developerWorks: OptimalGrid–Autonomic Computing on the Grid

“Recently, there has been a surge of interest in the area of
Grid computing, a way to enlist large numbers of (usually)
heterogeneous machines to work on a multipart problem. In order to
take full advantage of the enormous opportunities presented by the
advent of Grid computing, use of the grid must become simple.
Developers should be able to create grid-enabled parallel
applications without, themselves, becoming experts in grid or high
performance computing. Also, grid applications (or even larger grid
systems) should be able to reconfigure both themselves and the
resources they use in response to dynamic changes in the grid
environment.

“Early grid systems, such as CONDOR or SETI@home, provided the
functionality to perform remote execution of program pieces over
tens, hundreds, thousands, or even millions of machines. While this
provides an excellent foundation for Grid and distributed
computing, more functionality is needed. CONDOR and SETI@home are
examples of systems that support independently parallel problems,
where each problem piece can be computed independently. These
systems lack the ability to manage connected problems where the
problem pieces are inter-related. They do not provide for
sophisticated management of the problem pieces, account for
correlations between problem pieces, provide a representation of
problem piece requirements, nor do they adapt the problem itself to
dynamic changes in available computing resources.

“OptimalGrid is an attempt to simplify the creation and
management of connected parallel applications on the grid. It is
not a toolkit; it is a self-contained middleware that provides a
grid-enabled collaboration framework and problem-solving
environment. It is a layer between the OGSI infrastructure provided
by Globus and applications that require distribution of
interconnected problems on a grid. OptimalGrid will run on almost
any grid infrastructure, requiring only that a Java runtime be
installed on networked machines. It is designed to optimize
performance to make the most of an existing grid infrastructure.
This article provides a high-level overview of the major
OptimalGrid components and describes architecture for a general
interest audience. A companion tutorial provides more detailed
information for developers who want to understand how to use
OptimalGrid…”

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