[sldev] [SVC] What is a Grid? (Searching for a hard definition)

[Escort DeFarge]

I strongly support LL's decision to favor REST over WSDL (for many, many 
reasons).

For sure, OGSA is definitely only one type of grid, but otoh that does 
not make SL a "grid computing environment".

Wikipedia's Grid Computing entry has loosened considerably over the last 
3-4 years. To my mind/taste, when defining "grid computing", the tighter 
and clearer definition stated in the short paper "What is the Grid" 
(http://www-fp.mcs.anl.gov/~foster/Articles/WhatIsTheGrid.pdf) remains a 
much more helpful and accurate definition. Of the three checkpoints in 
that definition only (3) probably counts for SL's current grid 
architecture, since the LL grid has resources under central control (1), 
and is not open (2). (Though I note that the AWG is definitely moving SL 
closer to this definition).

For most, I sure this is all an exercise in hair-splitting, but I find 
it hard to state that SL is a grid computing environment (as yet) but 
rather I would say that it is an highly distributed system that includes 
a grid.

/esc


Meadhbh Hamrick (Infinity) wrote:
> right. i think we're less in the WSDL camp and more in the REST camp, 
> so we might say that OGSA is a _type_ of a grid, but that we adhere 
> more to something like what's defined in 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_computing with REST semantics 
> layered on top of our services.
>
> On Feb 4, 2009, at 9:12 PM, Escort DeFarge wrote:
>
>> For an accurate definition -- start here...
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Grid_Services_Architecture
>>
>> ...the SL architecture doesn't actually conform to a strict 
>> definition of "grid computing" as you'll soon see. However, the SL 
>> grid does have one big thing going for it -- it works (mostly).
>>
>> /esc
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