Department of Computing Science and Mathematics University of Stirling The ACCENT Policy Wizard

26 Pages·2014·0.55 MB·English

Department of Computing Science and Mathematics
University of Stirling
The ACCENT Policy Wizard
Kenneth J. Turner and Gavin A. Campbell
Technical Report CSM-166
ISSN 1460-9673
April2014

Department of Computing Science and Mathematics
University of Stirling
The ACCENT Policy Wizard
Kenneth J. Turner and Gavin A. Campbell
DepartmentofComputingScienceandMathematics
UniversityofStirling
StirlingFK94LA,Scotland
Telephone[phone],Facsimile+441786464551
[email protected]
Technical Report CSM-166
ISSN 1460-9673
April2014

Abstract
The ACCENT project (Advanced Component Control Enhancing Network Technologies) developed a practical
and comprehensive policy system for call control/Internet telephony. The policy system has subsequently been
extendedformanagementofsensornetworks/windfarmsandofhomecare/telecare.
This report focuses on a web-based policy wizard that acts as the primary interface between end users and
thepolicy system. The policywizardhas anintimateknowledgeof the APPEL policylanguage (Adaptableand
Programmable Policy Environment and Language). The wizard allows end users to create policies using near-
natural language without knowing or seeing XML, and to upload them to the policy system. The wizard also
providesanumberofconveniencefunctionssuchaspredefinedpolicytemplates, editingandactivatingexisting
policies,anddefiningpolicyvariables.
RelativetotheversionofDecember2005,thisTechnicalReporthasbeenupdatedasfollowstoreflectchangesin
thepolicywizard:
• ThewholereporthasbeenupdatedtoreflectlaterworkonthePROSENandMATCHprojects.Asaresult,the
ACCENTandAPPELacronymshavechanged. Callcontrol,however,remainsaretheprimaryillustrationof
theapproachinthisreport.
• Chapter1isnownamed‘Introduction’,andabrief‘Conclusion’chapterhasbeenaddedinsection4.
• Chapter2hasbeenupdatedtosheetscreenshotsofthenewpolicywizard. Thewizardnowhandlesresolu-
tionpolicies.
• Thewizardnowmakesuseofontologies,asdescribedbrieflyinsection3.1.Alldomain-specificknowledge
is held outside the wizard, so that largely common code can be used across all domains. As a result, the
wizardconfigurationnowalsoreferstothePOPPETserver.
• Section3.6describesanewcodestructurethatallowsdifferentversionsofthewizardtocoexist.
• Abriefexplanationhasbeengiveninsection3.8ofwhatisinvolvedinsupportinganewapplicationdomain
withthewizard.
RelativetotheversionofApril2009,thisTechnicalReporthasbeenupdatedasfollowstoreflectchangesinthe
policywizard:
• Section1hasbeenrevisedtoreflectthesupportofgoals.
• Separatescreenshotshavenowbeenprovidedforregularusersandadministrativeusersinsections2.2and
2.3. Inparticular,thedefinitionofgoalsandprototypeshasnowbeenillustrated.
• Section3.2nowmentionsusewithPaxWeb/JettyaswellaswithTomcat.
• Section3.5nowdescribestheuseoftemplatesforgoalsandprototypepolicies,andanewsuffixfortemplate
resolutionpolicies.
• Section3.6hasbeenslightlyrevisedtodescribedthecurrentstructureofthecode.
• Section3.8hasbeenslightlyrevisedtodescribewhatisinvolvedinsupportinganewdomain.
RelativetotheversionofJune2011,thisTechnicalReporthasbeenupdatedasfollowstoreflectchangesinthe
policywizard:
• Figure2.4insection2.2nowhastemplatepoliciesinadifferentorder.
i
• Section3.2nowhasarevisedcodebaseforaudiorecording,compatiblewithlaterversionsofJava.
RelativetotheversionofFebruary2013,thisTechnicalReporthasbeenupdatedasfollowstoreflectchangesin
thepolicywizard:
• Themappingfilesdescribedinsection3.3arenowalwaysinternaltothewizard.
RelativetotheversionofApril2013,thisTechnicalReporthasbeenupdatedasfollowstoreflectchangesinthe
policywizard:
• Thenewcapabilityforcheckingpoliciesisnowmentionedinsections2.2and2.3.
• Thenewpolicy.message.portpropertyisnowmentionedinsection3.3.
ii
Contents
Abstract i
1 Introduction 1
2 PolicyWizardUserInterface 2
2.1 GeneralPrinciples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2 NormalUsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.3 AdministrativeUsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 PolicyWizardInternals 11
3.1 UseofOntologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2 IntegrationwithOtherTools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.4 LanguageLevels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.5 Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.6 CodeOrganisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.7 Internationalisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.8 NewDomains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4 Conclusion 17
iii
List of Figures
