• Email your question to discussion@agentcities.org
• Mail the contact person for this site given on the About page (for local issues only please).

Questions Specific to this Monitoring Station

• Which testbed platforms does the monitoring station cover?
  This NS service covers all platforms registered in the Agentcities/openNet global platform directory - including the root and all subdomains. It hence acts as a visualiser for the whole testbed network.
• How often is data refreshed?
  Configuration is still ongoing but the approximate data collection cycle is once every hour for any given platform - hence a platform or test result may take up to two hours or more to appear in the directory.
• Something appears not to be working correctly - who should I contact?
  All queries regarding this service should be sent to the mailing list discussion@agentcities.org.
• My platform is running and connected to the network - why is it not listed?
  All queries regarding this service should be sent to the mailing list discussion@agentcities.org.
• Where can i find other monitoring stations?
  A list of known monitoring stations can be found here.

Agentcities / openNet Testbed Questions

• What is the testbed?
  The testbed is a 24/7 global network of test platforms which enable users to deploy, advertise, discover and re-use service. The objective is to allow different organisations and projects to use a common environment in order to carry out research in large-scale open systems. The network provides a range of infrastructure services (of which this NS is one) and individual projects use this for their own needs - contributing when they can.
• Which projects are using the testbed?
  A list of projects contributing to or related to the testbed can be found at x-opennet.org
• What technology does the network use?
  The network is based on a range of technologies and these change over time as the community moves the underlying specifications onwards. For a complete technical overview see the list of openNet technical recommendations. In summary the network comines:
  • Agent technology - specifically the FIPA Agent Standard
  • HTTP and XML based messaging.
  • Semantic Web technologies - DAML-OIL, OWL and others.
  • Web Services Paradigms - specifically using the W3C Web Services Architecture.
• What kind of tools are available?
  A range of tools are available for different functions of the network - from platforms which provide runtime environments for service-providing agents to open source implementations of the network infrastructure services. In many cases standard Semantic Web / Web Services tools could also be used. A list of relevant tools can be found at here.
• I am involved in a project which might use the testbed - what should i do?
  The best thing to do is to take a look at the documentation and discussion available at and assess if the testbed meets your needs. Subsequently you might like to post questions on discussion@agentcities.org or attend one of the upcoming technical meetings (see web pages at x-opennet.org).
• Where can i find documentation about the network?
  Documentation can be found on agentcities.org.
• Where can i send questions?
  In general questions regarding the testbed should be sent to discussion@agentcities.org. If this public forum is not appropriate for some reasons then see the overall openNet contact pages for someone to contact.
• How are decisions made in the network?
  The resources provided by the project are shared between multiple projects and open to anyone for use. Technical decisions therefore potentially affect many users - for this reason technical decisions are made through discussion and review of technical recommendation documents and approved both the Agentcities/openNet technical steering committee and the community at large.

Technical Questions

• What does it mean for a platform to be listed here?
  The NS service is passive - scanning the Platform directory for available platforms in the network and only if it discovers a platform beginning to contact it and request test data. If a platform is listed therefore this means it has been discovered in the directory and the NS has begun actively tracking it.