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The Importance of Lightweight Middleware

The Importance of Lightweight Middleware. Peter Coveney Centre for Computational Science University College London. What is Grid Computing?. Grid Computing is: distributed computing performed transparently across multiple administrative domains.

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The Importance of Lightweight Middleware

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  1. The Importance of Lightweight Middleware Peter Coveney Centre for Computational Science University College London

  2. What is Grid Computing? Grid Computing is: distributed computing performed transparently across multiple administrative domains. The definition is very general -- it applies to all forms of digital activity As such, it represents a new computing paradigm worthy of a £250M spend.

  3. About Grids It follows from the definition that • ease of use is absolutely central -- it ain’t a grid without this feature • the problem of security is intrinsic to grid computing Adapted from James Suter

  4. Network user Grids require ALL of… • Hardware • Networks • Middleware • Users • Policies To be worthwhile, a Grid has to be greater than the sum of its parts

  5. Complexity and the Grid One of the most highly developed skills in contemporary Western civilization is dissection: the split-up of problems into their smallest possible components. We are good at it. So good, we often forget to put the pieces together again. Alvin Toffler (1984) This is true of the state of the Grid today!

  6. Analysis of Software Success http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/chaos_1994_1.php http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/unfinished_voyages_1.php

  7. User Engagement Essential “One need only look at the history of any large-scale software system to recognise the importance of an iterated cycle of development, deployment and feedback in producing an effective, widely used product.” “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) Report to the President of the USA, June 2005 http://www.nitrd.gov/pitac

  8. HPCx Leeds Manchester Oxford RAL Global Grid Infrastructure UK NGS NGS Starlight (Chicago) US TeraGrid Netherlight (Amsterdam) SDSC NCSA PSC UKLight DEISA UCL New, State-of-the-art, proven to work All sites connected by production network Run DL_Poly, NAMD, LAMMPS, LB3D, etc.. simulations Network PoP Computation Visualization

  9. GT3 (OGSI- obsolete) GT4 (Web services compliant… but not yet available) OGSI::Lite WSRF::Lite Middleware on production grids • NGS • TeraGrid GT2 • EGEE • DEISA: Unicore RealityGrid successes are due to “lightweight” middleware 2004 debacle Provides services/capabilities for scientific grid computing not available from GT2

  10. Lightweight Middleware • Easy to install & use • Provides transparent access to resources • Small learning curve for new users • Easily wraps around current “legacy” applications Greatly facilitates user involvement on grids • Usability • Transparency

  11. WEDS Web Service Environment for Distributed Simulation • Developed to make life easier for scientists • Written in Perl, easy to install in user space, easy to modify • Small learning-curve for new users – removes need to learn new programming methods • Easy to deploy • Interoperable with other WSRF implementations • For use within an administrative domain Download from: http://www.realitygrid.org/WEDS

  12. AHE - Application Hosting Environment • Applications, not jobs • Based on WEDS – applications as Web Services • Operates unintrusively over multiple administrative domains • Lightweight hosting environment for running unmodified “legacy” applications (e.g. NAMD, LB3D, LAMMPS, DL_POLY, CASTEP, VASP) on grid resources – NGS, TeraGrid, … • Simple clients – Globus is NOT needed on desktop Designed to provide scientists with application specific services to utilize grid resources in a transparent manner

  13. (In)Security on the Grid • Grid “security”: • PKI (digital certificate) based • Crosses organisational trust boundaries • Unfamiliar to users and system administrators • Complex to deploy and understand • Problems for users: • Digital certificates difficult to obtain and use …so users detest them • So difficult that users share certificates (and not just within a single institution) • Multiple copies of certificates scattered across the grid (not always protected) • Some users refuse to use the Grid if it will involve certificates

  14. The Grid at the Watershed The e-Science programme is past its Hey-day Level of human intervention is still far too high -- a show stopper for many scientists Will UK scientists be using grids in 5 years? Only if the middleware available is “lightweight”. This is why our workshop is so important.

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