1st Edition

Grid Computing Techniques and Applications

By Barry Wilkinson Copyright 2009
    392 Pages 164 B/W Illustrations
    by Chapman & Hall

    388 Pages 164 B/W Illustrations
    by Chapman & Hall

    Designed for senior undergraduate and first-year graduate students, Grid Computing: Techniques and Applications shows professors how to teach this subject in a practical way. Extensively classroom-tested, it covers job submission and scheduling, Grid security, Grid computing services and software tools, graphical user interfaces, workflow editors, and Grid-enabling applications.

    The book begins with an introduction that discusses the use of a Grid computing Web-based portal. It then examines the underlying action of job submission using a command-line interface and the use of a job scheduler. After describing both general Internet security techniques and specific security mechanisms developed for Grid computing, the author focuses on Web services technologies and how they are adopted for Grid computing. He also discusses the advantages of using a graphical user interface over a command-line interface and presents a graphical workflow editor that enables users to compose sequences of computational tasks visually using a simple drag-and-drop interface. The final chapter explains how to deploy applications on a Grid.

    The Grid computing platform offers much more than simply running an application at a remote site. It also enables multiple, geographically distributed computers to collectively obtain increased speed and fault tolerance. Illustrating this kind of resource discovery, this practical text encompasses the varied and interconnected aspects of Grid computing, including how to design a system infrastructure and Grid portal.

    Supplemental Web Resources
    The author’s Web site offers various instructional resources, including slides and links to software for programming assignments. Many of these assignments do not require access to a Grid platform. Instead, the author provides step-by-step instructions for installing open-source software to deploy and test Web and Grid services, a Grid computing workflow editor to design and test workflows, and a Grid computing portal to deploy portlets.

    Introduction to Grid Computing

    Grid Computing Concept

    History of Distributed Computing

    Computational Grid Applications

    Grid Computing Infrastructure Development

    Grid Computing Courses

    Grid Computing Software Interface

    Job Submission

    Introduction

    Globus Job Submission

    Transferring Files

    Schedulers

    Scheduler Features

    Scheduler Examples

    Grid Computing Meta-Schedulers

    Distributed Resource Management Application (DRMAA)

    Security Concepts

    Introduction

    Symmetric Key Cryptography

    Asymmetric Key Cryptography (Public Key Cryptography)

    Public Key Infrastructure

    Systems/Protocols Using Security Mechanisms

    Grid Security

    Introduction

    Grid Security Infrastructure (GSI)

    Delegation

    Higher-Level Authorization Tools

    System Infrastructure I: Web Services

    Service-Oriented Architecture

    Web Services

    Web Service Implementation

    System Infrastructure II: Grid Computing Services

    Grid Computing and Standardization Bodies

    Interacting Grid Computing Components

    Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA)

    User-Friendly Interfaces

    Introduction

    Grid Computing Workflow Editors

    Grid Portals

    Grid-Enabling Applications

    Introduction

    Parameter Sweep

    Using an Existing Program on Multiple Grid Computers

    Writing an Application Specifically for a Grid

    Using Multiple Grid Computers to Solve a Single Problem

    Appendix A: Internet and Networking Basics

    Appendix B: Linux and Windows Command-Line Interfaces

    Appendix C: XML Markup Language

    Appendix D: Globus Installation Tutorial

    Glossary

    Answers to Self-Assessment Questions

    Index

    A Summary, Further Reading, Bibliography, Self-Assessment Questions, and Programming Assignments appear at the end of each chapter.

    Biography

    Barry Wilkinson is a professor of computer science and the director of the computer science master’s program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

    … the most outstanding aspect of this book is its excellent structure: it is as though we have been given a map to help us move around this technology from the base to the summit … I highly recommend this book …
    —Jose Lloret, Computing Reviews, March 2010