Applying Peer-to-Peer Techniques to Grid Replica Location Services

Peer-to-peer systems offer attractive system management properties, including the ability of components that join the network to self-organize; scalability up to tens of thousands of members; the ability of the network to automatically repair its topology after node failures; and techniques for maintaining redundant information to improve reliability and load balancing. We investigate applying peer-to-peer techniques to Grid services that are oriented toward resource discovery. In particular, we apply the Chord structured peer-to-peer overlay network to the Globus Replica Location Service, which allows registration and discovery of data replicas. We describe the design and performance of a Peer-to-Peer Replica Location Service (P-RLS) that uses the Chord algorithm to self-organize P-RLS servers and exploits the Chord overlay network to replicate P-RLS mappings adaptively. We present performance measurements and simulation results for the P-RLS system. We also discuss outstanding issues for applying peer-to-peer techniques to Grid resource discovery services.     

Towards Efficient Execution of MPI Applications on the Grid: Porting and Optimization Issues

The message passing interface (MPI) is a standard used by many parallel scientific applications. It offers the advantage of a smoother migration path for porting applications from high performance computing systems to the Grid. In this paper Grid-enabled tools and libraries for developing MPI applications are presented. The first is MARMOT, a tool that checks the adherence of an application to the MPI standard. The second is PACX-MPI, an implementation of the MPI standard optimized for Grid environments. Besides the efficient development of the program, an optimal execution is of paramount importance for most scientific applications. We therefore discuss not only performance on the level of the MPI library, but also several application specific optimizations, e.g., for a sparse, parallel equation solver and an RNA folding code, like latency hiding, prefetching, caching and topology-aware algorithms.     

Fault tolerant and prioritized scheduling in OGSA‐based mobile Grids

Grids and mobile Grids can form the basis and the enabling technology for pervasive and utility computing due to their ability to being open, highly heterogeneous and scalable. In this paper we present a scheme for advancing quality of service (QoS) attributes, such as fault tolerance and prioritized scheduling, in OGSA‐based mobile Grids. The fault tolerance is achieved by producing and managing sufficient replicas of tasks submitted for execution on the mobile Grid resources. We design a simple and efficient prioritization scheme, which allows the scheduling of the tasks submitted by the Grid users as distinguished priorities that can be managed and exploited as a QoS parameter by the Grid infrastructure operator. The results that are presented show the efficiency of the proposed scheme in being simple and additionally enriching with reliability and QoS features the applications that are built on the concept of mobile Grids. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

First experiences with the Polish Optical Internet

The paper describes the new development programme of the Polish information infrastructure. The programme, called in Polish PIONIER: (English—PIONEER) Polish Optical Internet, Advanced Applications, Services and Technologies for the Information Society, has been proposed to the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research and has been accepted. The aim of the programme is to create an advanced infrastructure together with tools, services and applications available to the entire scientific community and eventually to government and local administrations as well as society in general. Services and applications are expected to appear as selected pilot realizations in order to verify deployed technologies. Some of the pilot realizations and testbeds are also presented in the paper.     

State-based predictions with self-correction on Enterprise Desktop Grid environments

The abundant computing resources in current organizations provide new opportunities for executing parallel scientific applications and using resources. The Enterprise Desktop Grid Computing (EDGC) paradigm addresses the potential for harvesting the idle computing resources of an organization’s desktop PCs to support the execution of the company’s large-scale applications. In these environments, the accuracy of response-time predictions is essential for effective metascheduling that maximizes resource usage without harming the performance of the parallel and local applications. However, this accuracy is a major challenge due to the heterogeneity and non-dedicated nature of EDGC resources. In this paper, two new prediction techniques are presented based on the state of resources. A thorough analysis by linear regression demonstrated that the proposed techniques capture the real behavior of the parallel applications better than other common techniques in the literature. Moreover, it is possible to reduce deviations with a proper modeling of prediction errors, and thus, a Self-adjustable Correction method (SAC) for detecting and correcting the prediction deviations was proposed with the ability to adapt to the changes in load conditions. An extensive evaluation in a real environment was conducted to validate the SAC method. The results show that the use of SAC increases the accuracy of response-time predictions by 35%. The cost of predictions with self-correction and its accuracy in a real environment was analyzed using a combination of the proposed techniques. The results demonstrate that the cost of predictions is negligible and the combined use of the prediction techniques is preferable.     

