Course Overview

GRID COMPUTING realizes the concepts of distributed computing and data resources such as processing, network bandwidth and storage capacity by creating a single system image -- granting users and applications uniform and seamless access to vast IT capabilities. A grid user essentially sees a single, large virtual computer. The new Web Services Resource Framework and the Open Grid Services Architecture defines interfaces and protocols that make it easier to construct decentralized, dynamic, large-scale systems. In this course, we will explore and evaluate this technology by using it to develop a range of scalable distributed services. With grid computing, organizations can optimize computing and data resources, pool them for large capacity workloads, share them across networks and enable collaboration.

For students working in industries dealing with vast amounts of data processing, for e.g., financial institutions, health care & insurance companies, understanding the concepts behind Grid computing and the various tools provided by different vendors would be greatly beneficial and an asset to their careers. Industry leaders like Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, and Sun provide the Grid computing solutions that the students will use in the class.


Prerequisites
MET CS 565, MET CS 575

Learning Objectives

• Modeling Distributed Computing with Web Services Understanding the Resources and their Lifetimes Using Notifications and Faults Study the Security aspects of the Grid
• Understand the roles of Authentication, Authorization, and Delegation

Lab: see course schedule

Homework: see course schedule

References
I. Foster and C. Kesselman, eds., The Grid 2: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure, Morgan Kaufmann, 2004, ISBN: 1-55860-933-4

B. Sotomayor, L. Childers, Globus® Toolkit 4: Programming Java Services: Morgan Kaufmann, 2005, ISBN: 0-12-369404-3

Methods of Instruction
The course will be primarily lecture and lab-based, with extensive lecture notes made available by the instructor on the course web site. Questions are encouraged. Attendance will be taken during each class meeting. The web-based component is managed through a course companion web site in WebCT that includes . lecture notes, . references, library and other institutional resources, links to Internet resources; . homework assignments and solutions; . on-line homework submission; . grade management: remote private access to grading information for the student, spreadsheets and grade statistic functions for the instructor; . a wealth of communication types: chat (individual or groups), threaded discussion, e-mail (individual or groups), bulleting board.

Evaluation and Grading
There will be 4 homework assignments, a midterm exam, a final project, and a class presentation weighted toward the final grade with 40%, 25%, 25%, and 10% respectively. Participation in discussions will be taken into account: active participation may help raise the grade when the performance percentage is on the border of two grade categories.

Academic Honesty
The course is governed by the Academic Conduct Committee policies regarding plagiarism (any attempt to represent the work of another person as one's own). This includes copying (even with modifications) of a program or segment of code. You can discuss general ideas with other people, but the work you submit must be your own. Collaboration is not permitted.

Instructor Information
Instructors:
Suresh Kalathur, Ph.D., E-mail: kalathur@bu.edu
URL: http://people.bu.edu/kalathur
Boston University
808 Commonwealth Ave, Room 250,
Boston, MA 02215
Office: 617-353-2566