Grid: An Introduction

Syed Hasan Mahmood#, Krishna Kant#

#
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Motilal ehru ational Institute of Technology,
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
1
cs0901@mnnit.ac.in
2
kk@mnnit.ac.in

Abstract— This documents summarises the Grid Problem, the

Grid Architecture along with its desired characteristics and the III. GRID ARCHITECTURE
sample protocol set that can be implemented over the The Grid Architecture is a protocol architecture [1], with
architecture. It also tries to study the relationship of Grid with
each layer responsible for a particular set of functions and
other distributed computing paradigms. It also tries to clearly
distinguish the Grid and Cloud paradigms.
supported by a particular set of protocols. These protocols
define the various operations and policies for the components
of the Grid.
Keywords— Grid Computing, Grid Problem, Grid Architecture, The layered protocol architecture provides extensibility,
Distributed Computing Paradigms, Cloud Computing. portability, interoperability and code sharing. New protocols
can be implemented at the desired layers without disturbing
I. INTRODUCTION
the overall architecture.
The term Grid is quite common when we talk of distributed
computing paradigms or sharing of resources or efficient
processing of time taking computations. But the actual Grid
philosophy gets mixed with the usages of Grids. So, one of the
objectives of this document is to underline it by means of the
Grid Problem.
Any paradigm can be better understood and implemented
only when its architecture is clear. The scope and the
capabilities of the various components of the architecture
should also be mentioned. The next section defines the Grid
architecture.
Grid is often blurred with other related paradigms, mainly
Cloud. The last section tries to distinctly identify it from the
others. Fig. 1 The layered Grid architecture and its relationship to the Internet
protocol architecture. Because the Internet protocol architecture extends from
network to application, there is a mapping from Grid layers into Internet
II. THE GRID PROBLEM layers [1].
The Grid Problem is spelled as, coordinated resource
sharing and problem solving in dynamic multi-institutional The Grid Architecture is based on the “hourglass model” [1],
virtual organizations [1]. The flexible and secure sharing of where the neck of the model represents the fundamental set of
resources amongst individuals, institutions or organizations is functionalities and protocols. The Connectivity and the
the key ideal behind the Grid. Resource layers form the neck of this architecture shown in
Sometimes it not practical for every user to install the entire Figure 1.
infrastructure needed by it to solve its problems. So the A. Fabric: Interface to Local Control
concept of sharing of resources, which is not being currently
This layer provides the resources available at the local level
used by the owner, comes to the rescue. By using this
to be shared by the use of the Grid protocols. It gives
ideology, the users (individuals, institutions or organizations)
individual resource level operations which make the resources
can save a lot of time, effort and money in solving their
ready to be shared. The Grid protocols are not concerned with
problems.
the functions at this level. This layer is managed by the
The Grid paradigm is mostly used by the users having a
protocols at the local level.
common or overlapping interest and needs. The sharing is
The main objectives of this layer are discovery of resource
collaborative and governed by policies decided by the
structure & state and resource management. Some other
participants mutually. It can be free, in case of non-profit
capabilities expected are,
organizations such as teaching and research, etc or charged, in
case of business organizations. • Computational Resources
• Storage Resources
 • Network Resources
• Code Repositories
• Catalogs
B. Connectivity: Communicating Easily and Securely
The Connectivity layer, as the name suggests, facilitates the
secure communication amongst the resources available at the
Fabric layer. It is responsible for the interaction and
coordination of individual resources or resource groups.
Security in communication and access control are also
addressed at this layer.
The communication is carried out by the use of standard
TCP/IP protocol suite. The main requirements of the security
are,
• Single sign on
• Delegation
• Integration with various local security solutions
• User-based trust relationship
C. Resource: Sharing Single Resource
This layer uses the operations of the Fabric layer to provide
functions for the management and manipulation of the
individual resources. This Grid layer is primarily responsible
for the availability of resources for the upper layer
applications. It is the point of application of policies of
sharing and also the layer where usage and billing issues are
addressed.
The functions and the protocols at this layer are generic in
nature. They form the core abstraction of the Grid
Architecture. The two major functions of this layer are,
• Information of Resources
• Management of Resources
D. Collective: Coordinating Multiple Resources
The Collective layer provides services from multiple
