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Study on AAA (authentication, authorization and accounting) Platforms For Scientific data/information Resources in Europe
Introduction to the AAA Study
In December 2011 the Consortium composed of the following four partners:
- TERENA (Trans European Research and Education Networking Association), the leading partner;
- LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries);
- UvA (Universiteit van Amsterdam hereafter called UvA);
- DEENK (University and National Library of Debrecen)
was awarded a contract by the European Commission to carry out a study into AAA (authentication, authorisation and accounting) platforms and services for scientific data/information resources. The consortium has worked together with the following experts as indicated in the bid that was submitted and accepted by the European Commission:
- Diego Lopez (Telefonica I+D)
- Klaas Wierenga (Cisco Systems)
- Torbjörn Wiberg (Umeå University)
- Nicole Harris (JISC Advance)
- Andrew Cormack (Janet)
- David Groep (NiKef)
- Mikael Linden (CSC)
This study was concluded in September 2012.
Background for the AAA Study
Supporting and promoting scientific research and innovation as well enabling access to scientific information are key priorities for the European Commission and for the Member States.
The rapid development and adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has changed the way researchers work, enabling almost instantaneous collaboration regardless of physical location and has provided access to an enormous amount of scientific information that can be processed on powerful computational platforms. This new way of working has generated and generates a huge volume of data, whose exchange and curation pose significant challenges.
To address this point. the High-Level Expert Group on Scientific Data (also known as HLEG on Scientific Data) recommends in its report (Riding the Wave ) the creation of a directive to set up a unified authentication and authorisation system, which they envision would pave the way to distributed and collaborative authentication, authorisation and accounting (AAA) for scientific data. As a result of the recommendations of the HLEG on Scientific Data, the European Commission has tendered to award funding to study the feasibility and impact of adapting the existing, widely used AAA platforms and services to be fully compliant with the requirements posed by the use of data/information resources (such as papers).
A bid in responce to the calls for tender was submitted in the summer 2011 and awarded to the Consortium in December 2011.
Aim of the AAA Study
The goal of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of delivering an integrated Authentication and Authorisation (and possibly accounting) Infrastructure, AAI, to help the emergence of a robust platform (Scientific Data Infrastructure) for access to and preservation of scientific information.
The targeted actors in the study are the research and education communities, information service providers (data centres, libraries) and e-Infrastructure/technology providers.
The study was organised in two parts (see picture below):
- Collection use-cases to derive the AAI requirements;
- Evaluation of existing AA Infrastructures as well as their gap analisys to identify their strenght and their challanges. The legal aspects of the different AAIs was also assessed.
The output of the study consists of a set of recommendations for the delivery of an integrated AAI to be used for SDI. The recommendations target different stakeholders; the European Commission for the definition of a possible directive; developers to encourage them to use standard technologies to achieve interoperability; Member States for creating the conditions for such an infrastructure at a national level; and policy makers, particularly those involved in the Data Protection Directive, to create awareness of the impact of legislation on cross-boundary access management.
Read more on the Organisation of the Study...
Results of the Study
The table below summarises the list of high-priority recommendations as identified by the team. The involved stakeholders should act timely to address these points.
Timetable, Deliverables, and Meetings
The study will be done in period from January 2012 till August 2012 with the following deliverables and timetable.
| Name | Deadline | Description |
|---|---|---|
| D1 - Inception Report | Feb 2012 | To elaborate on the methodology that will be used to carry out the study, will provide details on the resources and articulate the objectives |
D2 - Interim Study Report | Apr 2012 | To cover the intermediate results for the objectives listed above, specifically:
|
| D3.1 - Final Study Report | June 2012 | Draft AAA-Study-Report - The final report containing the result and recommendations of the study is available for comments. A new version of the report will be published after the Final Workshop. This version will take into account inputs received during the Final Workshop (see below), the internal meetings with the EC and the feedback received by the consortium liaisons (i.e. REFEDS, TF-EMC2 and other relevant groups). Beside the report the consortium has made available an additional document "FIM and Law"; this document covers legal issues in federated access management. |
| Final Workshop | July 2012 | To present the preliminary results to the study and receive feedback. The workshop was organised at the Commission's premises in Brussels. |
| D3.2 - Updated Final Study Report | Sep 2012 | To include any feedback received during the Final Workshop |
| D4 - Technical Report | Aug 2012 | To report on the use of resources in the performance of the contract including e.g. time-sheets on man/days consumption, travel details, use of consumables, etc. |
About the AAA Study
If you have any question please do not hesitate to contact the study coordinator Licia Florio (florio@terena.org) or TERENA (secretariat@terena.org).