A Generic Deployment Framework for Grid Computing and Distributed Applications

Deployment of distributed applications on large systems, and especially on grid infrastructures, becomes a more and more complex task. Grid users spend a lot of time to prepare, install and configure middleware and application binaries on nodes, and eventually start their applications. The problem is that the deployment process is composed of many heterogeneous tasks that have to be orchestrated in a specific correct order. As a consequence, the automatization of the deployment process is currently very difficult to reach. To address this problem, we propose in this paper a generic deployment framework allowing to automatize the execution of heterogeneous tasks composing the whole deployment process. Our approach is based on a reification as software components of all required deployment mechanisms or existing tools. Grid users only have to describe the configuration to deploy in a simple natural language instead of programming or scripting how the deployment process is executed. As a toy example, this framework is used to deploy CORBA component-based applications and OpenCCM middleware on one thousand nodes of the French Grid5000 infrastructure.Comment: The original publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

Towards Model-Driven Validation of Autonomic Software Systems in Open Distributed Environments

New distributed systems are running onto fluctuating environments (e.g. ambient or grid computing). These fluctuations must be taken into account when deploying these systems. Autonomic computing aims at realizing programs that implement self-adaptation behaviour. Unfortunately in practice, these programs are not often statically validated, and their execution can lead to emergent undesirable behaviour. In this paper, we argue that static validation is mandatory for large autonomic distributed systems. We identify two kinds of validation that are relevant and crucial when deploying such systems. These validations affect the deployment procedures of software composing a system, as well as the autonomic policies of this system. Using our Dacar model-based framework for deploying autonomic software distributed architectures, we show how we tackle the problem of static validation of autonomic distributed system

OSA: an Integration Platform for Component-Based Simulation

Poster abstract.International audienceMany discrete-event simulators are developed concurrently, but with identical or similar purpose. This poster presents the Open Simulation Architecture (OSA), a discrete-event component-based simulation platform whose goal is to favor the reuse and integration of simulation software components and models. To favor reuse, OSA uses a layered approach to combine the modeling, simulation, and related concerns, such as instrumentation or deployment. OSA is both a testbed for experimenting new simulation techniques and a tool for real case studies. The ability of OSA to support challenging studies is illustrated by a Peer-to-peer system case study involving millions of components

Towards Model-Driven Validation of Autonomic Software Systems in Open Distributed Environments

New distributed systems are running onto fluctuating environments (e.g. ambient or grid computing). These fluctuations must be taken into account when deploying these systems. Autonomic computing aims at realizing programs that implement self-adaptation behaviour. Unfortunately in practice, these programs are not often statically validated, and their execution can lead to emergent undesirable behaviour. In this paper, we argue that static validation is mandatory for large autonomic distributed systems. We identify two kinds of validation that are relevant and crucial when deploying such systems. These validations affect the deployment procedures of software composing a system, as well as the autonomic policies of this system. Using our Dacar model-based framework for deploying autonomic software distributed architectures, we show how we tackle the problem of static validation of autonomic distributed system

Design considerations for M&S software

International audienceThe development of M&S products often seems to be driven by need: people start coding because they are interested in either a concrete simulation study, or they are interested in a (single) research subject of M&S methodology. We claim that discussing, designing, developing, and comparing M&S products should be based on software engineering concepts. We shortly introduce some of these engineering concepts and discuss how these relate to the M&S domain. By describing two examples, OSA and JAMES II, we illustrate that reuse might play an important role in the development of high quality M&S products as the examples allow reuse on the level of models and scenarios, on the level of "simulation studies", of algorithms (e.g., reuse of event queues, random number generators), across hardware architectures / operating systems, and of analysis tools

Modelization for the Deployment of a Hierarchical Middleware on a Heterogeneous Platform

Accessing the power of distributed resources can nowadays easily be done using a middleware based on a client/server approach. Several architectures exist for those middlewares. The most scalable ones rely on a hierarchical design. Determining the best shape for the hierarchy, the one giving the best throughput of services, is not an easy task. We first propose a computation and communication model for such hierarchical middleware. Our model takes into account the deployment of several services in the hierarchy. Then, based on this model, we propose algorithms for automatically constructing a hierarchy on two kind of heterogeneous platforms: communication homogeneous/computation heterogeneous platforms, and fully heterogeneous platforms. The proposed algorithm aim at offering the users the best obtained to requested throughput ratio, while providing fairness on this ratio for the different kind of services, and using as few resources as possible. For each kind of platforms, we compare our model with experimental results on a real middleware called Diet.De nos jours, l'accès à des ressources distribuées peut être réalisé aisément en utilisant un intergiciel se basant sur une approche client/serveur. Différentes architectures existent pour de tels intergiciels. Ceux passant le mieux à l'échelle utilisent une hiérarchie d'agents. Déterminer quelle est la meilleure hiérarchie, c'est à dire celle qui fournira le meilleur débit au niveau des services, n'est pas une tâche aisée. Nous proposons tout d'abord un modèle de calcul et de communication pour de tels intergiciels hiérarchiques. Notre modèle prend en compte le déploiement de plusieurs services au sein de la hiérarchie. Puis, en nous basant sur le modèle, nous proposons des algorithmes pour construire automatiquement la hiérarchie sur différents types de plates-formes: des plates-formes avec des communications homogènes et des puissances de calcul hétérogènes, ou des plates-formes complètement hétérogènes. Les algorithmes visent à offrir aux utilisateurs le meilleur ratio entre le débit demandé, et le débit fourni, tout en utilisant le moins de ressources possible. Pour chaque type de plate-forme, nous comparons notre modèle à des résultats expérimentaux obtenus avec l'intergiciel de grille DIET

