An open discussion list for topics related to the eduGAIN interfederation service.

[Kristof Bajnok <bajnokk AT niif.hu>]

Hi Tomasz,

On 2016/09/07 15:15, Tomasz Wolniewicz wrote:
> The algorithm is very simple, however not necessarily very just.
> Federation feeds are aggregated in the order that federations started
> supping metadata to eduGAIN and when a clash is found the new entity is
> automatically dropped by pyFF. No comparison of entities is performed,
> other entities are imported normally.

Thank you. Indeed simple and effective, and I'm happy that it doesn't
result in feed drop. For the current edugain trust level, I think its
problem surfaces only in the cases of entity metadata change, when it
needs to happen at every registrar, otherwise mystic errors might occur.
Good luck, CLARIN ERIC! :-> (Also Terena/Geant.)

However, if in the future we want to implement some safeguards against
rogue registrations, we will need to agree on a more advanced algorithm
for resolving clashes. I've already started thinking on it, but does
anybody have any ideas?

> If you go to the entities database you can use the entity clashes
> filter. You can set "Show clashes" which will show you the normal
> listing but also display clash warnings, or you can set "Only clashes"
> which will limit the listing to entities where clashes  appeared.
> Currently there are 13 such entities in eduGAIN. If you click on the
> CLASH link you will see which federation actually supplies the entity
> and what are the other federations where this entity has appeared. (All
> this is explained in the Entity clashes tooltip.)

Pretty useful, thanks! I wonder if the affected federations are aware of
this.

Kristof