This document provides an overview of grid computing frameworks. It introduces grid computing and discusses its key concepts. Several popular grid frameworks are described, including Globus Toolkit, Gridbus Toolkit, UNICORE, and Legion. Each framework is summarized in terms of its origins, architecture, and impact. The document concludes by noting that grid frameworks facilitate the development of grid applications and management of grid infrastructure.

1. Seminar: Parallel Computing
Grid Computing Frameworks
Sabbir Ahmmed

2. Outline
➔
Introduction to Grid Computing
➔
Grid Construction
➔
Grid Frameworks
➔
Globus Toolkit
➔
Gridbus Toolkit
➔
UNICORE
➔
Legion
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3. Outline
➔
Comparison
➔
Other emerging frameworks
➔
Conclusion
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4. Introduction to Grid Computing (I)
End of 1998 the concept of "Grid computing" was introduced in the monograph "The
Grid: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure" by I. Foster and C. Kesselman.
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5. Introduction to Grid Computing (II)
➔
The notion of grid computing:
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The term grid is chosen as an analogy to a power grid !
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Grid computing is a special type of parallel computing
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How it differs from supercomputing?
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Few essential concepts related to grid computing:
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Utility computing
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Volunteer computing
➔
CPU scavenging
➔
Loosely coupled system
➔
Virtual supercomputers
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6. Introduction to Grid Computing (III)
➔
grids typically share at least some of the following characteristics:
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They are numerous.
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They are owned and managed by different, potentially mutually-distrustful
organizations and individuals.
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They are potentially faulty.
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They have different security requirements and policies.
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They are heterogeneous, e.g., they have different CPU architectures, run different
operating systems, and have different amounts of memory and disk.
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They are connected by heterogeneous, multi-level networks.
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They have different resource management policies.
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They are likely to be geographically-separated (on a campus, in an enterprise, on a
continent).
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7. Introduction to Grid Computing (IV)
Compute Grids Data Grids
Access Grids Knowledge Grids
Bio Grids Commodity Grids
Campus Grid Tera Grids
Science Grids Sensor Grids
Cluster Grids
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8. Introduction to Grid Computing (V)
➔ Grid Computing Initiatives World-wide ( source: http://www.gridguide.org/ )
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9. Grid Construction (I)
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General Principles (four main aspects characterize a grid)
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Multiple administrative domain and autonomy
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Heterogeneity
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Scalability
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Dynamicity or adaptability
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10. Grid Construction (II)
➔
The steps necessary to realize a grid
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Integration of individual software and hardware components
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Deployment of
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Low level middleware
➔
User level middleware
➔
Development and optimization of distributed
applications.
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11. Grid Construction (III)
➔
A Layered Grid Architecture
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12. Grid Construction (IV)
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13. Grid Frameworks (I)
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A software framework (or middleware)
➔
contains executables or tools
➔
provides inversion of control
➔
has a default behavior
➔
extensibility
➔
non-modifiable framework code
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14. Grid Frameworks (II)
●
Grid framework (or middleware), is a software stack that facilitates
●
writing grid applications
●
and manages the underlying grid infrastructure
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Grid frameworks can be categorized by the grid layers.
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Core middleware and toolkit:
➔
Globus, Gridbus (Alchemi, GridSim), UNICORE, Legion, GridGain, gLite
➔
User-level middleware and toolkit:
➔
SAGA, MetaMPI, Cactus, GrADS, Gridport, WebFlow, XtremeWeb
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15. Globus Toolkit (I)
➔
Open source software toolkit for developing Grid applications
➔
The de facto standard for open source grid computing infrastructure
➔
Supported by industry leaders such as IBM, Intel, HP with others (The Globus
Consortium)
➔
R&D project conducted by the “Globus Alliance”
➔
Work on the toolkit first began in 1996. Historically, the Globus Toolkit was used
widely by three groups of people
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Grid builders
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Application developers
➔
Application framework developers
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16. Globus Toolkit (II)
➔
Provides three main groups of services accessible through a security layer :
1. Resource Management
2. Data Management
3. Information Services
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17. Globus Toolkit (III)
Impact: Globus Toolkit have enabled many exciting new scientific and business
grids. (Source: http://www.globus.org/alliance/impact/)
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18. Gridbus Toolkit (I)
➔
Originated from Gridbus (GRIDcomputing andBUSiness) project.
