[Opensim-dev] The essence of "grid"

[Justin Clark-Casey]

Diva Canto wrote:
> As I zoom in on issues of trust and security, I'm getting to the point 
> where I need a sharp definition of "grid". What is a grid, besides being 
> a map/lookup service and a user accounts service?
> 
> a) nothing more than that
> b) a trust domain
> 
> If we choose b) then we need to think about OSGrid-like grids. How can 
> we trust that a collection of regions administered by different people 
> will behave? Can OSGrid-like grids survive without ToS being signed 
> between the grid operator and the region operators? What if the ToS is 
> such that it delegates to the region admins any liability on bad things 
> happening in their regions? -- that leaves the user with no central 
> authority to complain, which is as good as not having a trust domain.
> 
> If OSGrid-like grids (i.e. no contracts, or very loose ones; just a map 
> service) are to exist, then it's clear that b) doesn't hold in general. 
> It means that there can be grids that are simply a collection of regions 
> that come together in virtual space, but whose trustworthiness as a 
> whole doesn't exist.
> 
> The Hypergrid is specifically designed to cross trust boundaries. Should 
> the OSGrid-like grids become HG-ed sims that share the same map, and let 
> "grids" be, fully, trust domains?
> 
> You may think I'm getting into philosophy, but this is critical for the 
> technical work I'm doing right now related to authentication, 
> server-side vs client-side authority, etc. If we can assume that a 
> "grid" is a uniform trust domain with a central authority, things will 
> be simpler in many ways. If not, things will be a bit more complicated.
> 
> Thoughts?

I think that you could adopt b) without having a philosophical problem with OSGrid.  I would say that even the 'loose 
contracts' on OSGrid are a form of trust.  If someone were to abuse that trust then I be very surprised if they were not 
removed from the grid.

If OSGrid wanted better security by not sharing the current central services then perhaps they could stipulate that new 
regions had to connect by Hypergrid rather than the current model (once the various gaps in Hypergrid are ironed out)? 
Then, in a sense, all the directly connected regions becomes a large Hypergrid node in the federation that makes up OSGrid.

> 
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Justin Clark-Casey
http://justincc.wordpress.com