Developing Distributed Computing Solutions Combining Grid Computing and Public Computing

M.Sc. Thesis by Jakob Gregor Pedersen & Christian Ulrik Søttrup

Abstract

As modern research relies more and more on computers, computer cycles are becoming a scarce resource for research projects, as well as a large part of the cost. Some projects try to solve this problem by relying on computer resources donated by the public. The drawback to this approach is that the public resources are stochastic in nature. It is therefore not possible to predict when a study will finish.

Our goal is to create a resource that will supply a scientific research project with reliable compute power using computers donated by the public. To this end we will use BOINC, a newly created open platform that tries to lower the cost of computational resources for research by using donated cycles. We propose to build a bridge between this platform and Grid computing to solve the problem of reliability. Grid computing is a platform that seeks to solve the problem of scarcity. It does this by allowing researchers around the world to buy, sell, or share computational resources. We show that using a mix of these resources it should be possible to supply an inexpensive resource with guarantees on the quality of service. We also propose a design for integrating this resource into the Grid, thus making it easier to use.

Thesis

Thesis
PDF Download
PS GZipped Download

Source

SixTrack
The BOINC fortran API This is a small library that allows BOINC calls to be called from Fortran. It also contains some SixTrack specific calls: to show progress and to unzip the input files. Download
Compaq FTN compiler howto A short howto that describes how to get the BOINC API to work with the Compaq Fortran Compiler. Download
SixTrack source This is the SixTrack Source modified with BOINC calls. We are getting permissions from the different authors to publish this. not yet
SixTrack BOINC example A small standalone version of sixtrack that will demonstrate the graphics. This is for Windows only. Download
BOINC backend for SixTrack This is the source code for the backend utilities required by BOINC when running SixTrack WUs. Includes the strict validator, the assimilator and the job submission scripts for SixTrack. Download

BOINC-Grid bridge
BOINC -> Grid bridge tools The bridge from BOINC to LCG2 which allows BOINC WUs to run on LCG-2 resources. For installation guide and user manual we refer to sections C.1 and C.2 of the thesis above. Download

Grid-BOINC bridge
Grid -> BOINC bridge tools This is an untested prototype of a GRAM::JobManager for BOINC. Download
Grid -> BOINC bridge tools These are some new BOINC tools needed by the JobManager. They come standard with the newer BOINC versions. Download
Both Download