The recent Supercomputing 2000 show highlighted everything from very-high-end networking to super displays for data, and the new approach to distributed computing - Information Grids.
In the scientific community, Portals bring a common interface to a diversity of hardware and software resources. They simplify the logistics of access and scheduling. The objective of the portal is to provide easy Web access to distributed resources, including software, data storage and computational facilities. Grids are coordinated sets of computer resources which may be distributed over geographic areas and across different institutions. To be part of a grid means the systems have a basic set of common functions that support remote access and control.
The terms 'Digital Libraries' and 'Databases' are often used interchangeably, but they are not identical. Digital Libraries usually conform to a Metadata standard such as the Dublin Core. It is sometimes applied to any database that has a browser interface to access the data underneath, regardless of the nature of the storage mechanism.
Today's computers sit on your desk, or in a room in the office building, connected directly to the systems and people they serve. It's a lot like to early days of the industrial revolution, before electric motors. Every shop that needed mechanical power had to have a primary mover such as a water wheel or steam engine at or in the shop, with axles, wheels and pulleys to transfer the power from the primary to where it was used.
Teragrid and the Particle Physics Data Grid are for the future. NASA's IPG and SDSC have operational Meta Clusters. What we learn from these projects will change our future.
I've been writing about meta class systems for some time now. Meta is often used as a prefix to other words, such as metadata, which means higher level data, or data about data. Analogously, metatools are tools which control tools. This hierarchy may be extended beyond two levels. Meta Tools (MT) are tools that enable use and control of resources. This implies that a MT is logically a higher level function than the resources themselves.
Grid computing, which I have called Meta Computing in previous columns, is a rapidly maturing set of concepts and software. There is now enough software and information on the web to enable almost any group to install and build a custom Grid system.
If you've followed the article on Byte (or the one above) and read the suggested presentations, looked at the documentation at Globus, and are ready to build an experimental grid, here are some next steps.
The GRIDS Center is a "Grid Research Integration Deployment and Support Center," according to their web site. They have sections for GRIDS Essentials, Training and Support, News and Outreach, and Downloads. The latest events are posted on the home page. All in all, this looks like an essential site if you are planning or using a grid system.
NSF Middleware Initiative Release 2.0
NMI-R2 is now in official release, featuring the GRIDS Center Software Suite and NMI-EDIT Components. It integrates key software packages, standards, and best practices for science, engineering, and education. Downloads are free to the public. Starting with R2, NMI will issue releases every six months -- in October and April -- to provide the stable, predictable middleware infrastructure that the community has identified as an important need. Click on the New Site link for more details.
To help tie all this together, a community named the Global Grid Forum is available with working groups, meeting reports, newsletters and other contact information. This is the place to go for current information on meta cluster software and to join people working on the same problems.
Fortunately there are alternatives available in toolkits. The broadest approach is the Globus Project.
"The Globus project is developing fundamental technologies needed to build computational grids. Grids are persistent environments that enable software applications to integrate instruments, displays, computational and information resources that are managed by diverse organizations in widespread locations."
Meta cluster software is available as a Public License from Globus. The toolkit is modular, which enables custom solutions that don't require the Legion license or the full set of meta cluster tools. The toolkit provides software for:
Linked to the Globus Project is the Cactus Code Server (CCS). CCS is an application toolset that enables reuse and collaboration:
The development of grid portals has become such a hot subject in the scientific community that there is already a toolkit to assist in the development of a Grid Portal. Not surprisingly, it is called GridPort. It is a collection of tools for the development of user portals on computational grids. The toolkit and GridPort application information is available at: GridPort. More information about GridPort and other portal supporting tools is available in a news release at: News.
The Grid Engine project is an open source community effort to facilitate the adoption of distributed computing solutions. Sponsored by Sun Microsystems and hosted by CollabNet, the Grid Engine project provides enabling distributed resource management software for wide ranging requirements from compute farms to grid computing.
This site is a base for continued collaborative development of the Grid Engine project. You will find Grid Engine distributed resource management software here, as well as evolving ideas for continued evolution of the code. We hope you will find the Grid Engine project useful in the deployment of your distributed computing applications.
Grid Engine 5.3 Supported Platforms:
The future home of physics data may be developing in the Particle Physics Data Grid (PPDG). PPDG is a project of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) and is a collaboration between nine organizations.
The National Science Foundation has just announced a $53 million award to four major supercomputer sites. It is a new form of meta cluster, uniform but distributed, called Teragrid:
One of the earliest meta cluster software developments began at Virginia University in 1993 with the development of Legion. This software was first publicly released in 1997 and is now a supported product for researchers and commercial use. Corporate distribution is handled by Avaki. A good overview of Legion from a user's view is presented here.
Much additional information is available from the NPACI (National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure) search page. Check the Online and EnVision boxes and enter the string 'Grid Computing' in search. I show 53 hits on that phrase, which is a great start to discovery.
A commercial website named EnterTheGrid has a very large list of News, Companies, a Catalog and a Research Repository of sources supplying grid computing, software and services.
Bill's Write has no connection with EnterThe Grid except bidirectional links.
I'll be adding information on clustering because they are often an element of grids.
IEEE International Conference on Cluster
Computing
Program Announcement
When: September 24-26, 2002 Where: Chicago,
Illinois
Why Cluster Computing?
Linux cluster management tool (IBM developerworks)
Cluster starter kit (IBM alphaworks)
Enhanced cluster tools (IBM alphaworks)
All content on this site is Copyright 2001 and 2002 by Bill Nicholls