Open Grid Services Architecture
Encyclopedia
The Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) describes an architecture for a service-oriented
grid computing
environment for business and scientific use, developed within the Global Grid Forum (GGF). OGSA is based on several other Web service
technologies, notably WSDL
and SOAP, but it aims to be largely agnostic in relation to the transport-level handling of data.
Briefly, OGSA is a distributed interaction and computing architecture based around services, assuring interoperability on heterogeneous systems so that different types of resources can communicate and share information. OGSA has been described as a refinement of the emerging Web Services architecture, specifically designed to support Grid requirements. OGSA has been adopted as a grid architecture by a number of grid projects including the Globus Alliance
. Conceptually, OGSA was first suggested in a seminal paper by Ian Foster
called "The Physiology of the Grid", and later developed by GGF working groups which resulted in a GGF information document, entitled The Open Grid Services Architecture, Version 1.5. The Global Grid Forum continues to track Tier 1 use case scenarios used in the definition of the OGSA core services.
The OGSA Architecture document describes an OGSA grid in terms of the following capabilities:
an updated version of the OGSA Architecture document and several associated documents have been published, including the first of several planned normative documents, the OGSA WSRF Basic Profile, Version 1.0. Development of conformant software is expected to follow rapidly once a critical mass of normative documents have been published.
The concept of OGSA is derived from work presented in the paper "The Physiology of the Grid" by Ian Foster
, Carl Kesselman
, Jeffrey M. Nick, and Steven Tuecke.
The Open Grid Services Infrastructure (OGSI)
is related to OGSA, as it was originally intended to form the basic “plumbing” layer for OGSA. It has been superseded by WSRF
and WS-Management
.
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
grid computing
Grid computing
Grid computing is a term referring to the combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal. The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve a large number of files...
environment for business and scientific use, developed within the Global Grid Forum (GGF). OGSA is based on several other Web service
Web 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...
technologies, notably WSDL
Web Services Description Language
The Web Services Description Language is an XML-based language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a Web service. A WSDL description of a web service provides a machine-readable description of how the service can be called, what parameters it expects and what data structures...
and SOAP, but it aims to be largely agnostic in relation to the transport-level handling of data.
Briefly, OGSA is a distributed interaction and computing architecture based around services, assuring interoperability on heterogeneous systems so that different types of resources can communicate and share information. OGSA has been described as a refinement of the emerging Web Services architecture, specifically designed to support Grid requirements. OGSA has been adopted as a grid architecture by a number of grid projects including the Globus Alliance
Globus Alliance
The Globus Alliance is an international association dedicated to developing fundamental technologies needed to build grid computing infrastructures...
. Conceptually, OGSA was first suggested in a seminal paper by Ian Foster
Ian Foster
Ian Foster is a Distinguished Fellow and the Associate Division Director in the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, where he leads the Distributed Systems Laboratory, and he is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago...
called "The Physiology of the Grid", and later developed by GGF working groups which resulted in a GGF information document, entitled The Open Grid Services Architecture, Version 1.5. The Global Grid Forum continues to track Tier 1 use case scenarios used in the definition of the OGSA core services.
Features
According to the OGSA Roadmap document, OGSA is:- An architectural process in which the GGF's OGSA Working Group collects requirements and maintains a set of informational documents that describe the architecture;
- A set of normative specifications and profiles that document the precise requirements for a conforming hardware or software component;
- Software components that adhere to the OGSA specifications and profiles, enabling deployment of grid solutions that are interoperable even though they may be based on implementations from multiple sources.
The OGSA Architecture document describes an OGSA grid in terms of the following capabilities:
- Infrastructure services
- Execution Management services
- Data services
- Resource Management services
- Security services
- Self-management services
- Information services
an updated version of the OGSA Architecture document and several associated documents have been published, including the first of several planned normative documents, the OGSA WSRF Basic Profile, Version 1.0. Development of conformant software is expected to follow rapidly once a critical mass of normative documents have been published.
The concept of OGSA is derived from work presented in the paper "The Physiology of the Grid" by Ian Foster
Ian Foster
Ian Foster is a Distinguished Fellow and the Associate Division Director in the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, where he leads the Distributed Systems Laboratory, and he is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago...
, Carl Kesselman
Carl Kesselman
Carl Kesselman is an Institute Fellow at the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute and a Professor in the Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, also at the University of Southern California. Carl Kesselman is an acknowledged authority in grid...
, Jeffrey M. Nick, and Steven Tuecke.
The Open Grid Services Infrastructure (OGSI)
Open Grid Services Infrastructure
The Open Grid Services Infrastructure was published by the Global Grid Forum as a proposed recommendation in June 2003. It was intended to provide an infrastructure layer for the Open Grid Services Architecture...
is related to OGSA, as it was originally intended to form the basic “plumbing” layer for OGSA. It has been superseded by WSRF
Web Services Resource Framework
Web Services Resource Framework is a family of OASIS-published specifications for web services. Major contributors include the Globus Alliance and IBM.A web service by itself is nominally stateless, i.e., it retains no data between invocations...
and WS-Management
WS-Management
Web Services-Management is a DMTF open standard defining a SOAP-based protocol for the management of servers, devices, applications and various Web services. The DMTF has published the standards document DSP0226 with version v1.1.0 of 2010-03-03....
.