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How to build a grid?

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by kimberlytay

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Hi all,

I'm very curious and excited about the Grid technology. Currently, there are quite a number of organizations that make use of the Grid to facilitate their projects. I'm doing a research and by the end of the year, my research mates and I are supposed to build a Grid at our campus and get it connected to other campus Grids in the country.

My dilemma is, how to build a grid? We've done a lot of research on different grid software packages. And we came to a conclusion that, most of the projects going on now were built using the Globus Toolkit. E.g. LHC (Large Hadron Collider) project (by CERN) is based on Globus plus some other software. Is it a must to use Globus in order to build the basic infrastructure of a Grid? Or, does it depends on what we want to do with the Grid, e.g. complex computation, 3D-image rendering, virtual meeting workspace, or smooth video-conferencing system?

5 replies

by apotheon

As far as I'm aware, there are one open source solution and several distinct commercial solutions for grid computing available. You should be able to learn more at the Wikipedia article on grid computing.

by kimberlytay

Hi again,

As the first step in trying to "experience" the Grid, my lecturer recommended my research mates and I to install client software in the campus PCs. So, we chose to install the FightAIDS@Home client software which is managed by World Community Grid. Before installing it on campus PCs, we installed it in our personal laptops to try it out first-hand.

However, we have some "questions" (doubts) here. The FightAIDS@Home client software is very easy install and it provides two different ways to run it. First, it can run in the background (e.g. while we're watching movie on the laptop). Second, it can also be specified to only run as a screensaver too.

Now, here's my question: Can the FightAIDS@Home client software run after I "logoff" from Windows? My opinion is: No. Why? Because when I logoff, all my running programs are closed including the FightAIDS@Home program. So, is there anything that I can do to make my FightAIDS@Home program run even after I logoff?

Well, why am I interested to know whether the client software is able to run even after logging off from the PC (logoff, not shutdown the PC)? It's because all PCs in my campus network are in a "logoff" state until students come and login with their usernames & passwords. I'm thinking of a way to "contribute" the idle resources of my campus PCs when they're in a "sleeping" state. So, once again, is it possible to make the software run in a "logoff" state?

by dawgit

Gotten your bearings and concepts on this yet? Do you still need more info? -d

by kimberlytay

Well, from what I understand, the Grid can be used in many fields of applications. We can have a grid which does complex computations, data storage, virtual meeting room (virtual workspace) via video conferencing, and so on. The Grid is all about client and server interacting with each other; with minimal interaction from the client though, in general. I can conclude that generally, the client is the "volunteer" who volunteers to donate his/her cpu power, resources & idle time to the Grid for various applications. Most of the time the server is the one who does most of the work (i.e. job scheduling, authorization & authentication of users, job distribution, collection of results, etc.) and the client won't need to "care" about the client software (which runs in the background). Basically, those are the concepts that I understand about the Grid.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I have questions regarding a particular distributing computing project, FightAIDS@Home. I was trying to figure out how to get the client software running as a service. What I did was, I participated in a few forums (including TechRepublic) and I finally got a solution from the World Community Grid (WCG) forum. One of the technical advisors provided me some technical assistance via useful links that have what I wanted.

So, after a few hours of reading, I found out that I can run the FAAH project as a service by using BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing). BOINC enables any distributed computing project to: 1. Run all the time (in the background or as screensaver), 2. Run only when users are logged in the PC, and 3. Run as a service (even when users are logged of the PC). Originally, I'm using WCG's United Devices client software which downloads data from the central server and then performs calculation in about 24 hours, after which it will obtain another task for my laptop to perform. However, United Devices (UD) can only run as a screensaver and can always run in the background (default setting); it cannot run as a service. Moreover, UD is proprietary and I don't think I can get more information about it. So, I downloaded BOINC and I'm still experimenting with it as of now.

Well, I guess all I need now is time to experiement and play around with BOINC. Most probably I'll need some assistance when deploying BOINC in a campus LA network; in terms of setup and configuration. I'll be back soon together with my progress and updates :)

by gopal_nagdara

how many time u work on these technology
actually i am new in these research. Can u give me the some material about these technology

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