Communication Systems for Local Grids
Daniel Minoli · 2004
This section of the book develops more explicitly our focus on networking. We have mentioned a number of times the importance and role of the network throughout the earlier part of the book. In these last three chapters we describe key networking technologies to support and enable the deployment of Grid Computing services at local environments (Chapter 8), intraGrid/enterprise grids environments (Chapter 9), and InterGrid/global grids environments (Chapter 10). These technologies apply at the SAN (Storage Area Network), LAN (Local Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), and GAN (Global Area Network) level. Motivations for looking at grids from a networking perspective include the fact that grid systems have network bandwidth dependencies; and, the fact that grid systems have network latencies dependencies; and, also, the fact that grid systems suffer from synchronization protocol inefficiencies. Network security is also an issue (although, host-security is even more critical). Hence, an appropriate networking infrastructure is required to make Grid Computing a reality. Chapter 8 focuses on Data Center and local connectivity technologies and issues, including Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI), Fibre Channel over TCP/IP (FCIP), and The Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP).