Caveat Emptor: Making Grid Services Dependable from the Client Side

Grid computing relies on fragile partnerships. Clients with hundreds or even thousands of pending service requests must seek out and form temporary alliances with remote servers eager to satisfy them. Yet, despite the high quality and reliability of these servers and their software, unexpected events and behavior are common. Communication networks, power systems, operating systems, middleware and operator intervention all conspire to attack even the most carefully arranged client-server interaction. To survive in such an imperfect world, customers of grid resources must be equipped with resilient client software that tolerates failures while aggressively representing their interests. Following our tradition of developing technology that harnesses the power of opportunistic resources, the Condor Project is actively engaged in developing the basic mechanisms for building dependable and effective grid computing clients. Guided by our experience and the practical needs of production users...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2002
• Where: PRDC
• Authors: Miron Livny, Douglas Thain
• Keywords: Applied Computing, Grid Computing, Grid Computing Clients, Grid Computing Relies, PRDC 2002