Grid Computing: The Way of the Future?

1. Mike Beck, Christopher Koch, Patrick Gerber, Adam Meyer CSC 272 – Spring 2012 Grid Computing: The Way of the Future?

2. Grid Computing… • Imagine… • Millions of computers • Many people • Worldwide • Connect them all to a single supercomputer • Powerful calculations and analysis • As easy as plugging in an outlet

3. History of Grid Computing • Idea from developers of the Multics O.S. • 1965 • Access computing resources like water, gas, electricity • Pay accordingly • Metacomputing • 1980 • Larry Smarr • Interconnecting supercomputer centers to achieve super processing resources • Ancestor to grid computing Source: http://farm1.staticflickr.com/37/88999826_b0c4fe137b.jpg

4. History of Grid Computing • Information Wide Area Year (I-WAY) • Infrastructure built upon metacomputing concept • Strongly influenced following computing activities • Ian Foster • Foster-Kesselman duo • 1997 paper that linked metacomputing to Global Toolkit • Toolkit for grid software development today • Workshop titled “Building a Computational Grid” Ian Foster Source: http://lifeboat.com/board/ian.foster.jpg

5. History of Grid Computing • Foster-Kesselman duo (continued) • 1998 book “The Grid: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure” • Widely considered “Grid Bible” • Thus, Foster and Kesselman considered “fathers” of grid computing The “Grid Bible” Source: http://www.ieuc.org/graphics/bibliography-images/3674893056Foster.gif

6. What is Grid Computing? • Accepted definition • system that coordinates resources that are not subject to centralized control • using standard, open, general-purpose interfaces and protocols • to deliver nontrivial qualities of service. • Unrestricted technology • Any type of computing resources into a single environment • To perform demanding tasks that would normally require large-scale computers • Effectively using resources that would otherwise remain idle.

7. What is Grid Computing? • Can be dedicated to a specific application, but it is more common that a single grid will be used for a variety of purposes. • Distributed system of nodes with non-interactive workloads • Special type of supercomputing that relies on computers connected to a private or public network • Nodes tend to be loosely coupled, heterogeneous, and geographically dispersed • Typically used within scientific applications and researching

8. Design Considerations • 3 major types of grids • Computational Grid • high-performance computing in processor-demanding tasks. • Data Grid • Made up of a large number of smaller storage devices • Network Grid • High-performance network services, providing facilities to speed up network communication • All grids follow same simple structure • A bottom-up implementation makes sure that everything in a single layer is working properly before moving up to the next layer

9. Middleware • Provides services to other software applications • Usually runs as a layer over the operating system to provide a common interface • Developers don’t have to worry about non-core functionality • Organize and integrates the resources of the grid • Automates all of the interactions between nodes • Not a single program • Agents • Brokers • Deals • Housekeeping agents • All automatic at a fraction of the time • Common protocols for communication, authentication, and connectivity

10. Design Hazards • The features that make grid computing unique and advantageous make it dangerous • Security is a high risk - solely by trust • Nodes must trust user will not abuse their access • Interfering with concurrent operations, retrieving private/sensitive data, corrupting data, and/or just performing generally illegal or unethical activity • User must trust the nodes • Working accurately and effectively • Consideration given to preventing malicious participants from producing false, misleading, or erroneous results or using the system for ill-intent. • Authorization levels • Redundant processing

11. Design Hazards • Concern over reliability • Nodes are independent and dispersed in nature • No way to guarantee the availability of the resource • Resource could viably drop out at any time • Time constraints used to check tasks at an estimated interval. If it does not, the task is immediately reassigned to another node.

12. When should a grid be considered? Applications that: • Take a long time to execute • Process large amounts of data • Involve many runs of the same task • Can be broken down into execution units • Involve data that can be broken down into data sets

13. Examples

14. BOINC • Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing • Middleware • Used in: • Rosetta@home • SAT@home • SETI@home “BOINC Logo” Source http://boinc.berkeley.edu/logo/boinc_logo.png

15. SETI • Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence The “ATA” Source http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/071012/071012_telescope_hmed_3p.jpg

16. Allan Telescope Array “ATA Map” Source http://archive.seti.org/ata/images/Antenna_map_sm.gif

17. SETI@home • Powered by BOINC • 35 GB tapes • 2.5 MHz range • Broken up into "work-units" “SETI@home Data” Source http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

18. SETI Screensaver Progress “SETI@home Processing” Source http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

19. Novartis Novartis • Switzerland based global pharmaceutical company • Grid connects over 3,000 of their employees PCs • Provides independent researchers with larger data sets and greater computing power • Geared toward drug discovery Source: http://novartis.com

20. Entelos Entelos • Biotechnology firm in California • Use a Grid for drug discovery and research • Grid is set up by Platform Computing • 125 servers and 20 desktops connected • Simulates thousands of tests on hundreds of “patients” under different circumstances • Processing takes hours instead of days Source: http://entelos.com/index.php

21. World Community Grid World Community Grid • Funded and Operated by IBM • World’s largest non-profit computing grid benefiting humanity • Volunteer Driven • First Project- “Human Proteome Folding” • Current Project- “Computing for Sustainable Water” Source: http://worldcommunitygrid.org

22. CERN CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) • Their grid supports The Large Hadron Collider • Underground particle accelerator • Runs experiments on particles • Generates about 27 TB of data each day, all of which is analyzed for interesting readings • Closed Grid

23. Future of Grid Computing • Natural progression from internet • Everyone is already connected to internet • Networks are improving • Rely on computers for research and analysis • Technology continues to improve • Moore’s Law! • …But how will people interact?

24. Future of Grid Computing • Out-of-box with grid-enabled software • Could connect with a data cable • OS registers user onto grid and records activities • Expand to embrace multiple media types • Security needs to be addressed before growth • Otherwise there is overwhelming potential for consumer market • Indispensable future resource • Research • Education • Everyday computing

25. Works Cited • Online Resources • http://www.gridcafe.org/grid-in-30-sec.html • http://www.trivadis.com/uploads/tx_cabagdownloadarea/grid_computing_en.pdf • http://www.gridsummit.com/Articles/Milestones.htm • http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,763210,00.asp • http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.jsp • http://public.web.cern.ch/public/ • http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7010.pdf • http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-computing/articles/67601.aspx • http://www.thepicky.com/tech/examples-of-grid-computing-real-world/ • http://www.2020vp.com/hossein-blog/2012/03/the-role-of-grid-computing-in-21st-century-communications/ • http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg246649.pdf • http://support.sas.com/rnd/scalability/papers/101948_1204.pdf • http://www.novartis.com/ • http://www.entelos.com/index.php • http://public.web.cern.ch/public/ • http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/071012/071012_telescope_hmed_3p.jpg • http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

26. Thank you! Questions?