Characterizing Grids: Attributes, Definitions, and Formalisms

Grid systems and technologies have evolved over nearly a decade; yet, there is still no widely accepted definition for Grids. In particular, the essential attributes that distinguish Grids from other distributed computing environments have not been articulated. Most approaches to definition adopt a static view and consider only the properties and components of, or the applications supported by, Grids. The definition proposed in this paper is based on the runtime semantics of distributed systems. Rather than attempt to simply compare static characteristics of Grids and other distributed computing environments, this paper analyzes operational differences, from the viewpoint of an application executing in both environments. Our definition is expressed formally as an Abstract State Machine that facilitates the analysis of existing Grid systems or the design of new ones with rigor and precision. This new, semantical approach proposes an alternative to the currently accepted models for determining whether or not a distributed system is a Grid.     

Grid-Controlled Lightpaths for High Performance Grid Applications

Grid applications call for high performance networking support. One attractive solution is to deploy Grids over optical networks. However, resource management in optical domains is traditionally very rigid and cannot successfully meet the requirements of Grid applications, such as flexible provisioning and configuration. In this paper, we present a customizable resource management solution for optical networks where users can create lightpaths on demand and manage their own network resources. Thanks to a Grid-centric system architecture, lightpath resources can be shared among users and easily integrated with data and computation Grids.     

减速场分析仪透射率与栅网结构关系分析

为对科大全对称串节磁镜 (KMAX) 装置中等离子体离子能量分布和离子温度进行测量, 需要设计一种减速场分析仪, 而分析仪测出的数据被认为是复杂的, 因为透射率与栅网的结构存在密切关系。结合实际物理环境, 通过COMSOL创建三栅网减速场分析仪模型, 对比不同能量离子束、不同栅网结构以及不同入射角对透射率的影响。栅网间透镜效应对于低能离子束透射率具有重要影响, 而高能离子束透射率趋近于光学透射率, 栅网对齐分布具有更高的透射率, 相同光学透射率网格中圆形网格透射率更高, 光学透射率越高栅网实际透射率也越高。透镜效应对于不同能量离子束的影响不同, 栅网网格形状、单栅网光学透射率、栅网分布均对总透射率有影响, 针对KMAX装置设计的分析仪有效入射角度范围0°~10°, 栅网结构与透射率关系的研究结果对于减速场分析仪设计具有一定的参考意义。     

搅混格架结构对棒束通道内单相流场影响的数值研究

采用数值方法对搅混格架(简称格架)内单相流体三维流场进行了研究.采用混合网格技术,标准k-ε湍流模型,改进的速度压力耦合算法SIMPLEC求解了雷诺时均的连续性方程、动量方程,得到了格架内各截面的速度场和压力场,分析了格架各部件对流场的影响.结果表明:弹簧和刚突的存在会形成横流和涡流,但形成的横向速度较小;在格架附近对轴向速度影响较大,对格架的阻力特性影响也较大;交混叶片对横向速度影响较大,对轴向速度有掺合平均的作用.     

Grids with multiple batch systems for performance enhancement of multi-component and parameter sweep parallel applications

In this work, we evaluate the benefits of using Grids with multiple batch systems to improve the performance of multi-component and parameter sweep parallel applications by reduction in queue waiting times. Using different job traces of different loads, job distributions and queue waiting times corresponding to three different queuing policies (FCFS, conservative and EASY backfilling), we conducted a large number of experiments using simulators of two important classes of applications. The first simulator models Community Climate System Model (CCSM), a prominent multi-component application and the second simulator models parameter sweep applications. We compare the performance of the applications when executed on multiple batch systems and on a single batch system for different system and application configurations. We show that there are a large number of configurations for which application execution using multiple batch systems can give improved performance over execution on a single system.