New PerfSONAR Updates Showcased at 2015 Technology Exchange

To propel the automation and deployment of large scale distributed monitoring infrastructures across the Research and Education (R&E) community, ESnet, GEANT, Indiana University, and Internet2 announced the release of perfSONAR v3.5 at the Internet2 2015 Technology Exchange.

perfSONAR is a widely deployed test and measurement infrastructure that is used by science networks and facilities around the world to monitor and ensure network performance.The perfSONAR updates include support for accelerating the deployment of nodes within a campus or enterprise, improves the security profile of perfSONAR nodes, and reduces network operations center (NOC) integration costs.

 “This perfSONAR update is a major step forward towards making performance monitoring infrastructure as ubiquitous as network infrastructure,” said Rob Vietzke, vice president, network services, Internet2. “There is huge value to deploying perfSONAR to understand how certain use cases on the network, such as bulk data transfer, video and audio streaming, will perform between sites, and those of collaborators, aggregation networks, backbone networks, exchange points, or content providers. This is a critical need for the R&E community, which relies on a top-notch and robust network to collaborate and propel research, scholarship, and innovation.”

First released 10 years ago, perfSONAR is designed to provide federated coverage of paths, and helps to establish end-to-end usage expectations in a global R&E network ecosystem, comprised of hundreds of international, national, regional, and local-scale networks. perfSONAR is currently installed at more than 1,200 sites around the world.

 "This new release is a great step toward enabling perfSONAR to be used for monitoring and troubleshooting entire campuses and laboratories, rather than just backbone networks and Science DMZs," said ESnet Director Greg Bell. "As research is becoming increasingly data-intensive, the ability to pinpoint and eliminate network bottlenecks is critical in order to make the most effective use of networks."

“We’re excited about the 3.5 release of perfSONAR and the introduction of key new features that will drive accelerated proliferation of perfSONAR nodes deployed around the globe,” said David E. Jent, IU associate vice president, networks. "A new user interface for the toolkit provides a streamlined interaction for both novice and expert users. Support for low-cost perfSONAR nodes will facilitate penetration deeper into network infrastructure, making it feasible to deploy a large number of perfSONAR nodes in places like network-edge wiring closets or across a large number of campus buildings.”

"Today, when bandwidth for most networks is no longer an issue, performance becomes the main obstacle that comes between the user's satisfaction and services. Fortunately, we have perfSONAR to bridge the gap, as perfSONAR helps to feel the end-users experience and brings insight into the users' view of the network,” said Ivana Golub, GÉANT4 SA4 Activity Leader, Croatian Academic and Research Network - CARNet, and Deputy CEO, Network Infrastructure Department. "It is simple to use and brought through a strong, active, vivid and enthusiastic cooperation of teams all over the globe. For GEANT, historically separated efforts are finally joined in this 3.5 release, and enables us all to test and live the performance of our perfSONAR network. Congratulations to the whole team."