Internet2 achieved several milestones in 2007 towards the development and deployment of network performance tools along with an overlying architecture to make performance data readily available to end-users. perfSONAR is a network performance monitoring architecture developed through a global collaboration consortium led by ESnet, GÉANT, Internet2, and RNP (Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa) in Brazil.. By using perfSONAR measurement points deployed throughout networks, members of international scientific communities can track data transfers and identify bottlenecks rapidly and effectively. perfSONAR had releases in Perl and Java for all supported tools during 2007 and is increasingly deployed throughout European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). In the United States, perfSONAR has begun to be deployed at several locations.
The development of the web-based “perf-O-meter” increases the utility of the existing perfSONAR services by making the data instantly visible to end-users. In a demonstration of the Internet2 Dynamic Circuit (DC) Network at the Fall 2007 Internet2 Member Meeting, the readings on the perf-O-meter were used to identify the need for, and display the provisioning of, a dynamic circuit.
perfSONAR, and other performance tools, were used to track network performance for SCinet and for the demonstrations at SC07, the annual international supercomputing conference.