NECSYLs CORBA Products

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NECSYLs CORBA Products
NEC Systems Laboratory Mike Greenberg mjg_at_syl.nj.
nec.com
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General Overview

• NECSYL has been developing CORBA-based software
  since 1992
• First discovered CORBA while studying approaches
  to developing a distributed management framework
• Although NECSYL has an internally developed
  CORBA-compliant ORB, emphasis of our work has not
  been on the ORB itself
• We have focussed on additional infrastructure
  needed to provide a complete, distributed object
  framework
• We have prototyped many CORBAservices
• Following slides summarize those we have or will
  productize in near future

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XCMF/XEMT

• NECSYL has developed a product based on the OMG
  and Open Group standard for Common Management
  Facilities
• Product encompasses three services which together
  provide a framework for developing CORBA-based
  distributed resource management applications
• Our product also includes a graphical
  Environment Management Tool which facilitates
  usage by both application developers and end-users

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Managed Sets
Sets
Members and Sets
Members
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Instance Management
Instances
User Instance Manager
Instance Managers
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Policy Management
Instance Manager
Policy
Policy
Policy
Policy "ppm gt 15"
Production Department
Policy Region
Policy Objects
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Browsing XCMF Environment
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NECSYLSYL XCMF Product Availability

• NECSYLs XCMF product is currently integrated
  with IONAs Orbix, and is available on Solaris
  and Windows NT
• XCMF Toolkit supports Managed Sets, Library, and
  Basic Instance Manager
• XCMF Toolkit Plus supports full XCMF Services and
  XEMT
• Visit http//www.nj.necsyl.com for more
  information and free evaluation copy

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Notification

• NECSYL is now implementing a Notification Service
  product
• NECSYL has been actively participating in the
  Notification Service specification process within
  the Telecoms DTF
• Developing a product based on our educated
  guess of what the standard will ultimately look
  like
• Notification extends the OMG Event Service
• Adds event filtering, structured events,
  configurable quality of service

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• Push/Pull events as unstructured "Anys"
• No filtering or quality of service

Push Supplier
Push Consumer
Event Channel
Pull Supplier
Pull Consumer
EventProxySuppliers
EventProxyConsumers
Push Supplier
Push Consumer
Notification Channel
Pull Supplier
Pull Consumer
NotifyProxySuppliers
NotifyProxyConsumers

• Push/Pull events as unstructured "Anys"
• Push/Pull structured events
• Define filters to reduce event traffic
• Define quality of service properties (e.g.,
  delivery guarantees, event aging, priority
  queuing)

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Architectural Features

• Same channel can behave as standard EventChannel
  or NotificationChannel
• NotifyProxy interfaces have associated filters
• EventProxy interfaces behave like standard OMG
  Event service
• Clients can mix usage of either type of interface
• Figure shows only untyped channel
• Typed figure looks similar, only busier
• Typed channel supports typed and untyped event
  service and notification service style interfaces

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Product Plans

• NECSYL plans to release a product based on the
  standard OMG Notification Service shortly after
  standard is finalized
• Product will be integrated with Orbix
• Initial availability on Solaris, HP-UX and
  Windows NT is planned

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SOCKS/IIOP Gateway

• NEC has implemented a product which can perform
  as a proxy server for existing IIOP
  implementations
• Can be used as a firewall to control access from
  CORBA clients to CORBA objects over the internet
• Product is based on SOCKS V5, the IETF standard
  protocol for establishing connections between
  applications and proxy servers
• We are proposing this approach in response to the
  CORBA/Firewall Security RFP

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Basic SOCKS Behavior

• Following figure depicts SOCKS acting as a
  firewall in typical client-server AP

(1) Authenticate Client
Client AP linked with SOCKS client library
SOCKS Proxy Server
Application Server
(2) Connection Request
(3) Request Granted
(4) Create Connection
Relay Data
(5) Send/Receive Data
(6) Send/Receive Data
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Basic Architecture of our Product
Firewall
Client Application
SOCKS Server
IIOP Request
CORBA Object
SOCKSified IIOP Request
(5)
(3)
(2)
SOCKS Library
(1)
(6)
(7)
(4)
IIOP Reply
SOCKSified IIOP Reply
Access Control
IIOP Plug-in Module
Configuration File
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Major Advantages of this Approach

• A SOCKS-based proxy server for IIOP can be easily
  integrated into existing firewall products
• Many firewall products already support SOCKS
  proxy servers
• IIOP filtering can be added to existing firewalls
  by simple extension of existing proxy servers
  (e.g., NECs SOCKS5 plug-in API)
• For these reasons, we believe our approach would
  be openly accepted by existing firewall vendors,
  thus enhancing the acceptance of IIOP as a
  popular Internet protocol

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Summary

• NECSYL is committed to providing products which
  enhance the feasibility of applying CORBA
  technology to mission critical applications
• We are continually studying end-user requirements
  for additional infrastructure beyond the ORB
  which is required to develop real solutions
• To date, NECSYL has focussed its development
  activities on
• Common Management Facilities
• Notification Services
• IIOP Firewall solutions