new low cost measurement point to run both delay

and achievable bandwidth tests on the same device, using separate network interfaces. In

terms of deployment, by the use of virtualization, it is planned to deploy some 10G enabled

MPs on selected PoPs and on international connections and to spread a higher number of low

cost measurement kits in metro and campus networks of research and education institutions

throughout Brazil.

Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper would like to thank Point of Presence of RNP in Santa Catarina (PoP-

SC) for the support on the development of the components of the MonIPÊ Service.

Nevertheless, the authors would like to thank the institutions participating in the pilot phase

and their staff, here named: Point of Presence of RNP in Minas Gerais (PoP-MG), Instituto de

Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Point of

Presence of RNP in Santa Catarina (PoP-SC), Instituto Federal Catarinense (IFC) – Videira and

Laboratório de Camarões Marinhos (LCM) – Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC).

References

1. RNP. Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa. [Online] 2013. http://www.rnp.br/.

2. —. GT-QoS. [Online] 2002. http://www.rnp.br/pd/gts2002-2003/gt-qos.html.

3. —. GT-QoS2. [Online] 2003. http://www.rnp.br/pd/gts2003-2004/gt-qos2.html.

4. —. GT Medições. [Online] 2004. http://www.rnp.br/pd/gts2004-2005/medicoes.html.

5. ESNet; GÉANT; Internet2; RNP. perfSONAR. [Online] http://www.perfsonar.net/.

6. RNP. GT Medições 2. [Online] 2005. http://www.rnp.br/pd/gts2005-2006/medicoes.html.

7. —. MonIPÊ: Serviço de monitoramento da rede Ipê. [Online] 2008.

http://www.monipe.rnp.br/.

8. —. MonIPÊ. [Online] 2013. http://wiki.rnp.br/display/monipe2013/Home.

9. Raspberry Pi Foundation. Raspberry Pi Website. [Online] http://www.raspberrypi.org/.

10. Adafruit Industries. GPS Antenna. [Online] http://www.adafruit.com/products/960.

11. SolidRun. CuBox. [Online] 2013. http://www.solid-run.com/cubox.

12. Internet2. Internet2. [Online] http://www.internet2.edu/.

13. ESnet. Energy Sciences Network. [Online] http://www.es.net/.

14. GÉANT. GÉANT Project. [Online] http://www.geant.net/.

15. Internet2; ESnet; SLAC; FNAL; University of Delaware; Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.

perfSONAR-PS | network performance monitoring services. [Online] http://psps.perfsonar.net/.

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Vitae

Iara Machado is Adjunct Director of Advanced Internet in the Directorate of R&D at RNP. She

joined RNP in 2002, and since then has coordinated the development of Advanced Application

projects in close collaboration with the Brazilian networking research community. Before this

she worked for more than 19 years at the former state-owned long-distance

telecommunications company as a Management System Architect. Iara Machado graduated in

Physics from the UFRJ - University Federal of Rio de Janeiro - and has a Master's Degree in

Computer Science from UFF - University Federal Fluminense. She also has a MBA from UFRJ.

Fausto Vetter is Research and Development Coordinator in the Directorate of R&D at RNP

since 2012. He has experience on Network Management Systems (NMS’s) and Operational

Support Systems (OSS’s). Currently, he is mainly involved in the following projects: Science

DMZ, MonIPÊ, CIPÓ and CT-MON. Before joining RNP, he has worked for DANTE involved

mainly in perfSONAR-MDM deployment for the LHC-OPN and NRENs and in the design and

deployment of a management infrastructure for the GÉANT backbone. He holds a Bachelor in

Science Degree in Information Systems from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

Alex S. Moura is Manager of R&D at RNP. First, in 1995, as System Administrator and since

2011 collaborates in advancing networking services for collaborative and distributed science

and education research in ongoing projects including the Advanced Internet Programme,

Future Internet and Advanced Testbed Network initiatives as well as Software-Defined

Networking, OSCARS and perfSONAR. Alex’s research interests includes network virtualization,

software-defined networking, cloud computing and network security and performance. His

experience in the private sector includes network engineering and security in Tier 3 Internet

Data Centers. Alex holds a degree in informatics and MSc in Information Systems from Unirio.

Michael Stanton is Director of R&D at RNP. He has also worked for more than 40 years as a

professor in postgraduate and research programs in Computer Science and Networking, and

has participated actively in the creation and development of research and education

networking in Brazil since its inception. Since 2002, he has been on secondment to RNP from

the Computing Institute of the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). He holds a BA and PhD

in mathematics from the University of Cambridge, England. In 2010, he was awarded a three

year CNPq fellowship for Productivity in Technological Development and Innovative Outreach.

Edison Tadeu Lopes Melo is superintendent at SeTIC/UFSC (Superintendence of Electronic

Governance and Information Technology and Communication of the Federal University of

Santa Catarina (UFSC) and administrative coordinator of the Point of Presence of RNP at Santa

Catarina (PoP-SC) and of the Research and Education Metropolitan Network in the region of

Florianópolis/SC (REMEP-FLN). Graduated in Computer Science and has a Masters in Science in

Computer Systems from Federal University of Santa Catarina. He works in IT projects since

1981.

Guilherme Eliseu Rhoden has over 10 years of experience in computer networks. He holds a

Bachelor in Science degree in Computer Science from UFPEL (1999) and Masters in Computer

Science from UFSC (2002). He works in UFSC network since 2003 and is network analyst at

PoP-SC/RNP. Currently holds technical coordination hole in PoP-SC/RNP and PIX/SC. He has

participated in several research groups, such as QoS-GT, GT-Measurements, MonIPÊ (current)

and Future RNP – MonCircuitos (current). He was responsible for the technical implementation

of REMEP-FLN. He also offers business consulting services in networks and IP telephony.

Murilo Vetter is network analyst of Metropolitan Research and Education Network in the

region of Florianópolis/SC (REMEP-FLN). He is the development coordinator of MonIPÊ,

working on research projects relating to monitoring conventional IP networks (MonIPÊ) and

hybrid IP networks (MonCircuitos). He also works on IP telephony for UFSC. He holds a

Bachelor Degree in Computer Science from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

Rodrigo Pescador is operations analyst at Point of Presence of RNP in Santa Catarina (PoP-SC)

since 2008. He is responsible for the technical infrastructure of MonIPÊ. He holds a Bachelor in

Science Degree in Information Systems from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

Paulo Brandtner is web developer at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). He is

currently developing MonIPÊ and Fone@RNP. He has worked as collaborator and developer

for the Point of Presence of RNP in Santa Catarina (PoP-SC). He holds a Bachelor in Science

Degree in Information Systems from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

Luis Cordeiro is web developer at the Point of Presence of RNP in Santa Catarina (PoP-SC). He

is currently developing for MonIPÊ and Fone@RNP projects. He holds a Bachelor in Science

Degree in Information Systems from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).