Tutorials

Grid 2007 will host four half-day tutorials on Wednesday, September 19.

Rule-Based Distributed Data Management

Data grids are used to assemble shared collections that may be distributed across multiple administrative domains. As the size of the shared collections grows, we observe that the administrative management becomes onerous. A rule-based data system automates the application of management policies. We will present an open-source data grid, iRODS - integrated Rule-Oriented Data System, and describe the concepts on which the rule-oriented system is based. The tutorial will include installation of the software on Mac/Linux PCs, the creation of a shared collection, the dynamic creation of rules for controlling the environment, and the automated application of the rules to assert policies for authenticity and integrity across the shared collection.

Within iRODS, rules control the execution of remote operations, encapsulated as micro-services. Persistent state information is managed to track the outcome of the application of each micro-service. Rules can be created that query the persistent state information, and compare the result against desired management policies. Rules can be executed periodically, automating management tasks such as integrity and authenticity checks. New rules, new micro-services, and new state information can be added in parallel with existing capabilities. This means that the system can evolve over time. One can create rules that control the migration of a shared collection from an old set of rules and micro-services to a new set of rules. Thus it is becoming possible to create a system that controls its own evolution.

In collaboration with digital library, preservation, and cyberinfrastructure communities, a set of standard micro-services has been identified. Rules are now being developed that control the execution of these micro-services. The iRODS environment supports the dynamic creation of new rules that control the composition of the standard micro-services into the desired capabilities. IRODS is intended to support all distributed data management applications.

SAGA - The Simple API for Grid Applications

Grid middleware is both maturing and becoming more widely deployed. Still, there are only few real-world applications being deployed on a regular basis. One important reason for this is the lack of a suitable programming interface (API) for such applications, that is simple, stable, and available across the major middleware systems like Globus, G-Lite, or Unicore.

Within the Open Grid Forum (OGF), such an API is currently being standardized. The Simple API for Grid Applications (SAGA) strives to be simple by addressing the needs of applications (only), while being independent and thus uniform and stable across the different grid middleware systems and their versions. It hides several intricate aspects of grid environments from the end user, such as complexity, heterogeneity and dynamicity of grid platforms.

This tutorial will give insight in the design of Grid APIs in general, and will, an introduction into the use of the SAGA API. Participants will be able to install a SAGA implementation on their own laptop computer and run some simple programs by themselves.

Synergies between Collaborative Systems and Grids

Grid computing aims to share heterogeneous resources in dynamic environments. The sharing of resources makes possible the collaboration of users belonging to different organizations. We consider that both grid and collaborative systems have common goals. Thus, both fields can take advantage of the advances performed in each other, that is:

• Grids seem to be a suitable environment in which collaborative application can be properly deployed.
• Concepts and techniques strongly linked to collaborative systems can help to develop basic grid functions.

AccessGrid is one paradigmatic example of the first line. Access Grid constitutes a technological approach to access interactive multimedia environments, providing interfaces to grids and visualization frameworks. It is used in distributed and collaborative sessions, meetings, tutorials and training, in general, making easy the collaboration between scattered groups located in a geographically distributed environment.

In the second direction, we have defined AMBLE (Awareness Model for Balancing the Load in Collaborative Grid Environments), an extension and reinterpretation of one of the most successful models of awareness in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), called the Spatial Model of Interaction (SMI). AMBLE manages awareness of interaction through a set of key concepts, to provide task delivery in collaborative distributed systems. This model also applies some theoretical principles and theories of multi-agents systems to create a collaborative and cooperative environment that can be able to provide an autonomous, efficient and independent management of the amount of resources available in a Grid environment.

This tutorial covers both perspectives, describing the synergies between grid computing and collaborative systems, through the demonstration of some of the tools related to these two topics. Furthermore, this tutorial will try to outside the future trends of the combination collaborative environments-grids, with the aim of foreseeing the new generation grids.

Market-based Grid Computing and the Gridbus Toolkit - Building and Managing Utility Grids for Powering e-Science and e-Business Applications

Grid computing, one of the latest buzzwords in the ICT industry, is emerging as a new paradigm for Internet-based parallel and distributing computing. It enables the sharing, selection, and aggregation of geographically distributed autonomous resources, such as computers (PCs, servers, clusters, supercomputers), databases, and scientific instruments, for solving large-scale problems in science, engineering, and commerce. It leverages existing IT infrastructure to optimize compute resources and manage data and computing workloads. The developers of Grids and Grid applications need to address numerous challenges: security, heterogeneity, dynamicity, scalability, reliability, service creation and pricing, resource discovery, resource management, application decomposition and service composition, and qualify of services. A number of projects around the world are developing technologies that help address one or more of these challenges. To address some of these challenges, the Gridbus Project at the University of Melbourne has developed grid middleware technologies that (1) enable the creation of Utility Grids, which provide economic incentive for Grid service providers for sharing resources; and (2) support rapid development and optimal deployment of eScience and eBusiness applications on enterprise and global Grids.

The tutorial covers the following topics:

1. Fundamental principles of grid computing and emerging technologies that help in creation of Grid infrastructure and applications.
2. A Review of major international efforts in developing Grid software systems and applications both in academic, research and commercial settings.
3. Service-Oriented Grid Architecture for realising utility computing environment that supports resource sharing in research and commercial environments. Realization of this architecture by leveraging standard computing technologies (such as Web Services) and building new services that are essential for constructing industrial-strength Grid engines.
4. Gridbus middleware and technologies for creating enterprise and global utility Grids.
5. Issues in setting up Grids that can scale from enterprise to global and deploying applications on them.
6. Case studies on the use of Gridbus technologies in creating applications in the area of Drug Discovery, Neuroscience, High Energy Physics, Kidney Modelling, and Investment Risk Analysis.
7. Live demonstration of Gridbus technologies and their use in creating and deploying sample applications on the World Wide Grid (WWG).
8. Sociological and industrial implications of this new Internet-based distributed computing paradigm and its impact on the marketplace.