resources by using the Resource layer. It is of global nature i.e.
not dependent on individual resources and user application
specific. It provides higher level operations which are more
domain specific than generic.
Some such functions are,
• Discovery services
• Co-allocation, scheduling and brokering services
• Monitoring and diagnostic services
• Data replication services
• Grid-enabled programming services
• Software discovery services
• Community authorization services
• Collaborator services
E. Applications
This layer uses the services of each of the underlying layers
to provide APIs and SDKs for the development of the user more resources at the time of operation or if it not using all the
applications over the Grid. The users can make use of the resources requested then it can be dealt accordingly.
services provided by these layers and develop their own
application without worrying about the details of the model. So the user only pays for the resources or services it
underlying resources.
IV. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER TECHNOLOGIES
The Grid is not here to replace any of the existing
technologies but to address a different domain of work.
However, it can be compared with other related technologies
and combined with them to produce better results.
A. World Wide Web
Although widely distributed in their operations and reach,
the WWW only provides client-server like interactions over a
browser. It does not allow sharing of resources remotely and
securely.
B. Application and Storage Service Providers
The service providers behave quite like a Grid but they do
not provide seamless operations across different vendors in
terms of authorization and interactions.
C. Enterprise Computing Systems
These provide almost all the features of Grid but are
restricted in scope. They can only service the demands of a
particular organization and not span across multiple
organizations harbouring common aims and interests.
D. Internet and Peer-to-Peer Computing
They have same ideology as Grid but more into providing
vertical solutions to problems and not defining standard
mechanisms and protocols.
E. Cloud Computing
It is the closest to Grid and thus generates maximum
confusion. Some call it an offspring of Grid and the others, its
superset. But a clear understanding of their subtle differences
is a must if we wish to use these powerful technologies
effectively.
Clouds are defined as, a large pool of easily usable and
accessible virtualized resources (such as hardware,
development platforms and/or services). These resources can
be dynamically re-configured to adjust to a variable load
(scale), allowing also for an optimum resource utilization.
This pool of resources is typically exploited by a pay-per-use
model in which guarantees are offered by the Infrastructure
Provider by means of customized SLAs [2].
From the definition above, we see the stark similarities
between the two paradigms like a large pool of resources,
resource allocation for optimum utilization, SLAs and
collaborative policies etc. So now we try to highlight the
subtle distinctions between the two.
There are many difference listed the Figure 2. But the
major ones say that clouds are dynamically re-configurable,
work on pay-per-use business model and allow virtualized
hardware and software.
Dynamic re-configurability means that if the user wants
Dynamic re-configurability is supported by the pay-per-use
uses and only for the time it uses them. So it can perform in a
cost effective manner.
 Virtualization is the key concept when we talk of Clouds
which is not present in Grids. The Clouds support virtualized
the hardware and software both, on demand of the user. So the
user has more flexibility in terms of the problems that can be
solved using a Cloud.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I wish to acknowledge the efforts of my guide and teacher
Prof. Krishna Kant for his valuable suggestions and constant
motivation for writing this document.
I also wish to thank my family and friends for their
motivation and support without which this document would
not be a reality.

REFERENCES
[1] Ian T. Foster, “The Anatomy of Grid: Enabling Scalable Virtual
Organizations,” in Proc.IECMPP, 2001, p. 1-4.
[2] Luis M. Vaquero, Luis Rodero-Merino, Juan Caceres, and Maik
Lindner, “A Break in the Clouds: Towards a Cloud Definition,” ACM
SIGCOMM CCR, vol. 39, pp. 50–55, Jan. 2009.

Fig. 2 Grid vs. Cloud Characteristics [2]

So now having seen both, similarities and differences,

between Grids and Clouds, we are better poised to choose the
correct technology for a particular problem.

V. CONCLUSIONS
We have seen the motivation for Grids in the form of the
Grid Problem. We have also seen the generic architecture of
the Grid with the various layers and their functions. We have
tried to compare and contrast Grid with the various related
technologies, particularly Cloud. So a basic introduction to
Grid Computing as a Distributed Computing Paradigm is laid
before you through this document.
Further, the various implementations of Grid paradigm like
Nimrod, Garuda, GRACE, World Wide Grid (WWG) etc can
be studied and applications areas of Grid can be identified.
Also, classification of Grids based on different parameters can
be drawn.