Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Meteor Implementation
Presented by:
Tim Cameron &
Justin Greenough
Part I
Meteor Overview &
Steps to Implementation
Meteor
• Meteor is a webbased universal access
channel for financial aid information.
Information from multiple data providers
is aggregated to assist the financial aid
professional and the borrower with the
financial aid process, repayment, and
default aversion. Meteor is a collaborative
effort and access is provided at no charge.
3
Meteor Services
• Access timely, studentspecific financial
aid information from multiple sources
• Onestop, common, online customer
service resource
• Currently provides information on FFELP
and alternative loans (vision to include
Direct Loans, Perkins Loans, Pell Grants,
and state aid) 4
Meteor Volume
• In two short years, Meteor has attained
(in production or currently planned
for implementation):
– 81% of FFELP Loan Guarantee Data
– 60 % of FFELP Loan Servicing Data
– 64 % of Alternative Loan Data
5
Meteor in Relationship to Other
Industry Initiatives
Meteor ELMNet NSLDS
Use of industry
messaging In In In
standards for Data Development Development Development
Inquiry
Loan Origination &
Transactions
Transaction N/A Yes
only
Processing
6
Meteor in Relationship to Other
Industry Initiatives
Meteor ELMNet NSLDS
One
Financial Aid
Professional or Student
Two
Index Providers
8
Three
How Does Meteor Work –
Access Providers
• A Meteor Access Provider allows inquirers
to obtain information through its web site
by hosting a copy of the Meteor software,
which generates the request to the Data
Providers for the borrower’s information.
• Access providers can be Schools,
Guarantors, Lenders, Servicers, or
Secondary Markets. 9
How Does Meteor Work –
Access Providers
• Meteor provides the Access Providers
with software that verifies the status of
the providers, generates requests for
information, receives the response
messages, performs the duplicate and
best source logic, and displays the
default screens.
10
How Does Meteor Work –
Index Providers
• A Meteor Index Provider is used to
identify the location(s) of the
requested student/borrower
information.
• The current Meteor Index Provider
is the National Student
Clearinghouse
11
How Does Meteor Work –
Index Providers
• In the future, other indices will be
added based on the type of data to
be incorporated into the network.
• This is only an index (pointer) to
the actual data providers. The
index does not provide “data” to
Meteor.
12
Clearinghouse as Meteor Index
• 100% of FFELP guarantee volume
• Over 5.6 million Direct Loan Program
accounts
• Over 13.2 million FFELP servicer accounts
• Over 1.6 million Perkins/Private/Alternative
Loan servicer accounts (including some
managed by schools themselves)
13
How Does Meteor Work – Data
Providers
• A Meteor Data Provider hosts a copy
of the Meteor software that enables the
software to respond to the Access
Provider’s request for information,
supplying data from their system.
• Data Providers are typically Lenders,
Servicers, Guarantors, and Secondary
Markets. 14
How Does Meteor Work – Data
Providers
• In the future, the Dept. of
Education, State Grant authorities,
Schools, and others could become
Data Providers.
15
How Does Meteor Work – Data
Providers
• Meteor provides the data providers
with software that verifies the
authenticity of the information
request, formats the response
message, and filters data based on
the role of the end user.
16
Reliability and Security
• Data is sent directly from the data
provider’s system and is not altered in
any way within Meteor.
• All data is electronically transmitted
securely using SSL encryption.
• Independent Audit showed no serious
vulnerabilities.
17
Authentication
• No central authentication process
• Utilizes transitive trust model
• Each Access Provider uses its existing
authentication model (single signon)
• Level of trust assigned at registration
18
Authentication
• Worked with Shibboleth Shibboleth, a project of
Internet2/Mace, is developing architectures, policy
structures, practical technologies, and an open
source implementation to support interinstitutional
sharing of web resources subject to access controls.
In addition, Shibboleth will develop a policy
framework that will allow interoperation within the
higher education community.
• Project participants include Brown University, Ohio
State, Penn State and many other colleges and
universities. 19
Building Trust and Integrity
• The Meteor Advisory Team sought input and
expertise regarding privacy and security from
the sponsoring organizations and the NCHELP
Legal Committee.
• Analysis was provided in relation to GLB and
individual state privacy laws.
• The analysis revealed that Meteor complied
with GLB, FERPA, and known state privacy
provisions. 20
Steps to Participation
• Provider downloads and completes the
following forms from the NCHELP
web site:
– Meteor Participant Certification
– Registration Profile
– Authentication Profile(s)
– Technical Profile
21
Steps to Participation
• Authentication protocol review
• Provider is setup in the test
registry
• Installation of software
• Testing
22
Steps to Participation
• Provider is setup in the production
registry
• Move to production
• Final connectivity testing
• GO LIVE!
