whad’ya node ? mentoring conference new orleans, la march 1, 2005

Whad’ya Node ? Mentoring Conference

New Orleans, LA

March 1, 2005

Node Building 101

Presenters

Dennis Burling

Nebraska Dept. of Environmental Quality

Glen Carr

Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality

Kevin Jeffery

Windsor Solutions, Inc

30 Minute GuideAudience

• Partners who are yet to implement a Node

• Partners who have implemented a Node, but are interested in alternative approaches

• Partners looking to advance their Node implementation

ContributorsAlesia Whitney-Knight Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Cheryl Franklin Indiana Department of Environmental Management

David Blocher Maine Department of Environmental Protection

David H. Ellis Maine Department of Environmental Protection

Dennis Burling Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality

Glen Carr Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Leslie Brennan New York Department of Conservation

Mary Blakeslee Environmental Council of States

Mitch West Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Robert E. Williams Maine Department of Environmental Protection

Tom Aten Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

What is a Network Node ?

“A simple environmental information Web service that initiates requests for information, processes authorized queries, and sends/receives the requested information in a standard format.”

Getting Started• Research the Network

– Exchange Network Web Site (www.exchangenetwork.net)– CDX Web Site (www.epa.gov/cdx)– EDSC Web Site (www.envdatastandards.net)– ECOS Web Site (www.ecos.org)

• Consult Mentoring States• Planning what data to exchange

– Current systems– Maturity of flow– Data sharing priorities

• Securing agency commitment– Making the business case– Securing sponsorship

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel • Early implementers invested significant effort in creating

and troubleshooting the technology required to implement a Node and exchange data.

• Exchange Network goal to reuse research and development work wherever possible.

• Demonstrated Node Configurations (www.exchangenetwork.net).

• Reuse of existing solutions can accelerate Node deployment and reduce the up front investment.

• Where possible use existing applications to streamline development but be prepared to adapt to your environment.

Implementing Your Node

Determine theTechnical Architecture

DetermineNode Capabilities Implement Node For Test

Test Node Components

Deploy Node in Production


Review existing agency architecture standards.

Define the physical environment including hardware, hosting platform and network components.

Establish appropriate network security architecture.

Identify the logical components including middleware, applications and frameworks.

Select development, management and support tools.






Minimum functionality per Network Node specifications.

Consider more advanced Node capabilities.

Ability to troubleshoot an exchange.Monitoring use of the Node by other

partners.Administering security (NAAS and local).Scheduling data exchanges.Email notifications for Node functions.Request costing.






Develop basic Node Web service interface to process incoming requests.

Develop Node administration functions (user accounts, transactions, logs, etc).

Install security identification certificates on host server to support SSL (EPA can provide).

Establish “master” and “operator” NAAS accounts (Exchange Network Security Policy).






If possible use a dedicated test environment.Test using the EPA CDX test client and/or

other testing applications (www.exchangenetwork.net/node/dev_toolbox).

Ask CDX Help Desk to assist with testing connectivity and functionality.

Test with parallel data flow development.Perhaps use another partner’s Node for

added validation of interoperability.










If possible, maintain separate production and test Node implementations.

Dedicate support staff time to monitor Node operation (between ¼ and 1½ FTE).

Training on use and operation of the Node.

Common Testing Issues

Compatibility with the Network Node specifications • Lack of physical connectivity to the Internet• Incorrect implementation of the WSDL• Incorrect configuration or lack of support for NAAS security.

Capability to respond to and process predefined data queries

• Inappropriate configuration of the Node to support a particular query.

• Data request exceeds server capacity.• Incompatibilities between heterogeneous Node platforms.

Deciding on Your Technical Architecture

• Physical Components of Node Architecture• Logical Components of the Node

Architecture• Management, Support and Extensibility Tools• Node Functional Capabilities

Physical and Logical Components

• Network Topology• Dedicated vs. Shared Server• Separate Testing Environment• Staged RDBMS • Application architecture (e.g., .Net, Java,

XAware)

Node Functional Capabilities

• Administration interface.• Separation of the Node and the individual data exchange

or flow implementations.• Support for the Exchange Network XML Document Header

File on an exchange-by-exchange basis.• Support of authentication and authorization through both

NAAS and Local Security.• Persistent attachment management.• Support for both incoming and outgoing data flows. • Support Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) through the use of

recognized certificate authorities.

Discussion

whad’ya node ? mentoring conference new orleans, la march 1, 2005

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