Une démarche orientée modèle pour déployer des systèmes logiciels répartis

Revues des Sciences et Technologies de l'Information - "L'Objet, logiciel, base de données, réseaux" (RSTI série)International audienceDeployment of distributed systems involves many heterogeneous technologies. The system administrator has to 1) master the deployment of each technology, 2) adapt it to machine properties and 3) execute it in respect with its order dependencies. These tasks are strongly prone to errors. In this article, we present DeployWare, a model-based approach for complex distributed systems deployment. This approach relies on a metamodel split in two parts. The first allows us to describe properties, dependencies, and actions to perform to deploy software. The second allows us to compose many software instances. This metamodel allows some behavioural deployment verifications to be performed. DeployWare models can be projected onto a component-based execution platform which manages automatically machine's heterogeneity and orchestration of dependencies.Le déploiement de systèmes distribués met en jeu de nombreuses technologies hétérogènes. L'administrateur système doit 1) maîtriser le déploiement de chaque logiciel, 2) l'adapter aux propriétés des machines et 3) l'exécuter en respectant l'ordre de ses dépendances. Ces tâches sont fortement propices aux erreurs. Dans cet article, nous présentons DeployWare, une approche à base de modèles pour le déploiement de systèmes distribués complexes. Cette approche repose sur un méta-modèle en deux parties. La première permet de décrire les propriétés, les dépendances et actions à effectuer pour déployer des logiciels. La seconde permet d'assembler des instances de logiciels. Ces deux parties sont réalisées de manière à rendre possible la vérification comportementale des procédures de déploiement et des systèmes. Les modèles DeployWare sont projetés vers une plate-forme d'exécution à base de composants qui gère automatiquement l'hétérogénéité des machines et l'orchestration des dépendances

SCA Platform Specifications - Version 2.0

The SCOrWare project aims at building an open source implementation of the Service Component Architecture (SCA) specifications. This implementation is composed of 1) a runtime platform for deploying, executing, and managing SCAbased applications, 2) a set of development tools for modeling, designing, and implementing SCA-based applications, and 3) a set of demonstrators. This document contains the specifications of the SCOrWare runtime platform. Section 1.1 lists the parts of SCA specifications supported by the SCOrWare platform. Section 1.2 gives an overview of the SCOrWare platform, and a summary of next chapters of this document. Section 1.3 lists the main update from the version 1 to the version 2 of this documen

A formal architecture-centric and model driven approach for the engineering of science gateways

From n-Tier client/server applications, to more complex academic Grids, or even the most recent and promising industrial Clouds, the last decade has witnessed significant developments in distributed computing. In spite of this conceptual heterogeneity, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) seems to have emerged as the common and underlying abstraction paradigm, even though different standards and technologies are applied across application domains. Suitable access to data and algorithms resident in SOAs via so-called ‘Science Gateways’ has thus become a pressing need in order to realize the benefits of distributed computing infrastructures.In an attempt to inform service-oriented systems design and developments in Grid-based biomedical research infrastructures, the applicant has consolidated work from three complementary experiences in European projects, which have developed and deployed large-scale production quality infrastructures and more recently Science Gateways to support research in breast cancer, pediatric diseases and neurodegenerative pathologies respectively. In analyzing the requirements from these biomedical applications the applicant was able to elaborate on commonly faced issues in Grid development and deployment, while proposing an adapted and extensible engineering framework. Grids implement a number of protocols, applications, standards and attempt to virtualize and harmonize accesses to them. Most Grid implementations therefore are instantiated as superposed software layers, often resulting in a low quality of services and quality of applications, thus making design and development increasingly complex, and rendering classical software engineering approaches unsuitable for Grid developments.The applicant proposes the application of a formal Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) approach to service-oriented developments, making it possible to define Grid-based architectures and Science Gateways that satisfy quality of service requirements, execution platform and distribution criteria at design time. An novel investigation is thus presented on the applicability of the resulting grid MDE (gMDE) to specific examples and conclusions are drawn on the benefits of this approach and its possible application to other areas, in particular that of Distributed Computing Infrastructures (DCI) interoperability, Science Gateways and Cloud architectures developments