➔
Toolkit for Service Oriented Grid and Utility Computing
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Supports development of grid infrastructure for eScience and eBusiness
applications.
➔
Uses economic models (supply and demand) for efficient management
of shared resources.
➔
Promotes commoditization of grid services at various levels:
➔
Raw resources level
➔
Application level
➔
Aggregated service level
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19. Gridbus Toolkit (II)
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20. Gridbus Toolkit (III)
Impact: Gridbus Toolkit have enabled several exciting scientific and business grids.
(Source: http://www.cloudbus.org/applications.html)
● High Energy Physics and Grid Networks (BelleDataGrid): Melbourne School of Physics
● NeuroGrid: Brain Activity Analysis on the Grid : Osaka University, Japan
● KidneyGrid - Distributed Kidney Models Integration: Melbourne Medical School
● Austronomy: Australian Virtual Observatory
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21. UNICORE (I)
➔
UNICORE (Uniform Interface to Computing Resources)
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is a ready-to-run Grid system including client and server software
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is part of the European Middleware Initiative.
➔
Project was initially funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
➔
UNICORE was started before "Grid computing"
➔
developed by several European partners under the leadership of Jülich Supercomputing
Centre.
➔
platform-independent, based on open standards and technologies such as Web Services
➔
mostly written in Java and is available as open source under BSD license and available at
SourceForge. Current version is UNICORE 6
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22. UNICORE (II)
➔
The architecture of UNICORE 6 is three-layered in
➔
client layer,
➔
service layer
➔
and system layer
UNICORE 6 Architecture
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23. UNICORE (III)
Impact: UNICORE6 has been the middleware of choice in numerous grids in EU.
(Source: http://www.unicore.eu/community/projects/)
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24. Legion (I)
➔
Legion is an object-based metasystem developed at the University of
Virginia.
➔
The software developed under the Legion project has been
commercialized by a spin-off company called Avaki Corporation
➔
The Legion system uses an object-oriented approach. In the Legion system
the following apply
➔
Everything is an object.
➔
Classes manage their instances
➔
Users can define their own classes
➔
The Legion interfaces are described in an Interface Definition Language
(IDL).
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25. Legion (II)
➔
Legion core objects support the basic services needed by the metasystem.
➔
Legion objects are independent, active, and capable of communicating
with each other via unordered non-blocking calls.
➔
Some core objects in Legion are:
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Host objects: represent processors in Legion.
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Vault objects: represent persistent storage.
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Context objects: Context objects map context names to Legion object IDs
➔
Binding agents: A binding agent maps object IDs to physical addresses
➔
Implementation object: hides the storage details of object implementations
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Class object : is used to define and manage its corresponding Legion object.
Class objects are given system-level responsibility.
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26. Legion (III)
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27. Comparison (I)
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28. Comparison (II)
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29. Comparison (II)
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30. Other Emerging
Frameworks
➔
Alchemi: a .NET-based grid computing framework. For more
information on Alchemi please visit http://www.alchemi.net/
➔
Gridgain 2.0: Java Grid Computing Framework Released by GridGain
Systems.
➔
Since its release in August 2007 GridGain became the fastest growing Java grid
computing infrastructure with over 10,000 downloads
➔
more than 500 unique projects utilizing it
➔
and deployed in a dozen production systems.
➔
gLite: a framework for building applications tapping into distributed
computing and storage resources across the Internet
➔
used in the CERN LHC experiments and in other scientific domains
➔
adopted by more than 250 computing centres and used by more than 15000
researchers in Europe and around the world.
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31. Conclusion
➔
Opinion!
➔
Critical assessment !!
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32. References
➔
[01]: Parvin Asadzadeh et. al. “Global Grids and Software Toolkits: A
Study of Four Grid Middleware Technologies”.
➔
[02]: Mark Baker et. al. “Grids and Grid technologies for wide-area
distributed computing”
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33. Questions
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