23
Part II
Basic Meteor Setup
Which Type of Provider Are
You?
• Authentication Only – Log users in
and pass off to another Access
Provider
• Access/Authentication – Log users in
and provide Meteor lookups
• Data Provider – Provide access to
loan data on the Meteor network
25
Three Major Steps
or Drivers
26
Step 1 Install
• Java Application Server
– An App Server is a web server that serves “Java
Servlets” and JSP pages (similar to ASP, PHP,
CGI, etc.).
– Meteor is known to work on several app
servers. Greatest support is available for
Apache Tomcat, which is free.
27
Step 1 Install
• Meteor Application(s)
– Meteor applications will “deploy” out of the box
on most app servers.
• Install Custom Drivers/Connectors
– Install any drivers/connectors necessary to access
your legacy data using Java (SQL, Mainframe
bridge, etc.).
28
Step 2 Configure
• Create Key Pair and Configure SSL
– Create a JKS (Java) key pair.
– Have certificate signed by a known CA
(Verisign, Thawte, etc.).
– Private key resides on Meteor server.
– Public key is placed in the Meteor Registry.
– Configure App Server to use SSL Communication
Only.
Note: You generally cannot use an existing IIS or Apache SSL
certificate. They’re not stored in the same format. 29
Step 2 Configure
• Why Use a Key Pair?
– Each key can “unlock” data that was
“locked” by the other
key but cannot unlock info it locked itself.
– If a document is modified in transit,
“unlocking” it will fail.
– Assures a valid meteor participant is
requesting the data.
30
Step 2 Configure
• Why Use a Key Pair?
– Assures that a request hasn’t been
modified by some thirdparty.
– Standard SSL encrypts the request and
response.
– Thirdparty signature (Verisign, Thawte,
etc.) verifies that each organization is
valid/reputable.
31
Step 3 – Customize
• EndUser Authentication
– Meteor does not ship with its own
authentication system.
– Must choose one of two methods:
• Implement Java code “IUserAuthentication” to
“talk to” your existing authentication system.
• Implement code in your existing system to create
a “SAML Assertion” that can be passed to Meteor
to verify that the user has been loggedin.
(Recommended) 32
Step 3 – Customize
• EndUser Authentication
– Meteor team can provide sample
Java code for method #2.
– Method #2 can theoretically be
performed in any language. Some
proofs of concept exist.
33
Step 3 – Customize
• What is a SAML Assertion?
– SAML = “Security Authentication Markup
Language.”
– SAML assertions are XML documents.
– A SAML Assertion says:
• I logged this user in.
• I’m “Level N” sure of the person’s identity (N=1
to 3).
• This user has a certain access role (FAO,
Borrower, etc.). 34
Step 3 – Customize
• What is a SAML Assertion?
– SAML assertions digitally signed with an
entity’s private key.
– SAML assertions can be used for single
signon applications.
35
Step 3 – Customize
• Authentication Using SAML (Recommended)
– Organization’s existing enterprise signon system is
modified to create a SAML Assertion after
authenticating the user.
– User clicks form submit button and assertion is passed
to Meteor via HTTP Post.
– Meteor validates SAML Assertion against the public
key in the Meteor Registry and grants or denies access
as appropriate.
Note: Java classes and sample code exist to create the
SAML Assertion. 36
Step 3 – Customize
• Data Provider Customization
– How do I link Meteor to my data?
• Implement DataServerAbstraction
Interface
• Retrieving Data
• Creating the Response
– Where can I find help?
37
Step 3 – Customize
• Implementing DataServerAbstraction
Interface
– public MeteorDataResponse
getData(MeteorContext context, String ssn)
– Security Token
• Contained within the MeteorContext
• Requestor Role (Borrower, FAO, CSR)
• Opaque User Id
38
Step 3 – Customize
• Retrieving Data
– Use existing Meteor sample code
• Predefined database schema
• Data must be loaded into database
– Direct access to production data
• SQL embedded
• Real time access to data
– Transaction Calls
• RPC, MQ, SOAP, CICS Gateway 39
Step 3 – Customize
• Creating the Response
– MeteorDataResponse Object
– Mapping Data
• Data is mapped to container classes.
• Start early in the process.
• Seek help from business experts.
– Meteor software handles formatting the
response.
40
Step 3 – Customize
• Help Resources
– Meteor Tech Team List Server
– Sample Code
– http://www.meteorcentral.com
• Source Code
• Production Releases
– http://www.nchelp.org/meteor.htm
• Documentation
• Meteor Setup Guide 41
Contact Information
We appreciate your feedback and comments.
We can be reached at:
Tim Cameron: Meteor Project Manager
meteor@nchelp.org
Justin Greenough: Member, Meteor Technical Team
jgreenough@riheaa.org
42