SALSA NetAuth Conference Call May 26, 2005

*Action Items*
[AI] {Chris} will send the list of vendor questions developed by the WG during this call to the group via the list.
[AI] {Chris} will post the Futures document draft 2A to the WG's website.

Carry Over
[AI] {Eric and Kevin} will revise the diagram in the Futures (architecture) document and send the document to the WG as version 3.
[AI] {Chris} will arrange vendor discussions for a subsequent call.
[AI] {Chris} will contact Bob Morgan to discuss whether there may be IETF activities that would be open to or in alignment with NetAuth efforts.
[AI] {Jeff} will send the presentation for EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic regional meeting in January and review it for possible case study possibility
[AI] {Chris} will post message to the NetAuth and FWNA lists soliciting volunteers to develop an outline of issues for NetAuth in a federated environment.
[AI] {Chris} will solicit from the WG contributions about NetAuth vendor solutions currently being used.
[AI] {Mike} will provide a brief summary of ESnet collaborative trust domain commonalities.
[AI] {Individuals} will send in case studies for potential use in the Strategies document.
[AI] {Group} will review slides posted for EDUCAUSE regional group meeting.
[AI] {Group} will review information to be used as the appendix for the Strategies document.
[AI] {Chris} will find editors to help with the appendix of the Strategies document.
[AI] {Chris and Mark} will develop the NetAuth approach to NAT devices as a discussion topic for submission to the Effective Practices WG.
[AI] {SteveO} will post I2 document standard links to the WG's website.

*Participants*
Chris Misra, University of Massachusetts (chair)
Klaas Wierenga, SURFnet
Kevin Miller, Duke University
Phil Rodrigues, New York University
Rich Cropp, Penn State University
Robert Lowe, Lawrence University
Terrie Clark, Internet2 (scribe)
Steve Olshansky, Internet2

*Discussion*

The ResNet 2005 conference will be held in June, 2005 at Georgia Institution of Technology. For more information please see:  http://resnet2005.gatech.edu/.

A Joint Techs workshop will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia from July 17 - 21, 2005. The efforts of the SALSA, including those of the NetAuth working group, will be of interest to attendees and will be presented at the workshop. For info on Joint Techs see http://jointtechs.es.net/Vancouver20051.htm. It is possible that this will be an appropriate forum for a face-to-face discussion with network architects and engineers about the NetAuth WG's Strategies and Futures documents.
 
The Call for Participation for the Fall 2005 Internet2 Member Meeting, scheduled for September 19 - 22 in Philadelphia, PA  is now available for response at:http://events.internet2.edu/2005/fall-mm/calls.cfm.

Many vendors are working on approaches to enhancing network security. The two most notable in our context are Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) and Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP). While these companies differ in network security approaches, the group agreed that it would be useful to solicit input and provide feedback to vendors wishing to serve the Research and Education community. To that end, the group has developed a list of questions for the vendors, including but not limited to:

1. Does their solution interoperate with competitors' solutions in an institutional environment?
2. Does their solution interoperate with competitors' solutions in a federated environment?
3. Where/how does their system enforce policy decisions?
4. Does their system provide  open APIs?
5. What components do they require for interoperability in institutional and federated environments?
6. If their solution is proprietary and not interoperable, do they suggest that their solution will become the open solution standard?

The Futures document will undergo a few minor changes. It will be sent to the list, reviewed by the group and published as draft 3. Once published it will be vetted among other groups such as SALSA, ResNet and FWNA. Hopefully, the  document as draft 3 will be completed by the end of June.

The group discussed the revived interest of NetAuth efforts in a federated environment. Most institutions have not yet addressed federated requirements. It was discussed that perhaps by understanding what levels of service/assurance are required for various applications, and how they are provided to local users (hosts), then that understanding would provide a broader context for discussions about NetAuth in a federated environment. It was agreed that policy decisions per institution would determine requirements for credentials and levels of service/assurance per institution. What technical solutions are required to provide NetAuth in a federated environment?

A user's credentials will imply/reflect a level of service/assurance, and an application will have required credentials for levels of service/assurance. If these credentials and applications are similar across institutions, then development of a federated solution may be closer at hand, although it is unlikely that one institution's credentials and levels of service/assurance will perfectly match those of another institution. The group would like to understand Eduroam's efforts in this area.

Efforts to collaborate with the EDUCAUSE Effective Practices group for case study development have been suspended for now.

The next call is Thursday, June 9, 2005 at 12:00 PM EDT. An agenda with the call in number will be sent out to the WG via the list prior to the call.