Grid Middleware

Title:

Grid Middleware. Gregor von Laszewski and Kaizar Amin. Chapter 5: Middleware for Communications, ed. Qusay H. Mahmoud. Wiley Publishers 2004. (pdf)

Abstract:

The creation of Grid middleware is an essential aspect of the software engineering effort to create an evolving layer of infrastructure residing between the network and applications. In order to be effective, this Grid middleware manages security, access, and information exchange to

• develop collaborative approaches for a large number of users, including developers, users, and administrators, that can be extended to the larger set of Internet and network users;

• transparently share a wide variety of distributed resources, such as computers, data, networks, and instruments, among the scientific, academic, and business communities; and

• develop advanced tools to enable, manage, and expedite collaboration and communication.

Scenarios that influence the state-of-the art middleware development include challenging worldwide efforts to deliver scientific experiment support for thousands of physicists at hundreds of laboratories and universities. Such an advanced environment is possible only if the middleware supports high-end and high-performance resource requirements to allow managing and analyzing petabytes of data while using end-to-end services under quality and security provisions.

In this chapter we present information about research activities to develop such computing environments that are supported through Grid middleware. We address the following questions:

• What does the term Grid mean?

• How does the Grid middleware help to develop a collaborative science and business environment?

• What trends exist in Grid middleware development?

• What applications exist that use Grid middleware?

• Where can we find more information about Grids?

• What will the future bring?