PLACE:
EP 309
TIME:
2:30 PM
ATTENDEES: Professor Junk
Don Tobin
Zac Woodall
James Cooper
Jamie Marconi
Sam Gerlach
TOPIC:
Prototype
AGENDA:
Brief Introduction
------------------
(taken from the existing CS481 notebook)
The purpose of HummingBird is to gather security information off
of the network and pass this information to other hosts. Examples
of information include logfiles, load, and number of users.
Within an hierarchy, superiors give directives and subordinates
pass desired information up. At the moment, passing security
information protocols is the biggest stumbling block.
The actual Hummer is the decision maker. It decides what is kept
and/or logged.
The current task is to recreate the existing HummingBird in some
ways. An example of subordinate management was displayed in a
graph.
Requirements, Limitations and Constraints
-----------------------------------------
The final product will be run on HP and Solaris systems running
HP-UX 10.10 or 10.20. The existing code will be built on,
with
the current format preserved.
Priority One:
- Add peer-to-peer management (with a certain level of trust,
as
noted by Don Tobin)
This includes allowing individual hierarchies communicate
with each other.
- Information Flow Policies
We need to decide between straight or broadcast
communication. Also, decide to what degree
and how
hummers should cooperate.
- Autoregression Testing
We need to automate the existing test suite for
developmental testing and implement operational
testing.
Priority Two:
- Autoconfiguration System
Currently you need to go to each host individually.
This
can take 30 minutes plus. In the future, we
want to make
this more top-level. Ideally, the manager
will provide
the hierarchy and have it pushed down the tree.
This may
not be faster, but it will be easier.
- Integrate ATOM (by Dean Polla)
This tool allows you to configure groups with threat
levels. We want to add this to the manager/subordinate
configuration and push it down the hierarchy.
- Improve/handle data integrity and trust issues (Don Tobin
suggested moving this to Priority One)
Priority Three:
- Paging service
- Update visualization system
Solutions
-------
Priority One:
- We plan on implementing the peer-to-peer management as a type
of listserve. A manager will be assigned,
from the peer
group, to oversee the communication. The manager
will
handle requests and route messages. Some type
of protocol
would have to be set up the add members (broadcast,
vote...)
(Don asked about the problem of a manager failing, which
we have not yet addressed)
- Information flow will be handled with a broadcast type of
service. The clients will send information
to the
manager and the manager will pass the information
on. A
cooperation protocol will be defined similar to
the way
people cooperate in an e-mail system.
- Both white and black box testing will be implemented. They will
be automated into a test suite.
Priority Two:
- The autoconfiguration system will entail evaluating the current
configuration method and making changes to ease
the
process. There are three current helper
programs to
HummingBird: Apache, Kerberos, and Postgresql.
This is
where the majority of configuration comes in.
However,
these helper programs are needed to keep HummingBird
less
complicated. This is our dilemma.
- Dean's project will be integrated into the current HummingBird.
- (moved to Priority One) Various methods will be used to increase
data integrity.
Priority Three:
- These are optional features and have not been explored in depth
at this time.
Directives from Professor Junk
------------------------------
Team Meetings Tuesday and Thursday at 2:30-3:00 in Professor Junk's
office.
TODO:
(By 2:30 January 20, 1998)
- Vision Statement
grand view
- Project Description
100-150 words
suitable for a web page
- Team values
dividing chores
commitment
responsibilities, etc...
- Risk Assessment (Top Ten List)
- Team leader approach
- High-level schedule
Gantt chart
concentrate on first month
milestones
task list
- Read Syllabus
- Features/Requirements list
low-level
functionality
- What first prototype will be able to do