1 Updating the ESnet Site Coordinator Model (Presented to SLCCC, June, 2004) Joe Burrescia Mike Collins William E. Johnston DRAFT FOR COMMENT 7/19/04

2 Motivation for Change Networking has become critical to the process of Laboratory business as well as to science o Most Labs now have networking as a direct responsibility of a high-level line manager – frequently the CIO o This has prompted ESnet to review the role and the practice of Site Coordinator in order to ensure that it provides a commiserate interface between the Labs and ESnet The Site Coordinator model has worked well in the past, however some operational shortcomings in the process must be addressed

3 Fine Tuning the Site Coordinator Role and Process Formalizing the Site Coordinator selection process Providing a formal mechanism for an alternate Site Coordinator to ensure a continuously available site contact Expanding the roles and responsibilities of the Site Coordinator to be commensurate with the increased importance of networking More formally documenting the Site Coordinators responsibilities allowing for the delegation and backup of Site Coordinator functionality We propose to augment the current Site Coordinator process by:

4 What is an ESnet Site Coordinator? The Site Coordinator is an individual appointed by the Site Manager responsible for networking. The Site Coordinator will:  Be an authoritative single point of contact between the Site and the ESnet Staff o Request ESnet Staff to make site specific network changes, insuring that the request meets the Site’s policies, ESnet’s policies and the ESnet AUP o Provide various network related contact information to ESnet Staff for the site o Represent the site and participate at ESnet Coordinating Committee Meetings  The “Site Manager” who appoints the ESnet Site Coordinator must have senior line management authority and responsibility for site networking. He/she must be a direct appointment of Laboratory (or Site) Director. In most cases that would be the Laboratory Director for Computing or the CIO.

5 Importance of the Site Coordinator The Site Coordinator initiates changes to Site’s external routing o Changing the ESnet configuration for the site can impact the site’s network connectivity The Site Coordinator identifies individuals at the Site to deal with specific ESnet related concerns o Lack of a responsive site security contact can result in ESnet blocking site hosts from the Internet o ESnet’s ability to maximize network management and maintenance coverage to a site depends on a correspondingly available site contact The Site Coordinator is the responsible party for ESnet equipment located at the Site. o ESnet’s ability to place ESnet equipment at the sites depends on appropriate property management by the sites The Site Coordinator is the Site’s representative to the ESCC. o ESnet planning is coordinated with the ESCC o ESnet provided science support services – A/V network based conferencing, Grids certificate infrastructure, etc., are planned and structured through the ESCC and its committees

6 Role Identification Process ESnet will initially contact Site Coordinators listed in our internal Contact Database to confirm they are still active in this role Within a year, the site manager with senior line management authority and responsibility for site at the site will reaffirm their Site Coordinator selection o Site Management will also notify ESnet and the ESCC Chair if their Site Coordinator changes Semi-annually, ESnet will send to each Site Coordinator requesting confirmation that he/she is still active and that any other contacts the he/she has supplied are still correct ESnet will populate and maintain an list named: and make this available to the ESnet ESCC chair

7 Responsibilities (1 of 2) The Site Coordinator is the person responsible for the consequences of requests made to ESnet on behalf of the site. The Site Coordinator must supply a Site Security Contact for ESnet’s use. The Site Coordinator must supply a Network Operations Contact for use in problem diagnosis. The Site Coordinator must supply the information necessary to register an assignment of ESnet’s address space to the site.

8 Responsibilities (2 of 2) The Site Coordinator must give ESnet a pointer to a locally maintained mail list for the distribution of ESnet status messages. The Site Coordinator must establish responsibility for ESnet property (routers, etc.) at the site o Provide prompt response to information requests by LBNL Property Management representatives during inventories of ESnet equipment o Coordinate the signing of a property responsibility MOU

9 Delegation The Site Coordinator should name an Alternate Site Coordinator The Site Coordinator may delegate the network operations POC The Site Coordinator may delegate the site security POC The Site Coordinator may supply a DNS contact for managing the sites DNS requests The Site Coordinator may supply the names of additional Technical Contacts to interact with ESnet Operational Personnel

10 Roles Summary Site RoleAuthorityResponsibility Site Coordinator (SC) From senior site m’gmt Primary ESnet POC Requesting/approving changes to ESnet configuration for the site ESnet property management Site Coordinator alternate SC should designate Provide continuity of network decision making in absence of site coordinator Network Operations POC SC may delegate A contact for Site network/access problem resolution Security POCSC may delegate Responding to ESnet reported security issues DNS contactSC may delegate Requesting and making changes to DNS Technical contact SC may delegate Provide Site networking expertise to interface with the ESnet Staff

11 Summary We propose to keep the current model of the ESnet Site Coordinator and ameliorate the current shortcomings by: o Putting in place a process to identify and keep Site Coordinator role current o More formally documenting the roles and responsibilities of the Site Coordinator o Increasing the flexibility of delegating some Site Coordinator tasks The role of the ESCC continues to be that of a forum for collective planning, decision making, and technical discussion The draft Site Coordinator role document is available at