[AG-TECH] One-page summary of AG port usage -- please help us complete it

[R. P. Channing ["Rick"] Rodgers]

Yes!  SIP would clear it up, though I can understand why no one is jumping
into that, given the work involved.  :)  Our port list would be very helpful
in the interim.

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> Cc: ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov, judson at mcs.anl.gov, terrazas at labmed2.ucsf.edu
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> From: Colin Perkins <csp at csperkins.org>
> Subject: Re: [AG-TECH] One-page summary of AG port usage -- please help us 
complete it
> Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:26:13 +0000
> To: "R. P. Channing [\"Rick\"] Rodgers" <rodgers at nlm.nih.gov>
> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 13 Feb 2006 19:26:20.0438 (UTC) 
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> 
> On 13 Feb 2006, at 19:05, R. P. Channing [Rick] Rodgers wrote:
> >> From: "Ivan R. Judson" <judson at mcs.anl.gov>
> >> Subject: RE: [AG-TECH] One-page summary of AG port usage -- please  
> >> help us
> > complete it
> >> Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 11:41:32 -0600
> >>
> >>
> >> I think what you're hearing is unwillingness for anyone to commit  
> >> to a wrong
> >> answer.
> >>
> >> From memory, the ports for vic, rat, and the rest of the tools are  
> >> allocated
> >> by the venue server. It can be a static allocation configured by the
> >> provider or a dynamic allocation (I think the default).
> >
> > Perhaps my understanding is faulty, but I also believe that the  
> > default is
> > automated assignment by the server.  But that can not be entirely  
> > random --
> > the numbers must be drawn from a range of values appearing  
> > somewhere in the
> > code.  Having that range in a doc. is much better than having nothing,
> > which is what he have now.
> >
> > A subsequent posting from Zsolt Nagykaldi makes the point, which I  
> > emphatically
> > agree with, that port assignment is a crucial problem to solve if  
> > AG is truly
> > going to take off.  He suggests using fixed port numbers with a  
> > registry, which
> > is one solution (and by "fixed" I believe he means that required  
> > ports would
> > remain the same for a given venue over time).  Another might be to  
> > adapt or
> > create a protocol allowing the exchange of port numbers when  
> > entering a venue
> > (which would at least tell you what ports were required, even if  
> > they don't
> > happen to be open at the moment).
> ...
> 
> A long term solution along these lines would be to adopt SIP as part  
> of the signalling mechanisms for AccessGrid, since many firewall/NAT  
> devices these days are becoming SIP aware to support VoIP  
> applications, and can snoop on the signalling to open the required  
> ports. That's a huge job though, and not a near term solution...
> 
> Colin

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