Grid MP
Encyclopedia
Grid MP is a commercial distributed computing
software package developed and sold by Univa (formerly known as United Devices
), a privately held company based primarily in Austin, Texas
. It was formerly known as the MetaProcessor prior to the release of version 4.0, however the letters MP in Grid MP do not officially stand for anything.
Grid MP can be used to manage computational Devices consisting of corporate desktop PCs, departmental servers, or dedicated cluster nodes. Computational Devices can be arranged into Device Groups for organizational, security, and administrative control.
Grid MP has been demonstrated as being capable of managing grids of large numbers of nodes during its use in the infrastructure of the grid.org
and World Community Grid
projects (the World Community Grid project migrated to the open-source Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
software in 2007 ). Despite its ability to "scale seamlessly to hundreds of thousands of device nodes" it is also suitable for smaller clusters of enterprise servers or workstations.
API (via SOAP
and XML-RPC
protocols over HTTP). It enables developers of back-end application services to access and manipulate objects within the system. Access to the API and all objects is access controlled and security restricted on a per-object basis. Since MGSI is a web service protocol, any programming language that has a SOAP
or XML-RPC
library
available can be used to interface with it, although commonly C++
, Java
, Perl
, and PHP
are used.
programming language, and uses the MGSI web service for all of its interactions with the system.
that must be installed on each computer that will participate in a Grid MP installation by running jobs. Once the MP Agent is installed on a computer, it is officially recognized by the Grid MP as a Device.
As of Grid MP Enterprise version 5.5, the MP Agent is supported on the following platforms:
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
software package developed and sold by Univa (formerly known as United Devices
United Devices
United Devices, Inc. was a privately held, commercial distributed computing company that focused on the use of grid computing to manage HPC infrastructures and enterprise cluster management...
), a privately held company based primarily in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. It was formerly known as the MetaProcessor prior to the release of version 4.0, however the letters MP in Grid MP do not officially stand for anything.
Product features
Grid MP provides job scheduling with prioritization, user security restrictions, selective application exclusion, user-activity detection, and time-of-day execution controls.Grid MP can be used to manage computational Devices consisting of corporate desktop PCs, departmental servers, or dedicated cluster nodes. Computational Devices can be arranged into Device Groups for organizational, security, and administrative control.
Grid MP has been demonstrated as being capable of managing grids of large numbers of nodes during its use in the infrastructure of the grid.org
Grid.org
grid.org was a website and online community established in 2001 that focuses on cluster computing and grid computing software for users. For the first 6 years of its history it operated several different volunteer computing projects that allowed members to donate their spare computer cycles to...
and World Community Grid
World Community Grid
World Community Grid is an effort to create the world's largest public computing grid to tackle scientific research projects that benefit humanity...
projects (the World Community Grid project migrated to the open-source Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing is an open source middleware system for volunteer and grid computing. It was originally developed to support the SETI@home project before it became useful as a platform for other distributed applications in areas as diverse as mathematics,...
software in 2007 ). Despite its ability to "scale seamlessly to hundreds of thousands of device nodes" it is also suitable for smaller clusters of enterprise servers or workstations.
MGSI
MP Grid Services Interface, or simply MGSI, offers a web serviceWeb service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
API (via SOAP
SOAP
SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks...
and XML-RPC
XML-RPC
XML-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism. "XML-RPC" also refers generically to the use of XML for remote procedure call, independently of the specific protocol...
protocols over HTTP). It enables developers of back-end application services to access and manipulate objects within the system. Access to the API and all objects is access controlled and security restricted on a per-object basis. Since MGSI is a web service protocol, any programming language that has a SOAP
SOAP
SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks...
or XML-RPC
XML-RPC
XML-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism. "XML-RPC" also refers generically to the use of XML for remote procedure call, independently of the specific protocol...
library
Library (computer science)
In computer science, a library is a collection of resources used to develop software. These may include pre-written code and subroutines, classes, values or type specifications....
available can be used to interface with it, although commonly C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
, and PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
are used.
Management Console
A web-based MP Management Console, or simply MPMC, provides administrators with a simplified and easy-to-use interface to monitor system activity, control security settings, and manage system objects. The MPMC is written in the PHPPHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
programming language, and uses the MGSI web service for all of its interactions with the system.
MP Agent
The MP Agent (known as the UD Agent in versions before 4.0) is the software agentSoftware agent
In computer science, a software agent is a piece of software that acts for a user or other program in a relationship of agency, which derives from the Latin agere : an agreement to act on one's behalf...
that must be installed on each computer that will participate in a Grid MP installation by running jobs. Once the MP Agent is installed on a computer, it is officially recognized by the Grid MP as a Device.
As of Grid MP Enterprise version 5.5, the MP Agent is supported on the following platforms:
- Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
on x86 - LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
on x86, IA-64, x86-64X86-64x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other... - Solaris on SPARCSPARCSPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987....
- AIXAIX operating systemAIX AIX AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive, pronounced "a i ex" is a series of proprietary Unix operating systems developed and sold by IBM for several of its computer platforms...
on PowerPCPowerPCPowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM... - Mac OS XMac OS XMac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
on PowerPCPowerPCPowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
and x86 - HP-UXHP-UXHP-UX is Hewlett-Packard's proprietary implementation of the Unix operating system, based on UNIX System V and first released in 1984...
on IA-64