Gale Technologies

Resource Adapters

Gale Technologies partners with world-class providers of software and technology that enhance and enable the innovative capabilities of our resource automation and orchestration solutions. 

 

 
Resource Adapter Framework

The Resource Adapter Framework is a fundamental component of the overall GaleForce architecture. The Resource Adapter Framework is an extensible and modular layer in the GaleForce architecture that supports adapters or drivers to a wide range of products and technologies, including:

The Resource Adapter framework is a fundamental element that provides flexibility and extensibility to the GaleForce architecture, and which enables GaleForce to be used across a wide range of technologies and applications.

The Resource Adapter Framework supports a wide range of protocols and methods including Telnet, SSH, SNMP, Sockets, TL1, XML, HTTP(S), SOAP, WSDL, CORBA and various TMF standards. Once adapters are created using a Software Development Kit (SDK) they can simply be "plugged-in" to the GaleForce system, without any changes to the operating software.

In the GaleForce system, resources – and therefore Resource Adapter plug-ins – are organized into several categories: Managed Resources, Control Resources, and Repository Resources.
 

  • Managed Resource Adapters
  • Control Resource Adapters
  • Repository Resource Adapters

Managed Resource Adapters

In the GaleForce system, Managed Resource Adapters provide integrations to the devices referred to as Managed Resources, which are devices or elements that are explicitly specified in topology designs, scheduled by the users, and actually set up and configured in live or active session reservations. In test labs, they are often referred to as the devices under test (DUTs.)

Managed resources may include physical switches, routers, servers, SAN switches, and test equipment, as well as virtual resources such as virtual machines (VMs), virtual network resources, and virtual storage elements. The types of control methods used for managed devices may include operations such as Acquire Control, Discover Inventory, Send Command, Apply OS Image, Load Configuration, Save Configuration, Snapshot, Suspend, Restore, or Reboot.

Managed Resource Adapters Examples

Gale Technologies supports Managed Resource Adapters for a wide range of companies and products that include the following just as a sample:

Networking, Server, and Storage Technology:

  • Alcatel-Lucent
  • Brocade
  • Ciena
  • Cisco
  • EMC
  • Fujitsu
  • HP – Procurve and Proliant
  • Hitachi Data Systems
  • Huawei
  • IBM
  • Juniper
  • NetApp
  • Siemens
  • Sun
  • QLogic

Test Equipment:

  • IXIA
  • JDSU
  • Spirent
 

Control Resource Adapters

In the GaleForce system, Control Resource Adapters provide integrations to the devices referred to as Control Resources, which comprise the control and connection plane of the lab, and which help create or realize the topology designs that are authored by the users. They are not explicitly specified in topology designs, but rather are implicit, working “behind the scenes” to connect and configure the Managed Resources and to perform various control actions.

Control Resources may include physical layer switches (electrical or optical), Layer 2 switches, power controllers, and terminal servers. Examples of the types of methods used for control devices may include operations such as Acquire Control, Make Link, Break Link, Configure VLAN, Join VLAN, Power On, or Power Off.

Control Resource Adapters Examples

Gale technologies provides CRAs for products from many vendors in many categories some of which are listed below:

Layer 1 (Physical Layer) Switching:

  • Apcon
  • Calient
  • Curtiss-Wright
  • Cytec
  • ETA Comm
  • MRV Communications
  • Sycamore Networks

Layer2 (VLAN) Switching:

  • Cisco
  • HP ProCurve

Power Controllers:

  • APC
  • Avocent
  • Cyber Switching
  • MRV Communications
  • Server Technology
  • WTI

Terminal Servers:

  • Avocent
  • Cisco
  • Cyclades
 

Repository Resource Adapters

In the GaleForce system, Repository Resource Adapters provide integrations to the various storage elements that hold software images and files for software provisioning and configuration of managed resources.

Repositories may be storage arrays based on Storage Area Networking (SAN) or Network Attached Storage (NAS) technology, source control systems or simple file servers. GaleForce can have multiple repositories which may be distributed across multiple sites or domains. Examples of the types of methods used for repositories may include Acquire Control, Send Command, Create Volume, Map LUN, Unmap LUN, or TFTP Boot.

Repository Resource Adapters Examples

Gale technologies provides Repository Resource Adapters for a wide range of products and technologies across several categories that include the following as just a sample:

Storage Arrays and Storage Networking Products:

  • Brocade
  • Hitachi Data Systems
  • HP Storageworks
  • NetApp


Source and Version Control Systems:

  • IBM ClearCase
  • Concurrent Version System (CVS)
  • Subversion


File Servers Protocols:

  • FTP
  • TFTP
  • HTTP
  • HTTPS