Automatic deployment and interoperability of grid services
Gábor Kecskeméti, Yonatan Zetuny, Gabor Z. Terstyanszky, Stephen C. Winter, Tamás Kiss, Péter Kacsuk · 2005
The Grid Execution Management for Legacy Code Architecture (GEMLCA) enables exposing legacy applications as Grid services without re-engineering the code, or even requiring access to the source files. The integration of current GT3 and GT4 based GEMLCA implementations with the P-GRADE Grid portal allows the creation, execution and visualisation of complex Grid workflows composed of legacy and non-legacy components. However, the deployment of legacy codes and mapping their execution to Grid resources is currently done manually. This paper outlines how GEMLCA can be extended with automatic service deployment, brokering, and information system support. A conceptual architecture for an Automatic Deployment Service (ADS) and for an x-Service Interoperability Layer (XSILA) are introduced explaining how these mechanisms support desired features in future releases of GEMLCA. 1. Legacy Code Services for the Grid The Grid requires special Grid enabled applications capable of utilising the underlying middleware and infrastructure. Most Grid projects so far have either developed new applications from scratch, or significantly reengineered existing ones in order to be run on their platforms. This practice is appropriate in this context, where the applications are mainly aimed at proving the concept of the underlying architecture. However, as the Grid becomes stable and commonplace in both scientific and industrial settings, a demand will be created for porting a vast legacy of applications onto the new platform. Companies and institutions can ill afford to throw such applications away for the sake of a new technology, and there is a clear business imperative for them to be migrated onto the Grid with the least possible effort and cost. Grid computing is now progressing to a point where reliable Grid middleware and higher level tools will be offered to support the creation of production level Grids. A high-level Grid toolkit should definitely include components for turning legacy applications into Grid services.