Applications:
GRIDBUS RELEASES ALCHEMI [.NET ENTERPRISE GRID FRAMEWORK] v0.8.0
Alchemi is an enterprise Grid computing framework for Windows built using .NET
with the primary goal of being easy to use. It provides the runtime machinery
to construct a high-throughput enterprise Grid environment out of
underutilized desktops, and a programming environment to develop Grid
applications.
Constructing enterprise Grids is as simple as installing the Alchemi Manager
on one machine and installing the Alchemi Executor, playing the role of worker
agents, on each machine that is to be part of the enterprise Grid. The
flexible execution model allows Executors to be configured as "dedicated"
(execution is managed by the Manager) or "non-dedicated" (execution is managed
by the user on a voluntary basis). Alchemi operates transparently on users'
machines -- users whose desktops are part of the Grid are not affected by Grid
software running on their machines since user applications are given priority.
Alchemi allows flexibility in application composition. You can employ the Grid
thread model to write Grid applications in any .NET-supported language.
Alternatively, existing applications can be Grid-enabled either
programmatically or declaratively using the file-based Grid job model that
uses XML for job representation. Drag-and-drop components can be used to
compose Grid applications with minimal effort. Several sample applications
that demonstrate the various features of Alchemi are included. Additionally, a
scheduling API is available for writing custom user-level schedulers.
A Web services interface allows interoperability with custom Grid middleware.
A role-based model is employed for application security. Only authorized users
(by way of membership to a group) are permitted to conduct appropriate
activities (e.g. run an application, administer users, etc).
A management and monitoring console application allows users to monitor the
status of the Grid including applications and participating nodes in addition
to allowing management of users.
Alchemi is used by several organizations and projects worldwide such as:
- CSIRO (Australia) for the development of an application framework for the
creation and parallel execution of environmental simulation models.
- The Private Grid Initiative (The Netherlands) as a testbed for exploring
innovative Grid applications.
- A financial services company (South Africa) for developing a
proof-of-concept distributed fund administration system.
- The University of Melbourne as a tool for teaching Grid computing and as a
platform for several honors and masters projects.
- As part of the Global Data-Intensive Grid Collaboration demonstration at
the SC 2003 HPC Challenge.
This release contains:
- Alchemi.Executor-0.8.0.msi.
- Installer for the Alchemi Executor Windows executable.
- Alchemi.Manager-0.8.0.1.msi.
- Installer for the Alchemi Manager Windows executable.
- Alchemi.XPManager-0.8.0.msi.
- Installer for the Alchemi Cross Platform Manager ASP.NET Web service.
- Alchemi-0.8.0-sdk.zip.
- Alchemi SDK containing the API, sample applications and the
admininstration/monitoring console.
Alchemi is open source, released under the GPL license.
Alchemi can be downloaded from: www.alchemi.net.
Alchemi is being developed as part of the Gridbus Project
(www.Gridbus.org) at the Grid Computing and Distributed Systems (GridS)
Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
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