Start date: 1 February 2006
End date: 31 January 2007
Funding programme: Core Middleware: Technology Development programme
Project website:
http://www.oesc.ox.ac.uk/activities/projects/index.xml?ID=ShibGrid
ShibGrid builds on the work of ESP-GRID and related projects and aims to
develop a prototype system that will allow National Grid Service (NGS) users to access NGS facilities securely
through federated authentication
mechanisms employed at their institutions. To facilitate the use of the NGS resources to their full
through this mechanism will require that the users’ proxy certificate be
enabled appropriately and seamlessly. The project will also investigate the
extension of these mechanisms to users who do not possess full e-science
certificates, within the constraints of the current and likely future NGS access conditions.
The initial focus will be on developing a working prototype. Having created
a working prototype, a test phase on the NGS will be implemented with a limited
set of users to determine any user or technical issues. A reiteration
of the system and software will be completed to provide a service that NGS can support.
Currently, all users have equal access rights to NGS. As the use of the NGS increases, with an increasingly
diverse user base, it becomes important to provide Virtual Organisation
(VO) management. Federated access management itself
does not provide VO management, and other projects are working on
experimental solutions. We plan to demonstrate access for two
different VOs, with a simple site-based VO management solution that will
enable the adoption of suitable future federated solutions.
The work will be done in conjunction with the Open Middleware
Infrastructure Institute (OMII)
through their managed programme with a view to the software being made
available through the OMII repository.
It is hoped that this project will provide a key component within the
roadmap of security implementation within the JISC
e-Infrastructure programme and the UK e-Science Core programme.