[kepler-dev] question about kepler

[dejw]

Hi,

I have questions about actor's repository in kepler - it supports
public/private access levels to simplify the process of uploading actors.
So is it hard coded in kepler? Or maybe it is configured somewhere? So I
understand PUBLIC/PRIVATE that are roles? Can I extend somehow the
available roles?
Metacat supports fine grained, role-based access control of the objects
it stores - so is it possible to extend roles supported in kepler as a
client to the metacat?

You wrote that Metacat was one of candidates as the repository - could
you mention here others which did you take into consideration and why
Metacat was used actually?

Could you explain also what exactly is stored in the repository? The
whole KAR archive ? So I understand I can put into repository some
completely new actor (with all classes and jars etc).
And if I have some standard kepler installed somewhere I can connect to
the repository and use this new actor - it is imported to the local
directory with actors with all classes and libs?

Regards,
Dawid


Matthew Jones wrote:
> Hi,
>
> The actor repository allows you to upload an actor along with its MoML
> document and documentation.  The actor is stored in a Metacat server
> (http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/metacat) and the documentation
> is indexed to enable searching the repository through a web-based
> interface.  The repository can also be searched from within the Kepler
> application to locate remote actors of interest.  Metacat uses LDAP as
> its directory server to authenticate users.  Metacat supports fine
> grained, role-based access control of the objects it stores, but we
> currently are only supporting public/private access levels to simplify
> the process of uploading actors.  This could be reconsidered if there
> is a use case for more access levels.
>
> Kepler communicates with Metacat using the EarthGrid web services
> interface. Any server that supports the appropriate web services
> interface could technically be used as an actor repository within
> Kepler. Metacat is one such server, and there may be others that would
> be candidates.
>
> You can indeed deploy a version of metacat at your institution and use
> it for your actor repository by configuring the Kepler client to point
> at the new repository.
>
> Kepler automatically prompts a person to login when they attempt to
> perform an operation requiring authentication, such as uploading an
> actor to the repository.  There is also a Login menu that allows
> someone to login at any time.
>
> In terms of web-based UIs, there are several efforts.  Hydrant is
> indeed an excellent example, but others are also developing systems. 
> The GEON project has  been running Kepler in the GEON portal
> successfully for several years, and Paul Allen at the Cornell
> Laboratory of Ornithology is developing an interface for biodiversity
> research.  The interest in this topic is significant, and so we will
> probably be forming a working group to improve Kepler's ability to be
> run in a portal environment.
>
> Regards,
>
> Matt
>
> P.S. Please do not cross-post to kepler-dev and kepler-users -- pick
> the appropriate list for your question -- most developers are on both
> lists.
>
> dejw wrote:
>> Hi Jianwu again,
>>
>> I want to ask more about this below:
>>>>
>>>> 3. Actor repository - I understand that it is possible to have one
>>>> common actor repository for some organization? Kepler uses LDAP for
>>>> it? Are there some access rights for actors or something like this?
>>>> Is it possible to grant some roles to users when LDAP
>>>> authentication is used? Is it possible to require login while
>>>> starting Kepler?
>>>      You can find the current actor repository at
>>> http://library.kepler-project.org/kepler/. Yet it is not widely used
>>> currently. We are trying implement more comprehensive actor
>>> repository mechanism.
>>>>
>> 1. So you use LDAP server to store actors? or something else?
>>
>> 2. How about access rights and user roles as regard access to actors
>> in such repository?
>>
>> 3. I understand I can deploy such repository inside some organization
>> and configure kepler to use it?
>>
>> 4. Can I set kepler to require login before start editor? to
>> recognize user somehow?
>>
>> Dawid
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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>