2.1 LoginScreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 MainMenu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3 ExistingPolicies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.4 TemplatePolicies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.5 EditVariables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.6 EditAudioClip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.7 EditStatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.8 CheckPolicies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.9 EditPolicy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.10 MainMenu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.11 EditUsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.12 TemplatePolicies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.13 EditResolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.14 EditPrototype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.15 EditEffect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.16 EditGoal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.17 GoalList . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.18 EditMeasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1 LanguageLevelsforCallControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
iv
Chapter 1
Introduction
The ACCENT project(AdvancedComponentControlEnhancingNetworkTechnologies,http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/
accent) developed a practical and comprehensive policy system for call control/Internet telephony. The policy
systemhassubsequentlybeenextendedformanagementofhomecare/telecareontheMATCHproject(Mobilising
Advanced Technologies for Care at Home, http://www.match-project.org.uk). The policy system has also been
extended for management of sensor networks/wind farms on the PROSEN project (Proactive Control of Sensor
Networks,http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~kjt/research/prosen).
Thisreportfocusesonaweb-basedpolicywizardthatactsastheprimaryinterfacebetweenendusersandthe
policysystem. ThepolicywizardhasanintimateknowledgeoftheAPPELpolicylanguage(AdaptableandPro-
grammablePolicyEnvironmentandLanguage,http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/appel). Thewizardmakesuseofdomain-
specific ontologies so that it can be used in any application. The wizard allows end users to create goals and
policiesusingnear-naturallanguagewithoutknowingorseeingXML,andtouploadthemtothepolicysystem.
Thewizardalsoprovidesanumberofconveniencefunctionssuchaspredefinedtemplates,editingandactivating
goalsandpolicies,anddefiningpolicyvariables. Besidesregularpolicies,thewizardsupportsprototypepolicies
forunderpinninggoalsandresolutionpoliciesforhandlingconflictsamongpolicyactions.
[4, 5, 9] give some general background to the ACCENT project. There are technical reports describing the
ACCENTPolicySystem[7],theACCENTPolicyServer[6],andtheAPPELPolicyLanguage[8]. Ontologiesfor
the policy wizard are discussed in [1, 2, 3]. These and other papers are available from http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/
accent.
1
Chapter 2
Policy Wizard User Interface
2.1 General Principles
Thepolicywizardisnotawizardinthesenseofaprogramthattakestheuserthroughawell-definedtasksuchas
creatingaformletterorcreatinganInternetconnection. Howeveritisawizardinthatitprovidesauser-friendly
interface to a complex technical task (defining goals and policies in XML form). The wizard is the primary
interfacetothepolicysystemforordinaryendusers. Forthewizarddescribedinthisreport,importantaspectsof
itsdesigninclude:
• The wizard is web-based. This means that it can be used from anywhere, including away from the user’s
normal base. Other wizards have been prototyped using voice-based input (VoiceXML) and digital pen-
basedinput(Anoto,Logitech).
• Thewizardsupportsmultipleapplicationdomains(currentlycallcontrol,homecareandsensornetworks).
However, one instance of the underlying policy system (policy server, policy store) can support only one
domainatatime. Eachdomainthereforeneedsaseparateinstanceofthepolicysystem(e.g.ondifferent
computers).
• Thewizardismultilingual(currentlyEnglish,FrenchandGerman). Thisallowstheusertousethepolicy
systemirrespectiveoftheuser’spreferredlanguage.
• Thewizardsupportsmultiplelevelsofexpertise(beginner,intermediate,expert,administrator).Thisallows
a beginning user to see the minimum of the policy language, but an expert to see the full depth of its
capabilities.
• Thewizardhasextensivehelpwhendefininggoalsandpolicies. Whenafieldhastobefilledin,hintsare
provided. Hovering over a link provides a ‘tool tip’. Online help is also provided in the user’s preferred
language.
Sincethewizardisdesignedtobeuser-friendly,littleneedstobedoneheretoexplaintheinterface.Thewizard
doesnot(currently)support‘undo’. Itisthereforesuggestedthatgoalsandpoliciesbecreatedandcheckedstep-
by-step. Ifamajorerrorismadeduringediting,clickCancelandstartagain.
Thewizardisdomain-independent. However, forillustrationthescreenshotsinsection2.2fornormalusers
focus on its use for call control/Internet telephony, while the screenshots in section 2.2 for administrative users
focusonhomecare/telecare. Useofthewizardisverysimilarinallapplicationdomains.
2.2 Normal Users
• Theloginscreeninfigure2.1isstraightforward.
• Themainmenuinfigure2.2appearsafterloggingin.
• Choosing‘ExistingPolicy’leadstofigure2.3,whereanexistingpolicycanbeselectedforediting,enabling,
disabling,ordeletion.
2