Desktop EScience

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Desktop E-Science

• Enabling Access to the TeraGrid from the Windows
  Platform

Glenn Wasson, Marty Humphrey
University of Virginia
Supported by NSF Middleware Initiative, SDSC, MS
Research
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Desktop E-Science

• Integration of existing desktop machines with
  E-Science grids

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Desktop E-Science

• Scientists have Windows on their desktop
• Cheap, ubiquitous, common apps (e.g. excel)
• But limited compute power
• Common scientific scenario
• Data resides on Windows desktop
• Compute happens on TeraGrid
• Need tools to allow Windows desktops to interact
  with TeraGrid

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Connecting to TG

• .NET versions of common grid tools
• GridFTP.NET
• GRAM.NET
• First version for Windows of clients and
  services!
• Allows users to
• Stage data
• Run remote computation
• Receive async. notification of job state
• Interface Win security infrastructure to TG
  authn/authz

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GridFTP.NET

• Client and server for GridFTP
• GSI connections using Win security libs
• Authz can be GridMap, SAML, XACML
• Interactive/batch command-line client
• GUI client
• Performance analysis
• J. Feng, L. Cui, G. Wasson, and M. Humphrey.
  Toward Seamless Grid Data Access Design and
  Implementation of GridFTP on .NET. Proceedings of
  the 2005 Grid Workshop (Associated with
  Supercomputing 2005), pp. 164-171.

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GridFTP GUI
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GridFTP.NET

• Demo

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GRAM.NET

• Client and service interoperate with GT4
• Interactive batch client
• Interactive ? Waits to receive async.
  notification of job completion
• Batch client ? Returns after job submission, poll
  for status
• Uses GRAMs XML job descriptions

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GRAM.NET

• Demo

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Security

• GridFTP supports mutually authenticated GSI
• GRAM.NET support mutually authenticated HTTPS
• Auth can also be performed using WS-Security
  message signatures
• Support for GSI proxy certificates
• Uses only Windows native libraries and managed
  code
• Just our bits on a standard Win box
• No other dependencies (e.g. OpenSSL)

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Workflow

• Availability of GridFTP and GRAM clients on
  desktop allows us to take advantage of other
  Microsoft technologies
• Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF)
• Workflow engine
• Downloadable for XP and WinServer
• Will be standard in Windows Vista

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Workflow

• Visual programming using VS.NET 2005
• Graphical display of control flow
• Runs a set of jobs across TG sites
• Job Part A ? Part B
• NCSA and SDSC

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Use case for Science Gateways

• Scientist uses IE to interact with Gateway
• Purpose is to launch remote computation
• Can run gateway on any Win box
• Give the TG your own look-and-feel
• Windows apps as portals
• Available UI elements are richer for Win apps
  than for web pages
• E.g. Manipulation of remote files is easier with
  our GridFTP GUI

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Where do I get it?

• Client and Server software available at
• http//www.cs.virginia.edu/gsw2c/GridTools
• Open source
• Installer bundles
• Installation instructions
• Documentation