OneSAF Repository Framework: Defining, Storing and Interchanging XML Data 03SSIW093

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OneSAF Repository Framework Defining, Storing
and Interchanging XML Data03S-SIW-093

• Boaventura (Ben) DaCosta
• Tim Lucas
• Robin Outar
• Doug Helton

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Agenda

• OneSAF Overview
• XML Overview
• OneSAF Repositories Framework
• Overview
• Product Line Architecture Framework (PLAF)
• System Repository Services (SRS)
• OneSAF Repositories
• Configuration Management, Distribution, and
  Change Notification
• Future Efforts

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OneSAF Overview
A composable, next generation Computer-Generated
Forces (CGF) that can represent a full range of
operations, systems, and control process (TTP)
from entity up to brigade level, with variable
level of fidelity that supports multiple Army
Modeling and Simulation (MS) domains (ACR, RDA,
TEMO) applications
Software only
Automated Composable Extensible Interoperable
Platform Independent
Fielded to National Guard Armories RDECs /
Battle Labs Reserve Training Centers All Active
Duty Brigades and Battalions
Designed to eventually replace legacy entity
based Simulations BBS - ModSAF - JANUS - CCTT
SAF AVCATT SAF
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eXtensible Markup Language Overview
XML is a meta-language, not a programming language
XML is a family of technologies which includes
XML, XML Schema, XSL/T, XPATH
XML helps define rules (grammar) for designing
structured data
XML is a language for describing languages
XML was created by the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) and released in 1998
Think of structured data as spreadsheets, address
books, configuration files, etc.
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eXtensible Markup Language Overview
lttablegt lttrgtlttdgtEMPNOlt/tdgtlttdgtEMPNAMElt/tdgtlt/tr
gt lttrgtlttdgt123456lt/tdgtlttdgtJohn Adamslt/tdgtlt/trgt
lt/tablegt
XML looks like HTML, but it isnt
HTML specifies what each tag means and how the
text will be formated
HTML
HTML tags elements for presentation
XML uses tags to delimited data and what the tags
mean is left to the client
lt?xml version1.0?gt ltEMPLOYEEgt ltEMPNOgt123456
lt/EMPNOgt ltEMPNAMEgtJohn Adamslt/EMPNAMEgt lt/EMPLOY
EEgt
XML tags elements as data
XML is a vehicle for sharing and interchanging
structured data
XML
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OneSAF Repositories Framework Overview

• The Repositories Framework is an intricate part
  of the OneSAF Data Architecture
• The framework provides a mechanism in which to
  manage a number of different file formats,
  including XML, gifs, pngs, text files, property
  files, and proprietary binary files in a
  distributed manner across multiple hosts that
  support simulations
• Also provides configuration management,
  distribution, and change notification mechanisms

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OneSAF Repositories Framework Overview

• XML and its associated XML Schemas are also an
  intricate part of the OneSAF Data Architecture
• XML is used predominately as a data interchange
  format (DIF) so that data and meta-data can be
  defined, stored, exchanged, and shared both
  within OneSAF and between other simulations
• Most of the parametric and initialization data
  and meta-data housed in the OneSAF Repositories
  is stored in XML documents conforming to OneSAF
  DIFs represented in XML Schema

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Product Line Architecture Framework
Each of these products consists of a set of
interacting components, composers, tools, and
utilities
OneSAF is composed of a set of products which are
themselves comprised of components which can be
combined in different ways to create a unique
product
A static view of the System Compositions,
Products, and Components that compromise the
OneSAF Architecture can be seen in the PLAF
The PLAF organizes, categorizes, and defines the
layered software structure to incrementally meet
the OneSAF requirements
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System Repository Services
The data services provided by the SRS act as an
Application Programming interface (API) to the
OneSAF Repositories
The OneSAF Repositories Framework is composed of
System Repository Services (SRS), which provide a
uniform mechanism to create and manage both local
and remote repository data and meta-data across
all OneSAF Products and Components
These SRS are accessible by OneSAF Products and
Components in order to work with data stored in
the OneSAF Repositories
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System Repository Services
Products and components that want to access data
and meta-data housed in the OneSAF Repositories
must do so through these data services
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System Repository Services
The SRS can be decomposed into two types,
domain-neutral core services and value-added data
services
Value-added data services on the other hand
provide domain-specific APIs to particular data
representations, such as the consistent access to
common data produced and used by several
components
Core services provide primitive data services and
access to data and meta-data
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OneSAF Repositories
OneSAF data and meta-data are stored in
repositories

• There are 7 OneSAF Repositories
• Software Repository (CVS)
• Knowledge Acquisition/Knowledge Engineering
  (KA/KE) Repository
• System Composition Repository (SCR)
• Military Scenario Repository (MSR)
• Environment Repository (ER)
• Parametric and Initialization Repository (PAIR)
• Simulation Output Repository (SOR)

These repositories are electronic storage
mechanisms that keep all the information, data,
and meta-data for one logical area pertaining to
OneSAF
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OneSAF Repository Framework
The biggest contribution of the framework is its
configuration management, change notification,
and distribution services Seamless configuration
management of data and meta-data has been
achieved using the Concurrent Versioning System
(CVS) Distribution services provide a vehicle in
which to synchronize all data across nodes
keeping data integrity between all repository
instances Broadcast notification services inform
clients of changes made to data stored in the
repositories.
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Configuration Management

• Since OneSAF is a data-driven system, loss of a
  single data file or an invalid edit of any data
  could prove very costly
• Configuration management has been integrated so
  that data can be seamlessly version controlled
  and backed up using CVS
• The Repositories Framework uses the jCVS API to
  handle configuration management

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Configuration Management

• Not all data is configuration managed. Instead
  clients of the Repository Framework can choose
  when to configuration manage data
• For example, checkpoint information is localized
  to each node, and therefore, is not configuration
  managed
• On the other had, military and simulation
  scenario XML documents are configuration managed
  as they are written to the repositories

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Distribution and Change Notification

• As data is committed and configuration managed,
  clients on other nodes are notified of new,
  updated, and removed data files in the
  repositories
• Clients can then, using the Repository Framework,
  request that the new, updated, or removed files
  be reflected on their local repositories instance
•  

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Future Efforts

• The OneSAF Repositories Framework is in place and
  used by the numerous OneSAF Products and
  Components
• As needs of clients will change, so will the
  services offered by the Repositories Framework

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Contact Information

• Boaventura (Ben) DaCosta
• Dynamics Research Corporation
• 407-380-1200
• bdacosta_at_drc.com
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• Tim Lucas, Robin Outar
• Science Applications International Corporation
• 321-235-7637, 321-235-7660
• tlucas_at_ideorlando.org, routar_at_ideorlando.org
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• Doug Helton
• Lockheed Martin Corporation
• 321-235-7728
• dhelton_at_ideorlando.org