Grid computing and Web services standards

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A grid is a collection of distributed computing resources available over a network that appears to an end user or application as one large virtual computing system. A grid can span locations, organizations, machine architectures, and software boundaries to provide unlimited power, collaboration, and information access to everyone connected to the grid. The effect of grid computing is to make network computing more like a utility. You deliver computing power to where you need it only when you need it; you pay for what you use, when you use it.

Like the Internet, grids started in the scientific community but are now being deployed by business enterprises. Recently, IBM and Globus collaborated to combine open grid protocols and Web services standards, producing the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA). OGSA is a distributed interaction and computing architecture that is based around the grid service, enabling interoperability on heterogeneous systems so that different types of systems can communicate and share information. It leverages the emerging Web services standards to define the new Grid Services Definition Language (GSDL) interfaces. Specifically, the Grid service interface is described by GSDL, which defines how to use the service. A new tag gsdl has been added to the WSDL definition for grid service description.

The UDDI registry and WSIL document are used to locate grid service. The transport protocol SOAP is used to connect data and application for accessing grid service. All services adhere to specified grid service interfaces and behaviors.

Learn more

• Developing Grid computing applications (Article) www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ws-grid1//

• IBM Grid Toolbox (alphaWorks download) www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ws-grid1//

• Installing and configuring the IBM Grid Toolbox (Free tutorial) www.ibm.com/servers/esdd/tutorials/grid_computing.html

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